St. James feast

Endless stairs in the alleys

2022 new infections in the last 24 hours. The weekend lockdown is in effect .... I think. That means restaurants, malls, libraries, hairdressers, gyms are all closed till Sunday 5am. All other places are opened ... with conditions of restricted numbers of persons. So places of worship are limited to 10. But I don't see the Al Aqsa mosque enforcing that. Of course it's extremely spacious inside the compound so it doesn't get crowded easily. Anyway a newspaper report says Israel ranks 6th in world daily cases of infections per capita. Not a nice accolade ... it was one of the best in containing the pandemic during the 1st wave. What happened? I think everyone agrees ... schools were reopened too quickly without any planning, resulting in massive and rapid spread of the virus from classroom to home to workplace and places of entertainment. Also the whole system of tracing carriers is in shambles because of the politics involved. I think that's the major difference ... In Korea, Japan, China and many asian countries, tracing of infected peoples is extremely efficient. But here it's seen as invasion of privacy. I guess because they're haunted by all the secret service they employ .... and now it's aimed at themselves instead of others. A taste of their own medicine ... and it's bitter.   https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-said-to-rank-6th-in-daily-cases-per-capita-2022-cases-found-in-24-hours/

Ottoman balcony

I had to go to work again this morning ... very reluctantly as I don't want to mix around in the streets. I've decided to take a different route home now ... it skirts along the City Walls but from within the Old City. Narrow and steep alleys full of stairs. It's tiring to climb it under the hot midday sun ... but I do avoid people so I feel safer. Today there were 2 groups of local israelis making a tour of this part of the Muslim Quarter. They're secular jews who don't observe the Sabbath, so they travel, visit, smoke cigarettes and use cellphones all along the way. Tour guides are surviving on these local tourists to keep their trade alive. One amazing thing they love to see, and I too ... are the Ottoman period wooden balconies. Very iconic.

I came home before noon. Our sisters in the kitchen made white rice and fish curry and kept some for me. Fantastic! Had it for lunch. Tomorrow I'll make Laksa for them .... from packets of of course ... not from scratch!!! But before that, I'll need to clean my room, prepare the laundry and rest a little. After all it's the weekend! And being the feast of St. James, one of the local christian here albeit 2000 yrs ago ... it's a big celebration!