A life of contrasts

I woke about 4am this morning to several huge rolling thunderous explosions. My first thought was that my landlord has not yet put the steel reinforced doors on the safe room downstairs; and that even if he had, would I have enough time to make it there. My next thought, as I heard the downpour outside, was  ... erm, I think it's thunder. I lay in bed for a while, trying to decide if each growling boom that seemed to be directly overhead were anything to do with the war being fought here. Was that a police siren; possibly, but only one. With the number of "explosions" surely there would be more than one police car. Eventually I thought that why would the Taliban launch an attack in the middle of a downpour - it makes no sense. And I drifted back off to sleep. This morning, as the rain cleared up - it left the sky beautifully crisp and clear and my garden a lush field.
A few nights before I had been kept awake by the clip clop of horses/donkeys as they wandered down my street. I couldn't see over the 20 foot wall and barbed wire that surrounds are place (and in any case, I certainly wasn't getting out of bed to take a look) but I lay there for a while listening, trying to imagine what it looked like as this column of hooved creatures were sheperded somewhere.