Things are OK now; A trip that I didn’t like; And relax.

Well, just to keep you updated, the problem that was, is “was” and is no more. Or, at least, not for a bit and, soon, possibly not forever again.

So, that’s good, isn’t it? Yes, it is.

Today has been a holiday but some work came in unexpectedly, yesterday, and today was doing that. In between, under the bloody rain, I did lots of things including picking up jeans that were having a new zip, taking stuff to the dry cleaners, food shopping and going to get F’s main present. I didn’t feel I could leave that until the last minute. Just far too risky.

So, now, apart from food shopping for Christmas and he last minute things and wrapping presents, I am done.

And relax!

But I just wanted to talk about Israel. Before I went, last weekend, for work, many people told me how lovely Israel is and how great Tel Aviv is, etc., etc.

Now I’ve been before. I wasn’t all that impressed last time. This time even less so. I just don’t get it. I obviously don’t see what everyone who’s been there sees.

Let me describe to you my feelings on Israel and, in particular, Tel Aviv.

it is a dirty, messy hole. I wouldn’t go and live there for all the money in the world.

And then there’s the people. Arrogant doesn’t even come close to describing them. A bit like the Italians (but much worse), everything is done much better in Israel, apparently. Except it isn’t. And they always want something for nothing. If it were up to me, I wouldn’t deal with them. They are, as we say in the UK, a nasty piece of work.

And let me just add something that is a bit controversial.

Let me first explain that what Hitler and Mussolini did in the war (and their people) to the Jews was horrific and inexcusable. It should never be forgotten and we should always be watchful that something like this doesn’t ever happen again.

If I were Jewish, and lived in Germany or Italy, it would have been possible that my grandparents would have been killed. So it’s not that far away from me, if you see what I mean.

However, whilst never forgetting about it, I do feel it’s time to put it behind one and move forward. I don’t want to hear about it every day.

You see, I wasn’t hungry. The first day we had a very large lunch and then a very large dinner, provided by our hosts. By day two, I really couldn’t eat much.

I had a little bit of the appetiser, declined the soup and the first course. The jerk just opposite, to the right said, “Oh you can’t be Jewish”. Stupidly, I ask why not. He replied that, if I had been Jewish I would have eaten because, due to the Holocaust, all Jews feel they have to eat everything!

Well, for one, I don’t believe that and for two, excuse me but FUCK RIGHT OFF! That’s not an excuse for you to be a fat bastard and, even if I were Jewish, I would also have some pride about my fucking appearance which, quite frankly, you obviously don’t. And stop relating everything to the Holocaust! I guess, of course, that they can’t leave it alone because, I imagine, their parents constantly reminded them of it – but leave it alone now. As I said, we should never forget, none of us, but it should not be mentioned every fucking five seconds!

And, can I say that the hotel was the very worst hotel I’ve ever stayed in. And I really do mean EVER – in all my time staying in hotels (which is a lot of time and a lot of hotels). The Diaghilev, LIVE ART Boutique Hotel will NEVER see me there again. I was a little worried when I saw all the reviews so positive – but quite recent reviews. I should have stayed with my gut feeling. Cold room, no hot water, no decent service, no breakfast the first morning. Dreadful, dreadful, dreadful. My review is on TripAdvisor but the reviews are, generally, full of people posting their first ever review who think it is the best hotel ever. So mine will be lost down the list, which is shame for the real travellers who will be so disappointed when they stay there. Next time, I shall be more careful with TripAdvisor (and I had thought I already was!)

There were two good things about the trip. The first was Turkish Airlines – on time, food good, service good (we flew Milan to Istanbul and then to Tel Aviv). The second was the meal we went for (just me and my colleagues) to < href="http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g293984-d4793435-Reviews-Tapas_1_Tel_Aviv-Tel_Aviv_Tel_Aviv_District.html" target="blank">Tapas 1 where the service was great and the food superb!

Anyway, enough of all that.

In the meantime, I am, almost, ready for Christmas and so I say … BRING IT ON!

4 thoughts on “Things are OK now; A trip that I didn’t like; And relax.

  1. HI ANDY – looks like the phrase “Been there, done that” applies.
    And as a small note, SKipp was raised Jewish, (he was adopted) anyway, he NEVER mentions the holocaust – although we have a replica of the windows of the holocaust memorial that was his folks. and a small replica of the ‘wailing wall’. And I understand how you feel about ‘using’ such things as a reason for everything – I feel similar regarding African Americans and slavery. Enough! Not that I am not sensitive and horrified by all the injustice – I am…
    Moving on – enjoy your Christmas EAT DRINK AND BE MERRY…..
    Love Gail
    peace…..

    • I think there is a huge difference between Jewish people who live in, say, the USA and the UK and those who live in Israel. Those in Israel have some sort of siege mentality and it seems to affect their whole way of life. It can’t be so wonderful being surrounded by people who want to wipe you off the face of the earth but, really, the effect it has makes them mean-spirited and arrogant people.

      Yes, I’m not sure that this constant wishing to have the past apologised for over and over again is a good thing. It’s time to accept and move on!

      And, moving on – I hope you have a great Christmas, Gail. I’m sure you will.

  2. This made me LOL
    “That’s not an excuse for you to be a fat bastard”
    :-D

    I agree with you, they can’t relate every fucking thing to that horrible thing that happened quite a while ago. I acknowledge that history should never be forgotten but still, there are limits. It’s not even fair using the “holocaust” argument. It’s like saying” don’t complain about “something” as you don’t have cancer so you can deal with that”. If you can see what I mean.

    I’ve been to Tel Aviv 4 or 5 years ago. I wasn’t impressed but I didn’t have time to hang around. I enjoyed Jerusalem though but then again I was on biz trip and I “visited” the city for half a day!

    Anyway, I really liked food when I was there. I love hummus & falafel :-)

    • I’ve heard that Jerusalem is a great place to visit. Maybe next time we can swing an extra day to do it :-)

      Yes, some of the food is great.

      Glad I could make you laugh :-)

Leave a Reply to Lola Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.