It's Good to Walk

I witnessed an exchange this morning which I would have expected to see on a satirical show like "Only in Israel" or "Wonderful Country."

On a very busy downtown Jerusalem artery, a man parks his vehicle on the very visibly no-parking-on-pain-of-towage side of the street. In full view of the traffic warden, to whom he nonchalantly informs "Hey, Bro, chill, I'm just getting a sandwich. It's all good" and procedes to saunter across the street. "No, its not OK!" says the warden. "Of course it is! You just stay there, you haven't seen me, OK?" says sandwich-man. And bizarrely, instead of bounding over to give him the ticket he deserves and then some, the warden remains inexplicably rooted to the spot.

Meanwhile, sandwich-man's white min-van (what else, indeed?) has completely blocked the turning into the street. A symphony of horns ensues. Predicatably, the driver is chatting to all and sundry and lights up a cigarette, seemingly oblivious to the chaos he has caused. The traffic warden is still playing musical statues to the sound of the horns and shouts, jaw to the floor.

A large truck/lorry with pressing business then tries to turn the blocked corner, and before we know it, the lovely sound of metal on metal fills the air- the truck has scraped the side of the illegally parked mini-van. Suddenly, the street turns into TNA Wrestling: Everyone is stuck, yet sandwichman only cares about the damage to his car.

I turned back when I was far enough away: The battle was still raging, yet the traffic warden was still frozen to his spot- hopefully contemplating a speedy career change towards something less demanding.

Some days it is definitely better to be a pedestrian.