43 degrees

Fiery morning

And yesterday was hotter than the day before ... 43 degrees. It's the highest in Jerusalem ever ... since records were kept a hundred years ago. The ground is just heaving with heat ... suffocating and oppressive. The sunset if anything was already warning us of what was to come later in the day .... a fiery explosive sun roaring over the Mt. of Olives. And it's 40 degrees now ... 3 lower than yesterday but it still feels unbearable.

We read from the news that electric outages are occurring throughout the country because everyone is turning on aircons or fans or coolers. The irony of this is the more electricity is used to cool the air, the more heat is generated. A vicious cycle.

Toddlers go to school alone

And wearing masks is still mandatory and schools continue to function ... well the wearing of masks I can understand, to slow the spread of corona ... but opening schools in a heatwave? It just runs counter to slowing down the infection rate. The hebrew site of the govt commission for coronavirus lists the Old City as a red zone. That means tomorrow or Monday, we'll be under a lockdown. This includes traveling not more than 500m from the house; all transportation stopped; no interCity travel. It also means no Masses or religious meetings ... but it'll not work as jews and muslims will ignore the ruling and go ahead with group prayers. And the police will do nothing.  

So we wait ... for the govt. instructions.