Of tombs and trains and temperature

Night market

It's Saturday ... and still a series of events have been planned, clashing with each other. All the past 3 3 weeks we've been struggling to keep pace with lectures, conferences, exhibitions organised on the same day or within 24 hours of each other. I think it shows a very bad communication process. The secretariat should have co-ordinated all these events but of course it all depended on the event organisers to first inform the secretariat. So today we were supposed to have our monthly retreat ... except that the retreat centre in Gethsemani is under renovation. So the retreat was made at home here. But at the same time an excursion to the fortress of Alexandrion built by King Herod the Great in the Jericho desert. Most students decided to go to the excursion ... which is a pretty rare visit since the Alexandrion is not open to the public and special must be gotten from the Israeli army for such a visit. Others I guess stayed for the retreat. I could do neither as I had to work in the library. Our workers' contracts are such that no one works on Saturdays. That's the problem when people who have authority to make contracts have not a single clue how the library works or what it needs. Utter incompetence.

The temperatures have reached its peak today at 28 degrees during the day and from tonight it'll start to drop. In fact by coming Wednesday the highest will be only 13 degrees and the lowest will be 7 degrees. I guess I'll have to buy another heater as one is not enough in 7 degree weather. My left ankle has been playing up yesterday, I guess because of the cold. Walking is painful. But the cold is doing great things for the plants. Spring bulbs are all sprouting, including a vase of tulips I found in a corner of our garden. And cyclamen are everywhere. I fact Sr. Gabriella gave me a pot for my feast day.

Israeli development was again put on the brink of stagnation because the ultra-orthodox jews have protested against railway works on the Sabbath. The ultra-orthodox Helath Minister threatened to resign if railway works begin. Most people see economic progress being stifled by these rigid laws held by a minority in Israel but has a powerful lobby in govt. Railway works on the Sabbath is logical because traffic will be at a minimal, no traffic jams will because when large machines and structures are transported.  https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.823360

Kitten encounters guy

Another amazing news we read yesterday was the huge underground cemetery the jews have built ... under a jewish cemetery. It's one km long. But it's exact location is a secret still. Well work on that project goes ahead because the ultra-orthodox rabbis are in favour of it.  https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5044269,00.html

Well just to end off on a happy note for the weekend ... I noticed an amusing encounter at Damascus Gate several mornings ago. A tourist was writing his journal when a stray kitten came up at tried to attract his attention. It jumped onto the seat and sat there watching him write. Nothing happened, he never looked up. So the kitten jumped onto the back rest and walked toward the tourist ... the tourist was equally amused as I.