Treat!

Well, no rioting last night as expected. I was out in the New City to see some action but there was none. Well actually I was out for a meeting - over a pizza dinner which I didn't eat. So much discussion and planning. Got a headache from all of it. Well actually got a headache several hours before that when I had to go for another meeting after lunch. It was sooooo hot and the Friday muslim crowd was just leaving the mosques - the streets were jammed. I decided to push my way up the Christian Quarter where they do not enter but that meant walking 2km uphill to my destination. My ankles hurt!

Israelis are reflecting hard on the last weeks' riots - the worse we have had in years. Alot of self-criticism, but also alot of finger-pointing. http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1098187.html and http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6970195.stm Not all self-criticism is welcomed though - F. Langer's (Jewish critic of Israel) being awarded by the German President gets condemned. http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1246443840063&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull Now watch the germans make a full reversal and apologise to Israel and withdraw the award. It's so typical, it's become clockwork (I predict Angela Merkel will be the first to react - watch the news in the coming 24 hrs to see if I'm wrong) .... and the germans will again become the laughing stock of the international community.

Meanwhile Fr Niccacci is back from hospital and I had to go buy medicine and yoghurt for him. He leaves for Italy tomorrow. Only 2 breeding pairs of canaries are in the breeding cages - all the rest are back in the large cage because brooding time is almost over. And just a note on hot hot summer - this year's plums, apricots, peaches and watermelons are very sweet. I just ate 3 plums kept in the fridge for 2 days - cool and sweet, very refreshing in this weather. The fruit were given to me by Jadallah our janitor. He goes to buy fruit for the monastery and usually picks a few fruit in a separate bag for me from the wholesalers ... they usually give a couple away for tasting. I can't afford buying fruit - they're not that cheap! So a few tasting samples are a real treat!