Saved by the flu

Artichokes are in
season

48 hours of violence ... starting with a 50 yr old arab woman stabbing policemen inside the Old City yesterday morning; then her son and an accomplice went on a shooting spree at Salahaddin Street in East Jerusalem, while at the same time 60km away another attack took place in Petah Tikvah and 70km away american tourists were killed or wounded in Old Jaffa.

This morning a shooting spree from a moving car hit a bus in Ramot (north of Jerusalem); the same car came into Jerusalem just outside the Old City and opened fire indiscriminately ... critically wounding a passing christian. Later we found out he was Victor who used to work in our kitchen. Word is that he was shot in the head.

I would have walked by that section of the road at that time everyday to go to work, but today because of the severe flu I stayed home and that saved my life. Well being saved from being shot is one thing .... but the flu is really killing me in other ways: painful joints, fever, chills, coughing fits with congested lungs; and a dreadful asthma reaction which I now think is an allergy to a new toothpaste that I'm using. There's a chemical in there that I'm severely allergic to.