Saturday, 17th September, 2016

A quiet, at-home day as it is Shabbat aka the Sabbath and there is nothing open, almost no traffic and not much else to do. It reminds me of Sundays in my youth – the early mass, buying the paper and raspberry ripple ice cream from the newsagents, a family roast lunch, the washing up listening to I’m Sorry I’ll Read That Again, maybe a walk, Earl Grey tea with chocolate cake and biscuits, the Sunday Express (sorry about that) general knowledge crossword and something like the Forsythe Saga on the box in the evening…… All very idyllic especially with cars that didn’t work very well, strikes every other day, 3 day weeks, lousy trains, no internet (or is that a good thing?), waiting weeks for a phone, expensive travel and not very good cuisine. Take your pick…..

Ok well this was at least leisurely which was just what we wanted, but Claire is a girl on a mission, said mission to get her mother and father up to IT speed. So first up, I now have a new email address on which more soon. The old one still works, but as I don’t really work at Emanuel any more, I really do need to get a new email address. So this is the first advice of no doubt many, to start switching to the new one. Claire is superb at explaining complicated (well, it’s complicated to me) stuff to novices like me, though it will be interesting to see if I really can link everything together. We then tried to get a bit more space on this iPad by reviewing apps and deleting a load of stuff. Very cathartic!

She then turned her attention to Val, who hung in their valiantly, though it did take a long time to transfer all her emails. I will leave it to her to advise of the new address, but all in all we both feel wonderfully cleansed. Mind you, Claire’s phone number is on speed dial as I am sure we will need more training soon.

We ventured out for a walk to and through a nice park where the locals were at play, like lots of other locals are all over the world on the weekend. The weather is warm here, but very pleasant in the evenings and wonderful for a stroll. Finally we had a nice, non-kosher dinner, largely because all the kosher restaurants are closed on Shabbat. Jerusalem feels to be a very safe city, the people can be quite loud and upfront, but are fantastically helpful and will go out of their way if you need help or directions. The mix of people is extraordinary, ranging from the Ultra-orthodox Jews with their ringlets, some with spectacular hats that look like a form of topiary and long coats that must be very hot, through to very modern looking Jewish youngsters, though I am told you get much more of the latter in Tel Aviv. There are Arab Israelis, Palestinian Christians and Armenians, Russians (lots of these), Coptics and Orthodox Christians as well as all the different Muslim sects, though most of them here are Sunnis.

It can be a slight disadvantage to one’s view of the city and the occupants if you have a sound working knowledge of Life of Brian! There are just too many times that it leaps into your head, eg when we saw some graffiti, though sadly not in bad Latin telling the Romans to go home. And you only have to overhear someone haggling……. And then there are places like the Church of the Cross, but not of the Sandal or Gourd.

The city is split between all of the different groups with some areas dominated by some more than others. It has lots of trees and most people seem to live in flats in 3 or 4 storey apartment blocks of a similar light brown colour. It could be a bit cleaner, but on the whole it is pretty good. Traffic is ok, though they sure do drive fast when they can. It is fun at the zebra crossings as they will not stop unless you are actually on it, so you have to judge it carefully. We are getting pretty good at it now, though one or two drivers have had to throw out the anchor at the last minute and looked a little startled that we actually really did mean to cross.

No photos today, but I hope you have enjoyed the short travelogue. More from the Benniad tomorrow as we visit Bethlehem.