Fire!!!

The weather has been so scorching hot these 2 days, there's now a  raging forest fire in Beit Shemesh which is about 25 km northwest of Jerusalem. A housing estate has been evacuated while 22 fire-engines are being deployed to fight the fire. Let's hope it'll be extinguished by tonight. Horrific.

Way of the Cross: new twist

Tourists have trickled ... with the usual asian groups. Europeans and Americans are no longer coming.  It's either out of fear or due to economic troubles. The attack in Syria by Turkey yesterday is ruffling a lot of feathers locally. No one knows the consequence.

Anyway Asians of course have none of these troubles ... and they're big spenders ... so locals love them. Via Dolorosa .. where the Way of the Cross begins, is pretty quiet. Fewer groups are carrying the crosses down the lane. In a way it's good for us locals ... at last we can walk freely without being blocked by gawking tourists.

It'll be Tisha B'Av soon ... the day the jewish Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians in 587 BC, and after being rebuilt was again destroyed in 70 AD by the Roman armies ... all on the same day: the 9th day of Av.