Summertime continued

The grandchildren are out of school, some have lots to do, some are “bored”. The telephone rings, “Can you help out with my children?”. Yes, summer is around for a looong time!!

One of the grandchildren took the opportunity to complete the advanced course with the ambulance service Magen David Adom (he did the elementary course last year) so is now volunteering to go out with the team in an ambulance when there is a call. Unfortunately with the quality of driving, there are too many accidents, so there is not too much free time.

This week, prior to celebrating the barmitzvah of a Jerusalem grandchild at the Western wall in the old city, we invested the previous day to take 3 of them on a tour. (Not easy with temperatures in the 30’s C , 90’s F)

We bought tickets to walk on the ramparts around the old city and managed to cover the Christian, Armenian and Jewish quarters. As interesting as the walk was, what caught the attention of the grandchildren, was an incident in the streets below where the police were dealing with a suspicious object that had been left on the pavement. As is normal, the streets were closed to traffic, and the use of a robot to detonate the “suspicious object” created quite a strong shock wave that we felt as high up as we were. What was in the bag was not an explosive device; someone almost certainly put their bag down and forgot to pick it up. Nevertheless it created a talking point as we continued on our way.

After lunch, we then proceeded for a guided tour of the Western Wall Tunnels http://english.thekotel.org/content.asp?id=116 an unbelievable experience. The actual part of the Western Wall that most visitors see from the Plaza is about 70 meters long. Underground there is another 470 metres to discover. It is a most fascinating experience. One of the stones in the wall underground is so huge that it alone weighs approx 6000 tonnes. Just how was that moved into place during the building of the temple?

After nearly 6 hours of walking around, we all returned home exhausted but returned the following morning for the actual barmitzvah ceremony.

Yes, summertime is exhausting

Summer holidays are here again

With start of the annual two month school holiday there is a definite change in the air. The beach were we walk, as often as time permits, is now full of parents with and without children, children with and without parents all enjoying the great beach facilites that are available.

While walking along the beach the sound of matkot, a favorite beach sport in Israel http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matkot reminds you to keep your eyes open for the stray ball (about the same size as that used in squash) that could catch you unawares.

Of course there are the inevitable police and security forces wandering around but then we have come to accept this as normal

It now gets dark around 8:00 in the evening but beach is only then getting into full swing. Yes the summer holidays allow a certain freedom for the children but those parents with younger children have the problem of juggling their responsibilities as parents with the need to carry on working. In the month of July there are many summer camp options available but August is the most difficult time with not too many options available so it is quite common to see people going to work with their children. The lucky ones bring grandparents into the child minder role.

The Haifa council has a full programme of activities outdoors for the young and not so young ranging from folk dancing where anyone joins in if they feel like it, many performances for children, concerts ranging from classical to pop and jazz and again this year the 13th annual cartoon competition plus many other activities. http://www.haifa.muni.il/Cultures/en-US/

There is never a shortage of things to do and if the beach is too hot, most of the shopping malls have their own programmes for children during the heat of the day.

We will be having our annual grandchildren's summer camp in a few weeks time but more about that in a future posting