1:17 Back to the Land of Humus and Shesh Pesh

Flying home, sat on the El Al airplane, I glared out the tiny window to inspect the view ahead. The sky was misty grey, specs of rain and drizzle flickered against the window. Blankets of fog hovered above the ground and street lights stood tall, struggling to appear bright. It was the end of May in London town … was this all I was bloody excited about coming back to!

As we reached Stansted airport, I wondered how it would be if the plane could just stay still, in no mans land, not quite in the land of my past, yet having left my future behind. The thump of the wheels on the ground dashed that thought, and my mind jolted back to the reality of what lay ahead.

To be honest, all that lay ahead was not as bad as initially thought during previous days of anxiety. I returned to London with a new pair of eyes, as if someone had removed the specs I had worn for the last 25 years, and everything came into focus. The country, the people, the lifestyle all appeared different; I was no longer hypnotized by the wealth and indulgent lifestyles the drove passed in Mercedes; the pretty buildings and scenery didn’t interest me; and the accessibility of the city appeared to be stretched so thin, that to get anywhere was a mission in itself.

If I were reborn a millionaire, my complaints would obviously be fewer. London has a great deal to offer and is a beautiful city, yet this beauty and everything that occupies it comes with a high price tag too. A single bus ride, 1 pound and 50 pence; five pieces of M&S vegetarian sushi, 3 pounds and 50 pence; cappuccino, 2 pounds 20 pences I kid you not! On the other hand, would wealth and an ostentatious lifestyle really make me happy? The weather would remain, alongside an environment of egocentrism and multi-cultural tensions.

Effy and I did the ‘London’ thing: Hyde Park, the Science Museum, the theatre. We visited the bookshop featured in the film Nottinghill and ate a proper British fish n’ chips meal. We did the family thing, the friends thing, the wedding thing, and by the end, we were both drained out. A holiday, hah! It was more like a marathon journeying through the highlights of my pre-Israel life, in the space of ten days.

This trip helped me realise that those I yearn for aren’t running anywhere too fast; the moans dominating the telephone conversations are still the same as those the day I left; and the postal and internet service means I can shop at Marks n’ Sparks after all and receive the English goodies. For the duration of the time, I strangely missed the raw, brash and confrontational nature of Israelis; and “Ps” and “Qs” turned into an annoyance, rather than a pretty frilling. I missed the sense of freedom that exists in the air, to wander aimlessly down the street, to be acknowledged by those that wander past and by those that serve me coffee; and most importantly, not to feel like a tiny ant in an overwhelmingly large place, but rather to be as important as the buildings surrounding me and the establishment of the country. My trip successfully reaffirmed everything I felt a year back; it swiftly cleared the fog that hazed my thoughts and made me realize how lucky I was to have moved away from my home, or should I say, my first home; or should I really say, from my birth country that I always felt detached and alien from. Israel now feels like my home, and it is here I would definitely like to stay … well … at least for now ;)

When stepping off the plane, back in Israel, something felt different. I was knocked back by the heat, the air smelt different, slightly sweeter and drier. Summer had officially arrived in the holy land; and shit … my air con is broken. It was not only the arrival of a new season, but also an ant’s nest decided to invade my kitchen cupboard. Well … at least I don’t have to worry anymore about rain in May and the requirement of a mortgage just to buy a bloody coffee.

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Thanks to Tina again for her wonderful online remarks today:

Me: “How are you today babes?”
Tina: “Tired has become my eternal state of being”.