This past week and a half, the last 10 days of the Jewish Year 5775, have been tough. It was supposed to be a welcome cooling down as we entered September and school started. But the cool never came. Temperatures remained in the high 90s right up until last Monday the 6th September. And then we woke up to this.
It was the worst sand storm in the history of Israel and since records began in the Middle East. We've had sand storms before of course but this one has lasted six days! The first day the sky was brown. You could feel the gritty sand in your teeth. I coudn't see the building opposite.
Jerusalem had pollution levels at 173 times higher than averge. People were walking around in surgical masks. The old and infirm, pregnant ladies, babies, and those with heart or lung conditions were advised to stay indoors. Schools were instructed to keep the children inside all day. We were warned not to do any physical activity outdoors.
Depite keeping the windows shut everyone's homes were covered in layers of sand on every surface. My hair felt sandy when I came home from taking DD to school.
The weather stayed at a suffocating 37C (99F) during the day and going down to a pathetic 28 at night (though even that drop in temperature didn't help as we had to keep the windows shut). No wind W.H.A.T.S.O.E.V.E.R. and humidity constantly way above 50%.
I let DD stay home from school on Stupid Friday this week. We don't have air conditioning at home, just fans, and we were just heat exhausted. Her class had a bit of a New Year celebration - we had cold showers and then sat in our wet towels eating ice-cream. I think that was a fitting celebration under the circumstances.
As the days progressed the sky turned from brown to yellow and then to white. Finally this evening I fancied I could see some faint blue in the sky. I could finally see the buildings on the mountains opposite. The trees are brown from the sand, all the cars are the same desert colour, and my balcony is the new beach. We need a good rain but the first downpour is going to be raining mud.
The paper says this tonight.
We are still being advised not to 'play' outside but temperatures are forecast to be a mild and managable 30C (86F) for the rest of the week. Cool enough to go to the pool on Wednesday I hope.
Tomorrow night is Rosh Hashana. We are supposed to go into the festival in clean white clothes, having cleaned our houses, our minds, and our hearts. This might happen if I get my act together tomorrow. It is supposed to be a new beginning, a fresh new start. It better had be.
Shana Tova to everyone for a happy, healthy and successful year. xxxx
It was the worst sand storm in the history of Israel and since records began in the Middle East. We've had sand storms before of course but this one has lasted six days! The first day the sky was brown. You could feel the gritty sand in your teeth. I coudn't see the building opposite.
Jerusalem had pollution levels at 173 times higher than averge. People were walking around in surgical masks. The old and infirm, pregnant ladies, babies, and those with heart or lung conditions were advised to stay indoors. Schools were instructed to keep the children inside all day. We were warned not to do any physical activity outdoors.
Depite keeping the windows shut everyone's homes were covered in layers of sand on every surface. My hair felt sandy when I came home from taking DD to school.
The weather stayed at a suffocating 37C (99F) during the day and going down to a pathetic 28 at night (though even that drop in temperature didn't help as we had to keep the windows shut). No wind W.H.A.T.S.O.E.V.E.R. and humidity constantly way above 50%.
I let DD stay home from school on Stupid Friday this week. We don't have air conditioning at home, just fans, and we were just heat exhausted. Her class had a bit of a New Year celebration - we had cold showers and then sat in our wet towels eating ice-cream. I think that was a fitting celebration under the circumstances.
As the days progressed the sky turned from brown to yellow and then to white. Finally this evening I fancied I could see some faint blue in the sky. I could finally see the buildings on the mountains opposite. The trees are brown from the sand, all the cars are the same desert colour, and my balcony is the new beach. We need a good rain but the first downpour is going to be raining mud.
The paper says this tonight.
We are still being advised not to 'play' outside but temperatures are forecast to be a mild and managable 30C (86F) for the rest of the week. Cool enough to go to the pool on Wednesday I hope.
Tomorrow night is Rosh Hashana. We are supposed to go into the festival in clean white clothes, having cleaned our houses, our minds, and our hearts. This might happen if I get my act together tomorrow. It is supposed to be a new beginning, a fresh new start. It better had be.
Shana Tova to everyone for a happy, healthy and successful year. xxxx
Sandstorm looks horrid. Shana Tova to you both x
ReplyDeleteThanks MumB and Shana Tova to you too, and all your family.
DeleteThat sounds and looks incredibly unpleasant. I'm sorry there wasn't a more auspicious end to the year. But - and I'm aware my, thankfully rare, comments must be annoying - what this post most vividly did for me was raise concern about the people of Gaza, who have vastly diminished resources in terms of schools, hospitals, houses where there might be escape from the storms. Any news of things on the other side off the wall?
ReplyDeleteYour commetns are a bit annoying Caz, I must admit, as they are so misinformed. The people of Gaza have schools, hospitals, and houses the same as we do. They have air conditioning and fans same as we do to. Israel actually supplies all the electricity to Gaza and does not get paid for this. (I don't say it's free to the Gazans as Hamas might be charging the ordinary people, I don't know.) I agree that our hospitals are more world class than theirs but they have access to our hospitals when needed. They can also escape to their air conditioned shopping malls, same as we can.
DeleteHi, I'm usually just a reader of this blog, but Caz's comment has inspired me to take the plunge and comment. Caz, I'm sure the media wherever you live likes to paint the Gazans as poor and oppressed, but the truth is that they receive more international aid than any country on earth. We're talking hundreds of billions (billions with a b) of dollars by this point. Gaza could easily build many state of the art hospitals, schools, you name it. The beach could be the Riviera of the Middle East. But Hamas- the terrorist organization the people of Gaza elected into power- has no interest in making these people's lives any easier. All the money is funneled into the Hamas leaders' Swiss bank accounts, or pays for terrorist training camps and bombs. Which is why they have to send their children to Israeli hospitals - and Israel treats them very well. So please stop your insinuations that Israel is making the lives of Gazans harder. Put the blame where it belongs- on the Hamas terrorists.
DeleteThis certainly confirms my belief that lots of media reporting is biased and sensationalised. Thanks to your blog and your readers' comments it helps us understand how things really are.
DeleteThat sounds so ...... suffocating. I fear I wouldn't be able to breathe in such conditions and would definitely be increasing my inhaler! How do asthmatics cope, incidently?
ReplyDeleteIt was hard. I don't have asthma and I was coughing when I had to go outside. Everyone stayed indoors as uch as possible with the air conditioning on or fans. The blue sky is back this morning (though still a bit coudy). Now I have to wipe a layer of sand from every suface in my home. The temp is still 30 degrees but it is a pleasant and breathable heat now.
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