Tel Aviv Rooftop

On a steep side street in Ramat Gan sits a crazy apartment building. We went to visit it last night with Y who has just moved into the neigbourhood. It was a moonlit night The tentacles of alien creatures hung over the sides of the crazy building. Their parents, possibly scavenging for food, roamed the neighbourhood Surprising shapes inspired by Gaudi confronted us at every turn. A concrete banana skin helter skelter wrapped around the exterior of the crazy building contains a staircase that allows the visitor to enter the beast from the outside and as well as from the inside. What a shame that most buildings are not crazy

What with everything being so gloomy and all (Iranians getting closer to the bomb, Bibi planting trees in settlements, International Holocaust Day tomorrow, it's cold) I thought I'd cheer myself up with some examples of Engrish and Hebrish I recently stumbled across.                      My personal favourite. Have they no shame? Couldn't have put it better myself. The rest are for Hebrew speakers. Here ' Navy vessel Nidkar' in Hebrew becomes 'my brother was stabbed" (that is in the Hebrew meaning of the English). Similarly 'Alexandroni' (one of the regiments that fought in the 1948 War) has been transformed by the linguists attached to the street signs department of Tel Aviv municipality into 'Alex and Roni'. The guys who live next door? Finally, a sign , obviously created by the department of philosophy attached to ma'atz, the public works...

While Europe freezes, Tel Aviv (and the rest of the country) basks in an Indian Summer with temperatures in the low twenties. The air is uncannily warm for January, at least in the middle of the day. The shadows start lengthen early on and by 5.30 it's dark. The springlike weather has brought everyone out. "U.S. envoy George Mitchell will arrive in the region this week without a new agenda for renewing negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, the pan-Arab newspaper Asharq al-Awsat reported on Saturday." according to Haaretz  . Not an inspiring headline for those of us still interested in solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  Probably the last thing on the minds of the picnikers above spreading a blanket in the soft sunlight (above) under Ilan Gur's sculpture of the Propher Elija (I think). In fact, interest in politics, especially the "conflict",  is probably at an all time low in Israel right now. This week one of the few decent politic...

Enjoying the good life with not a thought for the rest of the country. Good or bad ? Above and below: Young revellers on Rothschild Boulevard during a recent street party. "[...] In the last decade the Israeli -Palestinian conflict has degenerated into a desperate, hopeless, impasse with no bright horizon in sight. And around Tel Aviv the country is deteriorating into a lowbrow, narrow mindedness saturated with hate and prejudice, nationalistic and  fearful of the other. When you place Tel Aviv in this perspective and without comparing it to European capitals, it is far from disappointing. On the contrary. And, as as the siege on Tel Aviv develops, its contrary nature become ever more contrary. In Tel Aviv it's normal to have sex with Arabs, to be a woman who was once a man, to go to a sperm bank to have a baby, to be homosexual, not to go to military reserve service or even mandatory service. In Tel Aviv it is not mandatory and no-one raises an eyebrow. In Tel A...

It's been a while since I've written about the neighbourhoods surrounding the Rooftop - Neve Tzedek, Shabazi, Florentin, Yaffo and the old city centre. All of them are undergoing rapid transformation as a result of the real estate spree that has ignored the economic crisis and is gentrifying formerly shunned neighbourhoods in south Tel Aviv.  Our little stretch is a good example.These photos, taken from the Rooftop, are of a building (one of a  pair of twins) over the road, built in the 1920s. For many years it served as a court. By the time we moved in, in the mid '90s it was already empty and neglected and over the years degenerated into a refuge for the homeless, junkies and film crews looking for authentic locations. The first photo was taken in July 2006. The bottom one was taken a few weeks ago. Beautifully conserved and with a swimming pool on the roof, its rich new inhabitants will be part of the trend to move into old conserved buildings. Unfortunately for the...

No-one knows quite how to relate to New Year's Eve in Israel. Some people have started wishing others a shana ezrachit tova (a "happy civil" - as opposed to Jewish - "new year") but somehow this doesn't roll off the tongue. Religious people shun Sylvester entirely of course as an odious alien custom. But secular Israelis, i.e. those of us who are not averse to sharing some non-Jewish notions with the rest of the world, have been increasingly interested in joining the global party. Strangely, instead of just adopting New Year's Eve as a totally non-religious excuse for a booze up as in other countries, in Israel, New Year's Eve is referred to as 'Sylvester' . Not clear how many Israelis are aware that this is named after Pope Sylvester (314- 335 AD) who was very chummy with Constantine, the first Christian Roman emperor. Apparently, since, "in the West, the liturgical feast of Saint Sylvester is on 31 December, the day of his burial ...