Friday, April 23, 2010

List: '62 more things I love about Israel'

Today’s ‘List Friday’. Since Farmdoc’s Blog began on 21 April 2008 (damn – I forgot to do a post on the biennial milestone), I’ve posted 45 lists (including today’s). I haven’t kept note of the length of these lists, but today’s would have to be one of – if not the – longest. Last Monday was Israel’s 62nd birthday. I wrote of her 61st birthday here [1]. To celebrate this marvellous milestone of a tiny nation state that’s been under continuous violent attack for all of her 62 years, one Benji Lovitt’s written a Guest Blog for the Jerusalem Post. It’s titled ‘62 more things I love about Israel’ [2]. And it follows his similar offerings on Israel’s 60th and 61st birthdays. I (with Sweetheart Vivienne and our then three daughters) lived in Israel for over a year in the late 1970s. It’s quaint to think that was about the halfway mark in Israel’s 62-year life to date. Though we’ve visited since then, tourists get only a taste of life there, and the quirks and qualms of Israelis. Despite this, I understand and appreciate most of Lovitt’s 2010 Guest Blog. And I just love it (pun intended). It’s perceptive, insightful, ironic, and downright hilarious. You can’t blame Israelis for being idiosyncratic. Jews have waited patiently for over 5,700 years for a national homeland, and we’ve had one for only the last 62 years. So happy birthday Israel. And thank you Mr Lovitt. I look forward to your 2011 63-item list. Very much.

1 comment:

Chris Burrows said...

You forgot to mention it is also St George's Day, patron saint of Pommies. I reckon centuries ago there may have been enough dinosaur bones around to convince people that dragons existed, I also met a couple as a schoolchild!
Anyway Happy Birthday Israel, Canada is a young country so we know growing pains.
Hmmm? Agatha Christie might be surprised, I think I am fairly transparent and what you see is what you get, On the other hand being transparent means you are also somewhat of a chameleon, go figure?
OK so it is Johnnie Walker who is my four wheeled friend.