An Unexpected Day Off

Some people get snow days, some people get holidays, but I get civil disturbance days. Yesterday there were terrible riots in Jalalabad over news reports US Marines had desecrated a Koran at Guantanamo. Jalalabad is far from Kabul, but it certainly wasn’t the only part of Central Asia where the population was angry.

So this morning when I got word that the NGO community had been warned to stay home, I called the office and told them I was following suit. Demonstrations were planned for Kabul, and it wasn’t a good idea for me to be wandering about. I thought it unlikely protestors would get out of hand here as they did in Jalalabad, but sometimes discretion really is the better part of valor.

That settled, I ditched the work clothes, stretched out in the Internet room with the other ex-pats, and watched the kittens wrestle each other. It was a lovely day for a demonstration, a better day to be out in the garden. The protest was small and fizzled out quickly.

I stayed home.