The whereabouts of Nushyman

I know I have been a bit lazy with posting recently. The main reason is lack of time. About 3 months ago I joined a gym near work to try and help myself lose weight. I have been overweight most of my life and it is always an uphill battle to lose it (surely if it is an uphill battle it should make that weight-loss a little easier, just a thought).

Anyway, I now get up 4 times a week at 5:15am and leave for the gym at 5:45am. I work out 3 days a week with a personal trainer and once a week I attend a water aerobics class. It is really hard to motivate oneself to go work-out every single day. It is harder still to motivate yourself to do it so early in the morning. I am proud of myself and more than happy to inform you that my bank balance has lost plenty of weight over the last 3 months :)

Inflation!

I just looked back through my archives because I thought I had posted a blog about eating at Finks restaurant in Jerusalem. I cannot find the link so I guess what I have to say may be a trifle irrelevant now.

Unfortunately, I just heard that Finks closed down this week. Anyone who has been there will be sad to see it go, but I must admit I honestly think it serves them right.

You see Finks was an amazing bar/restaurant. It was a mainstay in Jerusalem for more than 50 years. The atmosphere and history on the walls made it a very special place to go sit quietly and soak in Jerusalem. Walking into Finks was like a step back in time. As soon as that door shut - the world outside, the busy streets of Ben Yehuda and King George were all but a faint dull noise in the background as you were absorbed by the colorful display of 1950's and upwards memorabilia covering the walls, from the unchanged decor to the half empty dusty bottles of liqueur that have graced this bar for so many generations.

Finks was already famous for among other things, turning away Henry Kissinger when he requested the place all to himself. As a hang-out for many foreign reporters and journalists during Israel's colorful wartime history, and more recently for it's Goulash. About a year and a half ago it became Kosher so it was without hesitation that I took my husband there on his Birthday last year for dinner.

When we were seated (there are only five tables) we were offered a selection of, what we were assured was, the finest collection of quality single malt whiskeys in Israel. We had what I would like to consider a fairly modest meal, Tomato soup and liver pate on toast for starters, followed by beef stroganoff and one of their famous goulashes, apple pie with ice-cream, tea and coffee. Oh and of course I ordered a diet coke.

When presented with the bill I was a little taken aback to discover that we had run up a bill of over 450 shekels. The whiskey we had ordered was priced at 90 shekel, my diet coke (you may want to sit down for this) was 20 shekel, 15 shekel for a cup of tea… etc

I mean COME ON!!! The food was OK and the atmosphere was charming – but 15 shekel for a tea bag and some hot water??? Not wanting to make a scene on my husband's birthday – we paid the bill and left. But we never went back and we decided never to go back. So it does not surprise me, even though it saddens me, that Finks is now closed.

Often we go out and are presented with ridiculous prices for food and drinks and we NEVER SAY anything. I know that restaurants put their prices up when the Intifada was at its strongest. I know that in most restaurants in Jerusalem you are asked to pay an additional 2 shekel per person for the added security. But last time I checked I was not earning any more money than I was 2 years ago. I am starting to wonder where these restaurants get off and how they think we can continue to keep supporting them at such ridiculously inflated prices. I know if I am presented again with a 20 shekel diet coke, I am going to make the decision to just stop eating out. Which is a real shame because sometimes I just can’t be bothered cooking.

We will fight them on the beaches ???

The very idea that Major General Doron Almog had to face the possibility of arrest when landing in London for "crimes against humanty" - namely bulldozing houses in Gaza, is sickening enough in what it says about the current state of international law. Much more disturbing for me is the spectre of a fine Israeli soldier scampering back home like a whipped dog with his tail between his legs because some people have been able to exploit the perverted state of British law to threaten him with such action. Surely a much better action would be for Israel to expose the nonsense that this threat represents by letting someone (not necessarily Almog) be brought to trial in a British court, and to, as would almost certainly be the case, have the charges dismissed out of hand, thereby eliminating the need for Israeli soldiers to now avoid landing in the UK.

We could take the positive step of laying these charges ourselves, not waiting for the perverts who call themselves citizens of this country to choose their targets. Get it all out into the open, and get rid of it once-for-all. Better than letting them crow about their "victory" and our cowardice. Much better this way than trying to negotiate a diplomatic solution, which would only serve as ammunition in their claims that we seek to control the world though underhand dealing, bribery and subversion. If British "justice" allows such charges to be laid, then let's get British "justice" to deal with them properly.

Germany 2006? You're Kidding, right?

I watched Israel's World Cup Qualifier against Switzerland yesterday with great despair and frustration. Here was a distinctly average Switzerland team (the excellent Philippe Senderos excepted) that was there for the taking. If Israel had won the game last night, it would have been in pole position to finish top of Group 4, thereby qualifying automatically for the 2006 World Cup Finals in Germany.

Unfortunately, Avraham Grant, the manager of Israel's national side is less interested in winning games than in avoiding defeat, as we could see so clearly last night. It was disgraceful to see Grant's cowardly approach - rather than try and win the game when the game was level, he took off his best attacking players and urged his players to maintain a defensive bunker. In fact, I noticed on a couple of occasions that when the Israeli team were on the attack, they got scared and retreated.

Of course, there are people who will point out that an Israeli draw away from home against Switzerland is a great achievement. Maybe it is - for a team with limited objectives, and very little adventure that has little hope of competing in Germany 2006. That is the trouble with Israel's national team and its clubs in European competition. They are chokers! As soon as the summit comes into view, they freeze. And this is before we've even discussed the drab defensive football that Grant serves up.

With a little more attacking adventure, I believe that Israel could have caught the Swiss off guard, and could certainly have scored a second goal. With a manager as over-cautious as Avraham Grant, it was never going to happen. It now means that the rest of the World Cup qualification campaign is no longer in Israel's hands. We are basically hoping that Switzerland, France and Ireland take points off each other, letting Israel in through the back door. Even if Israel were to finish second, they are likely to face top notch opposition in the play-off spot. Let's not forget it.

Now I want to see Israel play in the 2006 World Cup as much as anyone else, but it might help our cause if the team actually showed some desire to score goals and even win a game or two.