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We left the house this morning at 08:45 and drove to Jerusalem. We parked at Mamila, and as soon as we entered the underground parking structure a preliminary alarm went off. Since the parking lot was a protected space we simply waited a few minutes for the all clear and then walked to the Jaffa Gate where we met our "guide" - a relative of a friend of Phil's who's been living here since 1972. She did a satisfying job of showing and explaining, though there wasn't much to show. In addition to the war, at present it's Ramadan and the old city is almost totally closed. I don't know what sort of experience this was for Phil and Debbie, but for me seeing the streets and alleyways empty was a fascinating experience. And if they were pleased, who am I to complain. After our tour of the old city we took the light rail to the Machaneh Yehuda market which seemed pretty much normal - lots of people going about their business.
We ate lunch there, followed by a short but nice tour of the Nachlaot neighborhood. Just as we were returning to Machaneh Yehuda another preliminary siren went off. Along with many others we went to a community shelter in Nachlaot and sat there for about fifteen minutes. (I didn't hear a siren for entering the shelter, but since many people did this, we did as well.) We've now been in a few public shelters, and it's always an experience with an interesting mix of Israel.
We arrived home at 17:00 - just in time for yet another preliminary alert. We think we heard some distant booms, but by us things were quiet. I caught something like a fifteen minute nap and then started catching up on my mail and messages, and at about 19:30, as I was typing this, we had yet another preliminary alert which caused me to turn on the television and watch the news. So now it's 20:00. The main evening news program has started, and yes, it's pretty much more of the same. We've also been told that those in their safe spaces can now leave them - though we never entered ours.
It's now 23:50. Twenty minutes ago I woke Tzippi who was dozing in front of the television that we'd shut off about an hour earlier. Hila is still with us - she'll come to work with me tomorrow and then I'll bring her to where she can catch a bus, not far from the college. She'd gone to sleep about an hour ago, as had Phil and Debbie. And a minute after waking Tzippi we had a preliminary alert, followed very shortly thereafter with the get-to-your-safe-space siren. So - everybody was up and we spent hardly ten minutes waiting for the all clear. So although we're constantly being told that things are winding down, primarily because the Iranian missile supply is being depleted, for most of Israel every day is pretty much the same.
One thing that is happening is that our government has discovered that waging a war is expensive. This means that funds for social needs like education and health are being transferred to defense. There will probably also be an increase in taxes. The news carried a taped announcement by Netanyahu and our finance minister almost enthusiastically telling us about this - as though we're looking forward to helping the war effort by getting less education. What isn't changing is the vast amount of funds (they're called coalitional agreements) that have been going to far-right and kharedi projects. These are even increasing. The finance reporter on the very middle of the road news program we generally watch couldn't contain herself and emphasized that this is absurd.
It's really not out of any dreaded expectation that I send off these letters only right before I crawl into bed, nor do I think that doing so may be jinxing the system. Quite frankly, we've learned that there really isn't a system. But ten minutes ago I was in the shower when Tzippi told me that we'd just had a preliminary warning. I only somewhat hurried to finish showering, but just as I turned the water off, even before I started drying myself off, we had a loud siren. It wasn't by us, but rather from the nearby base. But it was loud. The map of the expected range of the missile (it's now called a polygon) didn't include us, so when the ten minutes were up I sat down to continue writing here. It was 01:00. Before I could finish that last sentence we had yet another preliminary warning. I still have to shave and brush my teeth, but I'm hopeful that when I finish doing that, and the ten minute warning is behind us, I'll be able to send this ... and report on the rest of the night (hopefully quiet) only in my next installment.
I'm certainly not going to sign off with "it's all quiet". We've learned that quiet is fleeting and only temporary. But it seems that at least I can sign off, with the hope of quickly falling asleep, and then only waking up tomorrow morning. We can hope.
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