On January 18, 1976, Beirut experienced a major blackout for a total of 20 minutes due to the ongoing fights. A 20 minute blackout was considered a scandal at the time even though the country was at war, and the story was mentioned in most newspapers.
Can you imagine how the Lebanese would react if the current goes out for only 20 minutes these days? They would probably panic at first, then they would hit the streets singing and dancing Dabke and offering Baklawa for a week.
This is the sad reality we are currently living, and I don’t expect the electricity situation to get better anytime soon.
The screenshot shown above is from L’OrientLeJour archives and was recently shared by one of my favorite FB pages “La guerre du Liban au jour le jour“. Check it out as they have an endless number of awesome old footages and articles.
PS: If you want 24/7 electricity, you can always move to Zahle 😀
