and the apricot season is very short. Accordingly there is an Arabic expression (at least amongst Egyptians and Palestinians) bukra filmishmish which translates as something like “tomorrow in apricot season”, and is typically said in response to anyone who suggests something unlikely or makes a wild promise to do a service for you (or another). Pigs and flying.
In Turkish they also talk of apricots, but a little differently: Bundan iyisi Şam’da kayısı in literal terms translates to “the only thing better than this is an apricot in Damascus”. When commonly said it means “it doesn’t get any better than this”.
Damascus, of course, was the capital of Syria the last time Mister Chu inquired. The Jasmine City. He wonders what Bashar al-Assad makes of his apricots. And of Alabama for that matter also. Which has two towns within its borders some 159 miles apart via the driving: Arab and Reform. Unusual names. To get quickly from one to the other one should go via Birmingham which is almost exactly between them.
The urgency of universal civil rights is never limited by geography. Or history.
Or irony.
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Mister Chu illustrated a small part of this. A picture that would make limited sense without explanation.
misterfuffie says: re Mister Chu buys apricots: I have a good friend from Arab, AL. It turns out, it was supposed to be named Arad, after its founder, John Arad, but when it came time to get the post office set up, the postal service made a mistake that wasn't noticed until too late.