The ink wasn’t dry on the page of my first issue of Time Out Beirut before we were well under way with writing the next. The deadlines are tight and it means a lot of work, little sleep and a lot of boozing (the last part is just a bonus and not actually a contractual obligation).  Without discipline it’s easy to let the working day extend well into the evening and weekends can slip by in a blur of interviews, restaurant reviews and editing. and i feel permanently tired. Dan, the Arts & Culture  and Food & Drink editor, and I have taken on the role of joint managing editors after the success of the five year anniversary issue (well that and our old editor John disappearing for Sri Lanka and into another job on his return) which means a lot more work and no extra pay. It is this which has kept me from updating my blog more. The life of a writer isn’t easy you know, you come home with fingers sore from the keys, thumbs all spaced out and eyes blurry from a day of screens so as the last thing you fancy doing before crawling into bed is write a little more. Ok well I might be painting a bit of a bleak picture of life here; it’s really not all that bad. But the point about not having the energy to update a blog is true.

Therefore in the name of the hallowed gods of the twitter-sphere and lady luck of the search engine I promise to make amends for the dearth of Lebanon lifestyle writing which has been hitting the backlinepress.com, from now on there will be at least a weekly post if not more. They may not be long, they may not be super imaginative but I will endeavour to include pictures and a snappy (and hopefully pun related) title.

For now though please be comforted by the beginning of my Beirut street chronicle. I undertake to document and display every bloody beautiful building in this fair city. Well that’s the plan anyway, how well ill manage it who knows. Oh and there are a couple of more general shots in the album just for because.