The Ladder

Finally and finally I got my document. Sigh of relief. Travelled the usual 90 km to get there, spent over US$100 on transport and after many apologies from the Consul, I got my document.

Safra Square and the date palms

The weather is still very chilly despite the sun shining. Yesterday the weather forecast website read 6 degrees but feels like -4. It certainly did. Freezing. But in Netanya today it was about 24 degrees and very humid. Felt more like summer. This evening it's alot more warm ... so much so that the bats are out. They're fruit eating bats and there were dozens flitting round the date palms of Kikar Safra (Safra Square) - they're huge things, about a foot in length. People stopped to look at this wondrous sight as they bite on ripen dates while in flight, causing the fruit to fall on the ground. You can't see the bats in the photo but they're there ... too quick for the camera to snap.

Had a nice slow dinner with Leonardo at Pera e Mela (Pear and Apple) - an italian restaurant of 20 years standing. Owners and cooks are italians. Good homemade fare. I'm not particularly fond of italian food, but this was ok. Hope my stomach doesn't rebel tonight.

Saw parts of the funeral of Pope Shenouda live broadcast on computer. Total and utter chaos at St Bishoy Monastery where the pontiff was to be interred. The police simply lost control and the crowds surged toward the hearse.

The infamous ladder

Well everyone is talking about Easter. It'll be more calm this year as the Orthodox Easter falls a week after ours. Less confusion in the Holy Sepulchre, less tensions. I couldn't resist snapping a photo of the "Status Quo Ladder" that is put out during Lent in the Holy Sepulchre ... a relic of times past, dictated by the Status Quo law. Nobody remembers why it was put there, but it must be there. I guess life sometimes is like that - we do things that many times we don't even know why, maybe simply out of habit, without reflecting or evaluating. Perhaps the uncontrollable chaos at the Pope's funeral was something like that. We just feel better doing it ... and we feel uncomfortable and insecure if we don't. I wonder why. What's your "status quo ladder" in life?