Here comes the sun, little darling
So, it’s pretty warm in Israel right now. Consistently over 30°C, certainly for the last
month. This is really rather splendid. Flip-flops, shorts and t-shirts; drinks
outside in the warm evening air without the need for several layers and an
umbrella; sitting on my balcony in the sunshine every day; going to a beach
every weekend. My tan is coming along
nicely, which of course is the main reason I moved here: to get a tan then go
back to the UK, enjoy all the compliments and feel superior about living in a
warm climate.
Anyway, one of the reasons I wanted to move overseas was because I was genuinely sick of the weather in the UK: cold, wet, unpredictable. I wanted weather where you could confidently set up a barbecue in the knowledge that it wouldn’t rain; regular and prolonged sunshine; balmy evenings sitting outside drinking cold beer. The thing I like about the weather here, apart from the sunshine of course, is its reliability: when the sun arrives, you know it’s here to stay for months on end. I spent most of my first month in Jerusalem astonished that it was sunny every day, that there were blue skies every day. Despite the fact that this year’s winter in Israel was one of the wettest in decades, the rain dried up in March/April and the weather has consistently delivered in the manner I wanted.
It’s high summer now and sometimes a little too hot, though I've not got a leg to stand on when it comes to moaning about the heat. On the first properly warm day back in June (around 32°C) I complained to an Israeli friend about how hot it had been and how I’d needed the air conditioning on all day. He pointed out that I’d told him one of the reasons I’d moved here was because I wanted to live in a warm country and basically told me to shut up. Later that night he laughed at me for having both a jumper and a scarf in my bag, in case it got chilly later on. I tried to defend myself by saying that in the UK you get used to packing several layers in case the weather turns grotty (as it so often does) and that habit is hard to break, despite being totally pointless here. Last night I went out to meet friends in town and took a scarf in my bag, ‘just in case’, only to realize halfway down the road what a redundant action that was as it was still 34°C despite being 10 o’clock at night.
I’m lucky to live in Jerusalem, which is higher than much of the rest of the country and where every evening (on the whole) a refreshing breeze picks up and cools the city down. This is definitely not the case elsewhere. A few weekends ago I went to stay in Tiberias (on the shores of Lake Galilee) to spend a few days hitting the vineyards in the Golan and Upper Galilee. The Kinneret is in something of a basin, which means that it is a) hotter and b) more humid than Jerusalem. It also does not cool down in the evenings and sadly the apartment we were staying in did not have air-conditioning. Last Easter I spent a blissful yet boiling hot week in Lamu, an island off the coast of Kenya, with two of my best friends, in a gorgeous rooftop apartment in a guesthouse overlooking the Indian Ocean; this place also lacked air-conditioning and it was like sleeping in soup. My night in the apartment in Tiberias took me right back to that tropical island.
Hot weather also, of course, means trips to the beach. For me that has mostly been the beach in Tel Aviv, as it’s relatively near to Jerusalem. Going to the beach in Israel is nothing like going to the beach in the UK. The water is clear blue and the perfect temperature for swimming, rather than an opaque greenish-blue and freezing cold. The sun shines all day, rather than sticking its head out of the clouds for a brief spell then getting scared and retreating. You pack a towel, your swimsuit, your sunscreen and some water and that’s it; you don’t need to take a suitcase full of stuff to cover all possible weather situations. Israelis are very well set-up for beach-going: there are bars all along the shorefront, some of which have chairs in the shallow water so you can dip your feet in as you sip your cold beer; there are people wandering around selling ice-creams and more cold beers (though I guess they do that back home, too); you can hire sun-loungers and umbrellas. Or, in the case of my friend Helen and I the other weekend, use them, not get asked for money by anyone then leave without paying (oops!). Irritatingly it’s jellyfish season in Israel at the moment so getting in the water to cool down is somewhat hazardous. I got stung on my back last weekend and it still hurts. As a result, my housemate and I decided that the beach was too much like hard work and yesterday decided to head to the Intercontinental Hotel in Bethlehem, which has a pool that is refreshingly cold, loungers and umbrellas and a poolside bar that provides nargileh as well as food. Given that it was 39°C yesterday in Jerusalem, this was a good move and we felt pretty pleased with ourselves.
I’m heading back to the UK tomorrow for a sojourn with my nearest and dearest – three and a half weeks of orderly queues, reading The Times, eating bacon and sausages at any given opportunity, hanging out on boats with my family, people being polite, the wedding of the year (Godfrey-Swithinbank, mazal tov and mabruk!) and, presumably, the joys of an English summer. The fact that it’s been the wettest July there since records began has not escaped my notice and whilst I’m really looking forward to going home I am not looking forward to being cold, wet and, presumably, miserable. Rachel e-mailed me today to tell me that it might actually hit 30°C in Bristol next Wednesday; just the one day though, after which it’s back to patchy rain and temperatures more like 22°C. Oh well. At least I won’t need to drink a litre of water every hour and sit under the air conditioning. But I will need to pack clothes for every possible weather eventuality and take a lightweight waterproof with me wherever I go. Anyone got a Kagool I can borrow?
Check out our tans! We live in Israel! It's hot there!
Regular readers will know that I grew up in hot
countries. Sri Lanka, Kenya, Dubai,
Bahrain. Summer temperatures in the high
30s at least and I have vague recollections, as a small child, of being absolutely
smothered in sun-cream by my mother and forced to wear t-shirts when I went
swimming to avoid getting sunburned.
