22 July 2012

I got a fairly early start today, and there was a nice breeze out, so everything was set for a good day. However, things got slightly disrupted. When I got to the big kikar (the traffic circle where highway 12 goes out of town and up the mountains), the peripheral road (Harim Road) beyond it was closed by the police. At first, I thought I wasn't going to be able to get through to the gym at all, but then I saw that I could walk on the other side of the street. They were obviously investigating something VERY carefully, but I couldn't tell what.

I continued on to the gym, had a good workout, and started back. The street was still completely closed to motor vehicles in BOTH directions, but I was able to walk back on the other side again. I asked the cop what had happened and whether it was an accident. His only answer was "no".

Later in the day, I read this article in the Times of Israel (which, by the way, I HIGHLY recommend!), which tells what had happened. Apparently a guy had robbed a restaurant, the police were pursuing him, and, at some point, they shot him dead! I presume he must have done something quite threatening for THAT. In any case, that explained the long, detailed investigation they were doing. In fact, the road was STILL closed 3 hours later when we were going to go that way to go to the market.

When we came back from the market (coming a different way, of course), we found that the central air-conditioning in our apartment was not working. I unloaded the groceries and put them away, and then tried turning it off and on again, but it still wasn't producing any cool air. So I immediately called our landlord, who promised to come over before 2:00, which he did. When he checked it out (he's a professional A/C repairman, which is his business), he said that the motor was the problem and that he'd have to check if he had one. Even if he didn't he said he'd be able to come back and fix it tomorrow. Thank goodness that we have the room air conditioners in both the office and the bedroom! It was still rather hot in the living room and the kitchen by afternoon, but not completely unbearable as it would have been with NO A/C at all!

This evening, we took a drive just to get away from the house for a bit. We went up the Arava on highway 90 (stopping at Yotvata to get another kilo of their delicious dates), turned left onto highway 40 at the Ketura Junction, and then turned left again onto highway 12 at the Shizafon Junction. From there, we continued home along the Egyptian border just as the sun was disappearing behind a distance ridge in the Sinai.