Street Photography and a Weather-Related Moan

I’ve been exploring the blogging world a little this last week and I’ve found a whole group of bloggers who post up a photograph every Wednesday using a weekly tagline from a website called Sticky Fingers. I mentioned a few weeks ago that I’ve enrolled for a photography course so this will be a good photography-based focus for my brain. [As it’s so hot in the UK this week I’ve chosen photographs that allows me to incorporate a little moan while I’m at it.]

The tagline for this week's Photo Gallery is: Street Photography

You don’t often find streets like this in the UK, streets where you can escape from the glaring Jerusalem sun and wander in relative comfort.

Jerusalem's Old City, October 2011
Taken with Canon IXUS 115 HS

Jerusalem's Old City, October 2011
Taken with Canon IXUS 115 HS

And my moan, as if you hadn’t guessed, is about the glaring UK sun. I got up very early this morning and was showered, dressed and out in time to beat the heat. I needed to do the food shopping without melting both myself and my butter. Irrespective of the weather, this is the best time of the day to shop. The shelves are stacked high, members of staff are fresh, friendly and helpful and the car park is empty. I may even start doing early morning shopping all year round. [I’m kidding! I won’t really!]

The UK is meant to have a temperate maritime climate. So far this summer we’ve had torrential rain, floods, tornadoes, electric storms and now searing heat. Could this be the global warming that scientists have been predicting? If this level of heat continues we’ll have to build sheltered, walled streets like the ones in Jerusalem’s Old City. As for the flooding, I know nothing about the grand scale, but I’m convinced that locally we’d benefit from a little less concrete and a lot more garden area so that rainwater at least has a chance of soaking away... It would be nicer to look at too.

Are you a 4p Worker or a Papillon?

Plus some more photos of Israel!

I've made up the phrase 4p worker so please don’t rush for the dictionary. It stands for perseverance, persistence, pertinacity and patience. I do love alliteration. So a 4p worker is someone who has:

      Perseverance – plain old-fashioned hard work

      Persistence – sticking with that hard work

      Pertinacity – stubbornly sticking with said hard work and

      Patience – the ability to not be irritated by and so not be distracted from the hard work.

These are valuable skills, especially if you’re a writer, and I must mention all those people who have just launched themselves into this year’s NaNoWriMo (write a novel in a month) challenge. I admire you all. I couldn’t stick to the strict regime, but then I’m not a 4p worker. So good luck everyone [assuming you’ve got time to read this blog post!]

Last week I saw two amazing 4p workers. [Did I mention that we were in Israel last week? Oh, you read my last blog post? Sorry. I’m still on a high!]

4p Worker Number One

We were visiting an Italian Synagogue in Jerusalem. It was a beautiful, gold leaf-adorned Synagogue.

The Synagogue had a small museum for tourists and there we met an antique restorer. She worked constantly while we stood and gaped.

This is said to be one of the oldest Arks in the world. [The Ark is where the Torah Scrolls are kept in the Synagogue.] It had once been very beautiful and the restorer was working hard to recreate that beauty. What a job!

4p Worker Number Two

Masada is in the Negev desert and when we visited it was steaming hot. In the heat of the midday sun we were taken on a guided tour around the ancient ruins.

We ended up at what had once been a Synagogue. The tour guide pointed to a small structure in the corner of the ruins of the Synagogue and said, 

      “There’s a scribe in there, writing out Torah scrolls.” But it was getting on for 90^o up there! Surely it must be a museum dummy-style mock-up, but no! There really was a man writing each letter of the Torah with perfect precision.

Now that’s what I call a 4p worker. I only hope he had air-conditioning!

If I was a 4p worker I wouldn’t have five half-finished manuscripts on my computer... or an ironing pile that keeps falling over. I guess I’m one of those people who are destined to flit from one thing to another, like a butterfly... or rather a papillon! [I do love alliteration.]

So, what are you, a 4p worker or a papillon?

Jerusalem

We’ve just spent a week in Jerusalem. I was dubious about going. I’m not a great traveller but there were several reasons why I forced encouraged myself to go.

1.  I’d never been to Israel before.

2.  Everyone kept telling me that I had to go at least once in my life.

3.  When my Dad was very ill [he died in 1977] he said how he wished he'd gone to Israel.

So I went. This was my first view of the Old City. It didn’t fill me with awe but with trepidation...

A view of the outer wall from Jaffa Gate.

...because this was how we got lost in the Old City.

Don't know where we were, but it was somewhere in the Old City!

 This was the start of our second day and the moment I fell in love with Jerusalem. 

View from our hotel window as the sun rose over Jerusalem.

I don’t know how it happened but the rest of the week flew by in an emotional whirlwind. We went to Masada and floated in the Dead Sea.

Cable car about to take us up Masada.

A view of the Dead Sea from the top of Masada.

We walked right down to the Western Wall.

Men's section of the Western Wall.

And I was sad when it was time to come home.

El Al Departure Lounge and, yes, that clock does say 4.40 am!

I have a feeling that we’ll be going back sometime soon to see a bit more of that amazing country but first I have to get my head out of the El Al clouds and back into doing some writing. This isn’t going to be easy.