My Middle East (Mis)Adventure......Part One

Day minus 1: Israel fire a missile in to the Gaza Strip, killing the leader of Hamas....nice timing.

Night 0: A bit of excitement, a small dose of nervousness and a sprinkling of fear all mix together causing me to lie in bed for 8 hours without sleeping a minute.

Day 1: 7am start, no sleep, EasyJet flight, not a good combo. Sail through the notoriously tough Ben Gurion Airport, but a little disconcerted to hear that the bomb siren went off in Tel Aviv for the first time in 20+yrs only a couple of hours before I arrived. Iron Dome sounds like a brand of condoms, but it’s actually Israel’s new missile defence system, I hope it works.

Night 1: Again, no sleep....this Jetsomnia is getting ridiculous....I’m going to resemble a one-man zombie march later

Day 2: We are officially under attack, bomb sirens blared twice today, I even heard my first (and hopefully last) missile.....sounded a bit like a firework, which thankfully seems to be about the level of technology that Hamas are hurling at Israel. I’m glad I’m not further south, as even 40km away missiles are landing and causing damage. 

Most people can’t believe I’m here, and most of them seem to be fed up with the violence, they want to escape to a better more peaceful world. However, there is a strong belief in the need to protect themselves from terrorism, and many have adopted a siege mentality, us against the rest of the world.....their view is that there is considerable anti-Israel bias and sympathy for Hamas, who garner this support by placing women and children in front of their soldiers, whereas in Israel the soldiers are the front line. They have a point.

Later on head out for a bite and after meeting a few locals, I really start questioning my judgement in staying in Israel. Meeting another local a couple of hours later, restores my confidence and I decide to stay.

And what better way to celebrate than to go to a club and meet an old friend from London, Anthony Middleton, one half of Audiofly, who happens by happy coincidence to be DJing in Tel Aviv that night. We chat for a while pre-performance and it's great to re-connect with an old mate, especially one with such interesting tales to tell. He goes on at 2am and for the first time I get to see first-hand from inside the booth what being an International DJ is all about. He finishes a couple of hours later and I’ve spent virtually the entire time standing right next to him trying not to be noticed too much. Anthony's incredibly focussed on what he's doing and really looks the part. Before I know it we’re in a cab with the promoter and another DJ heading to an after-after hours. Some things never change.

Day 3: Felt wretched all day from the 18 whiskey and cokes imbibed the previous night. Go on a short walk, eat and read. That’s it, my first (and last) wasted day.

Day 4: I'm not quite sure exactly what day it is, fairly sure it's Sunday. I should mention that there have been bomb sirens going off every day. At breakfast another goes off and I squint up to see plumes of smoke that signify the missile has been successfully intercepted mid-air. A lady comments that the incoming missiles don't seem very big, but it's quickly pointed out to her that close-up they are plenty big and destructive.

Walked around the city all day and made a few observations. They are certainly not short of hair stylists here, and as a conservative estimate I'd say roughly one in three people here own a cat, they're everywhere. 

My overall impressions of Tel Aviv are positive though, it’s got a very European feel to it, you can even get beer out of a vending machine, clearly a significant cultural milestone! Everyone I've encountered is at the very least courteous, not the reputation that Israelis are usually laden with. Maybe there's a more open attitude toward others, given the fact that everyone is equally defenceless at this time?

Some beach time, a spot of shopping and this blog round the day off nicely.