Accident

The weather has cooled a couple of degrees during the weekend but not enough. This week it'll rise to 36 degrees for several days. We're bracing for a very hot summer this year as the heat came very early ... in the beginning of June. Many people are already planning to leave the country to escape the summer heat.

Tuktuk accident

On Saturday there was the 1st accident on our light rail in 13 years since it started working .... right in front of our monastery at New Gate. The tuktuk (golf cart) driver was reckless ... turning left into the City Gate even when it was red light ... and the tram was speeding uphill. Both drivers had their visions blocked by a row of cars between them ... all stationary because it was a red light. The tuktuk driver Ali who lives in my neighbourhood in East Jerusalem was injured as he and his tuktuk were dragged several meters up the road by the tram. Well the municipality has banned tuktuks in and especially outside the Old City now ... so those who own tuktuks are very angry at Ali. These guys drive tourists who can't climb the steps in the Old City around and earn a good sum of money. A ride to the Holy Sepulchre that easily costs 5 shekels becomes 50 shekels! And tourists pay it!

Mass at Tel Aviv

My Covid symptoms are not gone. I still have fevers and splitting headaches and diarrhea. And I still cannot taste or smell  much. I can taste citrus fruit but not much else. The doctor said my resistance is very very low and I can catch easily any sickness so he warned me to stay away from people. Good idea. But I already have a bad case of cold sores on half my mouth ... it's vicious. Not one blister but over a dozen. Luckily the doc had given me medicine so it doesn't hurt ... but I look like a leper. Wearing the mask now has it's use!

My weekends are now busy celebrating Masses for the Chinese migrant community. They're so many I have now one Mass in Tel Aviv and another in Jerusalem. The workers work in construction and the heatwave is terrible on them. And the war ... with missiles flying overhead is no comfort for those working around the south either.