This concern for my well-being in the sun has not lessened over the
years; when I moved here she gave me one of those weird long-sleeve
UVA-protective shirts (sorry mum, haven’t worn it yet) and when she came to
visit we had a small disagreement one hot day in Caesarea when I asked if I could borrow
dad’s spare hat as I was a little warm and she wanted me get out of the
sun altogether so that I wouldn’t get heatstroke. As I had drunk several litres of water and
was just a little warm in the midday sun I dug my feet in the sand
(metaphorically and physically) and refused.
It’s nice to be loved though and she is, of course, the best mum in the whole world.
Anyway, one of the reasons I wanted to move overseas was because I was genuinely sick of the weather in the UK: cold, wet, unpredictable. I wanted weather where you could confidently set up a barbecue in the knowledge that it wouldn’t rain; regular and prolonged sunshine; balmy evenings sitting outside drinking cold beer. The thing I like about the weather here, apart from the sunshine of course, is its reliability: when the sun arrives, you know it’s here to stay for months on end. I spent most of my first month in Jerusalem astonished that it was sunny every day, that there were blue skies every day. Despite the fact that this year’s winter in Israel was one of the wettest in decades, the rain dried up in March/April and the weather has consistently delivered in the manner I wanted.
It’s high summer now and sometimes a little too hot, though I've not got a leg to stand on when it comes to moaning about the heat. On the first properly warm day back in June (around 32°C) I complained to an Israeli friend about how hot it had been and how I’d needed the air conditioning on all day. He pointed out that I’d told him one of the reasons I’d moved here was because I wanted to live in a warm country and basically told me to shut up. Later that night he laughed at me for having both a jumper and a scarf in my bag, in case it got chilly later on. I tried to defend myself by saying that in the UK you get used to packing several layers in case the weather turns grotty (as it so often does) and that habit is hard to break, despite being totally pointless here. Last night I went out to meet friends in town and took a scarf in my bag, ‘just in case’, only to realize halfway down the road what a redundant action that was as it was still 34°C despite being 10 o’clock at night.
I’m lucky to live in Jerusalem, which is higher than much of the rest of the country and where every evening (on the whole) a refreshing breeze picks up and cools the city down. This is definitely not the case elsewhere. A few weekends ago I went to stay in Tiberias (on the shores of Lake Galilee) to spend a few days hitting the vineyards in the Golan and Upper Galilee. The Kinneret is in something of a basin, which means that it is a) hotter and b) more humid than Jerusalem. It also does not cool down in the evenings and sadly the apartment we were staying in did not have air-conditioning. Last Easter I spent a blissful yet boiling hot week in Lamu, an island off the coast of Kenya, with two of my best friends, in a gorgeous rooftop apartment in a guesthouse overlooking the Indian Ocean; this place also lacked air-conditioning and it was like sleeping in soup. My night in the apartment in Tiberias took me right back to that tropical island.
Hot weather also, of course, means trips to the beach. For me that has mostly been the beach in Tel Aviv, as it’s relatively near to Jerusalem. Going to the beach in Israel is nothing like going to the beach in the UK. The water is clear blue and the perfect temperature for swimming, rather than an opaque greenish-blue and freezing cold. The sun shines all day, rather than sticking its head out of the clouds for a brief spell then getting scared and retreating. You pack a towel, your swimsuit, your sunscreen and some water and that’s it; you don’t need to take a suitcase full of stuff to cover all possible weather situations. Israelis are very well set-up for beach-going: there are bars all along the shorefront, some of which have chairs in the shallow water so you can dip your feet in as you sip your cold beer; there are people wandering around selling ice-creams and more cold beers (though I guess they do that back home, too); you can hire sun-loungers and umbrellas. Or, in the case of my friend Helen and I the other weekend, use them, not get asked for money by anyone then leave without paying (oops!). Irritatingly it’s jellyfish season in Israel at the moment so getting in the water to cool down is somewhat hazardous. I got stung on my back last weekend and it still hurts. As a result, my housemate and I decided that the beach was too much like hard work and yesterday decided to head to the Intercontinental Hotel in Bethlehem, which has a pool that is refreshingly cold, loungers and umbrellas and a poolside bar that provides nargileh as well as food. Given that it was 39°C yesterday in Jerusalem, this was a good move and we felt pretty pleased with ourselves.
No jellyfish and deliciously cold beyond belief
I’m heading back to the UK tomorrow for a sojourn with my nearest and dearest – three and a half weeks of orderly queues, reading The Times, eating bacon and sausages at any given opportunity, hanging out on boats with my family, people being polite, the wedding of the year (Godfrey-Swithinbank, mazal tov and mabruk!) and, presumably, the joys of an English summer. The fact that it’s been the wettest July there since records began has not escaped my notice and whilst I’m really looking forward to going home I am not looking forward to being cold, wet and, presumably, miserable. Rachel e-mailed me today to tell me that it might actually hit 30°C in Bristol next Wednesday; just the one day though, after which it’s back to patchy rain and temperatures more like 22°C. Oh well. At least I won’t need to drink a litre of water every hour and sit under the air conditioning. But I will need to pack clothes for every possible weather eventuality and take a lightweight waterproof with me wherever I go. Anyone got a Kagool I can borrow?
Comments
Post a Comment