Locked in

Giant pink tree

Well what do you know? Coronavirus and Mother Nature has done what no govt or army succeeded ... silencing the war in Syria and the surrounding region. The fear of being infected and dying has caused all the warring parties to withdraw and wash their hands and keep social distance. Even the southern border clashes have stopped. Sounds like a joke but honestly ... it's working. No more war ...

The Israeli Knesset (parliament) is finally sworn in today. But slowly ... because of the epidemic precautions, legislators came in twos or threes to swear before the president. It took quite some time but it all worked out. Now a new government has to be formed and that's very tricky as no party gained a majority.

Well we've all been told not to go out unless absolutely necessary. Of course "absolutely necessary" is yet to be defined ... just like the govt instruction that "non-essential workers" should not go to work. What is "non-essential"? And so everyone debates while the virus circulates. I am used to staying indoors ... in fact for me it's nothing special. There're some who're going crazy!!!

The weather on the other hand has been brilliant ... the sun is shining and the wind is not too cold. The swallow and storks have been migrating back from Africa to Europe ... and they fly past our City. The chirping of the swallows is a sure sign that summer has come. And they eat a lot of the mosquitoes that have bred during the raining season. Hope they'll stay a little longer and do a good job.