Independence Day

The Eggheads were in Bet Oren for Independence day. No fireworks, no flags and no bloody barbecues thankfully. The link above explains the event.

Israel

The flags are coming out again. The kids are selling ate the crossroads and people are decorating their houses. I resist as much as I can. I object to the large number of car flags that are supposed to represent patriotism which only end up in a landfill. I never flew the flag in England and I only did it here at the last World Cup when England was predictably beaten by Argentina. Both my flags were gently confiscated by admiring friends which has given me an idea for the next World Cup. Watch this space.

Man arrested for having sex while driving drunk down Petah Tikvah highway - Haaretz - Israel News

I'm impressed. I managed to all those three things but never all at once. My old teachers report comes to mind. 'Must try harder'. No... I'll pass thanks.

Birds and Israel

One of the wonderful advantages of living where we do in the North are birds. The Eggheads spent an energetic morning making Chesek liqueur and planting out several flowers and plants. Mrs E. has gone off to one of her many meetings and I was relaxing considering cleaning the hubcaps of my now beloved Mr Egg, the Ford Orion I now have.
From my viewpoint in the garden I could see a woodpecker doing it's best to drill a nest in the telegraph pole holding up our telecoms connection. It seems a bit puzzled but works hard at the job. The doves are busy , mainly defecating on the workbench and pattering on the tin roof on shed number 1. We have an unidentified bird setting up in the Bougainvillea which makes sense as the thorns keep the local cat population away. I refer to it as the 'weed' and when Mrs E. is away for a suitable time will receive my full concentration together with all the herbicides I can muster and a flamethrower if all else fails.
The smaller birds are pigging out on the now ever ripening Cheseks and one crested warbler visits the Egghead bird table every day complaining about the quality of the food provided.
Every day is good if you learn something. My lesson learnt is don't sample Chesek liqueur while it's simmering. It needs to be bottled and kept for those special occasions when you want your guests to stagger away feeling happy but unwell.

Ha'Aretz

For those who were confused by the headline on page 3 of the Thursday dead tree edition of Ha'Aretz, the word 'docent' means curator to right pondians. The article is interesting in itself of course. This is the first time in many a year I had to resort to a dictionary.

Upper Nazareth city councillor: May the Arabs disappear - Haaretz - Israel News

This is only one person. For the majority view, read this.

Being helpful

The Eggheads did their latest bit for Israeli-Palestinian relations by picking up a young mother and her baby from the Jenin crossing point last week and dropping them off back today. The baby is poorly, only 10 months and 5 kilos but much better. I was amazed at Mrs E's ability to blag them past the crossing point , ignoring such trivialities such as paperwork, security check and the like. No, we drove straight up to the main gate, explained and 90 seconds later the gate opened.
Anyway, we now have a standing invite to Jenin which we will take up. Might be interesting.

CultCase: The Carmel Tunnels Project: Israel's Longest Tunnel Dug

For those like me you are interested in the Haifa Carmel tunnel project, above is a nice link explaining it all with pictures.

Netanyahu government / Who's who in the new cabinet - Haaretz - Israel News

I did start reading through the list of our new government. After a few minutes I felt queasy and by Minister number 20 I was sick. I do hope that Israel survives.