four showers in one day

it's been getting hotter and hotter, and today we discovered that hell's not hot... relative to israel during a proper heat-wave.

22nd:

we lazed in netanya, with no energy to do more than make the couches sweaty. i began reading thud!, and i have this odd feeling that i've read it before but i don't actually remember much.

we did have shakshouka for lunch, and it was home-made by our tunisian cousin and it was the first time i've properly enjoyed it. and it was spicy enough that i sat there weeping joyfully.

we went back to herzeliya, i taught my mother a few tricks with word (and she was amazed), we visited other cousins for a stunning sunset view from their 9th floor penthouse and then i dropped my mother off in netanya before coming back to tel aviv for a date with the girl from monday night (singer).

i need to point out here that the trip to netanya and back is long and stressful. and i've done it more times than i'd care to recall.

we went out to a really nice bar right near my place, and had a really pleasant evening with only a little too much to drink. we began walking home, and got stuck on a traffic island near rabin square. while we were standing there talking, i heard my name called:

her: <my name here>!
me: hey! pull over to the side!
her: i can't - i'm DRUNK!
man walking across the road: careful! the police are hanging around the next corner!
someone else to me: is she serious?!

i ran over to say hi before the light changed, then ran back to continue the date. we found a bench to sit on for a while, then i chivalrously walked her home.

singer has a parquet floor.

23rd:

around 2pm i left for netanya. again. it was too - damn - hot. we drove to ceasarea, and got to the ralli museum just as they were closing. upset, and sweating, we drove to michmoret - banana beach was simply too much of a rip-off to eat there. we proceeded to get horribly lost in chofit, a small settlement designed like a very stupid maze. we eventually managed to extricate ourselves, and found a highway-side mall to have lunch.

i dropped my mum off in netanya, then drove to a settlement near god-forsaken hod hasharon. i arrived over an hour early for the section evening, so i read until everyone else began arriving.

being at an evening like that when i'm on holiday wasn't ideal. some of it was entertaining, but it was a draining experience. i got out of there around midnight, arrived at home to find everything pokerized, harrassed the stranger who'd taken my buddies' money, met up with singer and got a ride to the harbour area.

i hate it when israelis who're not from tel aviv tell tourists where to go. we went to meet my cousin who's here from south africa in a place completely packed with arsim. funnily enough, we got confused and went into "gogo" instead of "whiskey a-gogo", which is right next door. the music was actually better there :P

24th:

i slept over again, then drove to herzeliya to pick up a cousin to take him back to netanya. he got stuck in the elevator on the way down, much hilarity ensued. from netanya we drove back to herzeliya, to an odd aged shopping mall, then the arena mall, and then finally max brenner in our quest for a gift for the evening.

lunch at max brenner was good, the gift we got fantastic - because it was rediculously hot we decided to leave the gift with other cousins until the evening. i passed out while my mom did her online thing, then we drove to tel aviv to shower and change and returned to herzeliya. we went to pick up the gift on the way, but discovered too late that someone had thoughtfully taken it for us.

if we'd known someone had done us this favour we would have been on time for the dinner.

we had a great evening, fully catered affair (turned out i knew two of the waiters), i had an excellent lesson in dealing with small children talking about aliens, chatted with cousins over cigars (i didn't actually smoke any, though - i've learned my lesson), watched a doomed-to-fail attempt to remove a car that had been blocked, and gave one of the waitresses a ride back to tel aviv.

i discovered when i got there that i had no petrol, and calmy (outside, not inside) found a petrol station in the nick of time.

25th:

i slept over again, and left after a quick shower around 2pm. i went home to fight with spot and the kid about general untidiness and lack of chores having been done, had a quick bite to eat (pita, the only food i've had since friday night) and another shower (just leaving the air-conditioning caused a sea of sweat), and went to netanya to take my mom and cousins to the beach. we had a nice time - the water was fantastic, got back to take a quick sand-off shower, relax a bit, say goodbye to everyone and drive back (hopefully for the last time) to herzeliya. i parked there, bussed back to tel aviv, and got home to take a shower and go out with the guys for ice-cream and a long, unpleasant repeat discussion of our flatmate situation.

i don't actually know what we've decided on, but it's agreed that i should probably find my own place. although i can't see myself finding one within my budget and in such a great area. which basically means "deal with it" :/

i'm at singer's, and in five hours i have to be back in uniform and on my way to base for the first time in two weeks. this isn't going to be easy.