Life at the Moment

So its been a while since I blogged, nothing majorly, epic to talk about or write about, well except for the now global Pandemic sweeping the world.

The current situation seems pretty strange in that it seems to have caught everyone off-guard and everyone is now feeling the effects.  Many countries have closed borders to anyone but their own people, many countries are in a severe lockdown situation.

For instance, here in Israel, everything is shut except for Supermarkets and pharmacies and essential work places.  The entertainment industry, restaurants, museums, cinemas are all closed.  The beaches and the parks for the most part are empty of people, everyone is staying home as directed by the Government and practising Social Distancing.  Unfortunately some people have treated this situation not seriously and being sent to work from home as an excuse to treat it like an extra holiday and have congregated at the beach, in the parks, seemingly unconcerned that they could either catch it, or be a carrier and unwittingly pass it to someone close to them.

As I mentioned Israel is on a very severe lockdown, not a total lockdown as I said, but you can only walk 100 metres from your home and I wonder if people still taking this not seriously will end up causing a total lockdown where you have to get permission to leave home to go to get food or medicine.  Of course those people will be the first to complain about it!

Meanwhile how am I handling the situation, I am glad you asked the question.  I think I am handling it okay for the most part, but if anyone says working from home could be fun, let me tell you it is not.  Yes for a few hours or a couple of days it could be fun and something different.  But when you don't have the noise of the office, other colleagues around it can be very isolating, very lonely.

Still I am trying to keep myself entertained, music, Netflix, PS4, a little exercise.  But I really hope this situation soon blows over and things will get back to normal.  In the meantime and while this still goes on - stay safe everyone.

The year that was

So I'm writing this on the first day of the last full week of the year and I can see people scratching their heads and saying it isn't December yet. True, but going by the Jewish calendar we are fast approaching Rosh Hashana and going into the year 5780.

So it has been a tough year for me, a lot of stuff has gone on outside of work and even changes within work.  So the toughest part has been for me that my Dad wasn't very well for a period of time, fortunately he is on the mend and getting better.  But from my standpoint I've been here in Israel 2000+ miles away and not been able to do much about it except phone calls and yes I've talked to people, but seriously not the easiest thing to deal with when you're on your own. I'm just happy that he is on the mend and well I'll see them in about 8 months when I go to England again for Pesach 2020.

Workwise it’s been tough a lot of changes in our department, the Senior Legal Counsel left and a new one came and obviously everyone has their own style of working and I think, even if I didn't let it, all the changes along with everything going on back home with my Dad has kind of left me a little unfocussed the past few months at work.

I try to be strong, but kind of feeling lately like I'm being pulled in too many directions and it’s hard. Even wondered if Israel was where I truly wanted to be and thought about going back to the UK... then I remembered... Brexit!!!

Still one new thing for me to look forward to is moving apartments...again!!! Yep moving once more LOL.

After a couple of months of searching I found an apartment, almost 5 minutes from where I am now.  It’s a nice size, after years of living in a room and small apartments I need space, I'm not a student anymore so having breathing room and there is even a garden of sorts to sit out.  I'm actually about to go and measure up in the apartment for the furniture I need.  Yes unlike other apartments I've found one without furniture.  Still by doing this, I think I am settling down/growing up as I've never really bought much furniture before... the odd bits and pieces.

Otherwise I've been a bit of a social outcast lately, not had the energy to participate in stuff, but I'm planning to change that once the Chaggim have been gone.

All in all, not the best year, but I'm starting the new year moving into a new apartment, so maybe it’s the start of new things for me.  Let's hope.

So I realized this morning it’s been a while since I have blogged and posted about what's being going on in my life

I suppose really it’s all routine which is why I haven't posted much lately, gone to work, come home, slept, gone to work, come home, maybe gone out and repeat... pretty formulaic at the moment.

The biggest news is I'm moving apartments again!! Yep again.  See it was only temporary the apartment I moved into at the end of 2018 and I knew that, just wish I had a little longer here as it’s a great apartment.  Still the search is on and I have until the end of September, which might seem like a lot of time, but time tends to fly at the most inopportune times and soon it will be September.  Still I will keep looking, keep going to view apartments and hopefully find one that will be long term for me.

