Six Appeal

So- without any flourishes of shining trumpets, or telegrams from the Queen, my 6 years in this country were duly marked at the end of the week.

The early hours of this auspicious day were, quite by accident, spent in a very swanky bar (far too cool for this blogger, who was also unfortunately coming down with a nasty cold) chock-full of groomed city folks who happily were spending what probably amounted to my monthly salary on stupidly-named cocktails and designer beer from Luxembourg, Uzbekhistan or similar. I then spent the daylight hours headless chicken-like: making frantic calls all over the place- supermarket, car, exhaust repair shop, and briefly by the sea (yay); damning whoever the fools are who design Israeli road signage while shouting curses in Hebrew and Arabic at all the wild animals possessing drivers licenses; mournfully eyeing the ugly separation fence (this time while driving along the evil toll-road 6- how very apt); snorting as the radio station soothingly told me to have a relaxing weekend; and indulging in some very nice red wine surrounded by lovely people, some who seemed far more excited by my Aliya-versary than myself.

So, basically, a typical day in the life of this now allegedly seasoned Israeli. (Except for the fact that I woke up in an old age home. We won't go into why.) And now, the nasty cold is up and running and keeping me it's prisoner: Thank goodness for that lovely soft toilet paper with the little dogs on it- very comforting for my poor sore nose. (Rest assured that if I was making a Top 6 list of great things about this country, I'd have mentioned the dog-toilet paper.) All the same, I truly can't believe it has been six years since I stepped off that plane: that's a significant amount of time in "rock". Time clearly flies- whether you're having fun, falafel, fracas with your "neighbours" or fadichot with your bank/insurance company/garage/anyone who presents themselves as part of the Israeli service industry.

I'm afraid the evil Snot Dragon is calling me now, so my post-Zionism thesis will have to wait. But if you want to see some post-Zionism in action, I've been asked to guest blog for Jameel tomorrow. Should be a blast, I hope not literally.

Sniff. Gnight. And my blessing to you all- may everything you desire come in sixes.