At a bookshop cash desk in Achrafieh, an elegant lady is paying by check the pile of school books she has just bought. Her two 13 and 17 year-old daughters are standing near her and keeping their eye on the list of the stationery they should buy before that start of the school year in a few days. “I bought nothing but the books my girls need, I still have the whole stationery to buy, and I just paid 800. 000 Lebanese pounds (530 dollars), with discount!” she said. This mother went crazy when the check was announced because she remembered that she had just paid almost 400.000 Lebanese pounds (265 dollars) last year for the same books, namely half the price. “At that rate, I really don’t know where we are heading. There are some school years in which the youngest of my girls can use the books of her elder sister, but this can only happen if her teacher does not ask for other books”, she added.