"One day honey, one day onions" is an Arabic proverb, and this life philosophy shines through all the stories that Karim El-Gawhary tells in this book. Amidst war and crises, people try to lead a completely normal life. There are many amusing moments: How do you drive a brand new car through Cairo while sweating profusely? How do you maintain composure in the face of the Kafkaesque arabesques of 7000 years of Egyptian bureaucracy? The struggle for daily survival: Sana, the matriarch of the alley, fights for justice on her own in a Cairo slum. Abu Ashraf earns 40 a month as a metalworker: How is he supposed to clothe his children for the start of school? This book also includes unusual reports from war zones: A visit to the antique dealer Madame Pio evokes memories of old, glamorous Baghdad. And while in southern Lebanon, Israeli.