Work is going well, busy as always, lot of new people coming in at the moment, so new faces in the office.  After 2 years in this job, I'm for sure in a better place, work environment than the previous job and I do feel a bit more confident in myself now after the last office.

Socially not much has happened lately, gotten out a little bit, but going through a phase where I'm feeling less like socialising, although a friendly phone call from my friends wouldn't go amiss to get me out and about #justsayingpickupthephoneandcallmeitworksbothways.

Dating.... less said about that the better.  Will tell you about the girl who someone from the International Synagogue in Tel Aviv wanted to set me up with... let’s just say she was a timewaster of the highest order and leave it at that.  If you want more details, you can pm/call me and I'll tell you.  All I can say is I'm happy my friends/co-workers etc. seem to be meeting people, settling down... it just seems like it’s not going to happen for me, no matter what I do, people are interested in dating me!!

Anyway, not much else to report, 4 weeks and 1 day until my 42nd birthday, any ideas how I can celebrate this occasion?  Answers in a pm?

Holiday vibes

So been about 6 weeks since I last posted, since then there has been elections in Israel, various films have come out in the cinema and as I write I'm in the last afternoon of my 2 and a half week holiday to the UK.

Its my first time leaving the country in 2 years, I was last in the UK for Passover 2017 and since then I haven't traveled around.  I definitely should travel more.

So I arrived slightly delayed on the eve of Passover, did mean couldn't do a lot during the first week.  Still it was nice to have the Seder at home with my folks and sister. Also went to the Synagogue my Dad frequents in Manchester and it was nice that I got a call up as a visitor to the Synagogue.

For the rest of the Passover week it was mostly quiet, I did get to see friends visiting family who live here in Manchester and got to play Crazy Golf and chat with them after.  I finished last in the Crazy Golf, but did get a hole in 1 for the last one :-).  After that it was a relatively quiet week, went to the cinema at the end of the week for the Avengers film and then went for the weekend in London where I got to see friends who I haven't seen for many years.  Was nice to see them and to also meet their kids who I hadn't met before.  After that it was dinner with a friend and lunch with other in Golders Green, before back to Manchester.

The 2nd week was slightly busy, I did get through to the old hometown of Hull and hang with a friend and his nephew.  We walked round the City and it was nice to see some of the changes due to it being the City of Culture in 2017.  We also went bowling which was fun, even though I think we all kind of sucked at it LOL.

After that most of my travelling around was confined to the local area and I managed to get my authentic English Fish and Chips :-). The parents also introduced me to the local Kosher Pizza place by the name of Mozzarella which had really nice pizza :-).

Other than that its been a little bit of shopping and some food goodies to bring back.  I think I have enough chocolate to keep me going for a couple of months.

Anyway time to kick back and relax, tomorrow will be a long day of travelling and then Tuesday is back to the reality that is work, although I'm only in the office Tuesday and a few hours on Wednesday due to Memorial Day and Israel Independence Day which will make the transition back to normal life a little easier

Should add a little addendum... at a local Kosher restaurant, enjoying a nice meal with the family and Tommy Robinson walks in... quick way to lose your appetite and there were no milkshakes around ;-).

Cooking

So someone mentioned to me after reading my last blog that I've not mentioned that I have started cooking since I moved apartments.

The benefits of moving into a full apartment where I am on my own are great, I have my own space, no-one to tell me off for being too loud or eating something that they don't like. It’s great and best of all it has a proper kitchen.

Now I can cook and in years past I did cook occasionally, but over the years it definitely became a case of can cook, don't want too. However, moving into this new apartment for however long it lasts, gave me the opportunity to try and try I have.

I'm sure those of you who are on my Facebook have seen my pictures of my attempts at cooking. While most of the attempts might not look pretty, they're tasty and I'm still here lol. So far I've successfully made Chicken Soup and Kneidlach.  It wasn't perfect, but it worked and was tasty. I'm planning to try again tonight, so watch this space :-). 

I have also tried to make meatballs, which didn't work as well as I hoped, but I know where I went wrong, so when I try again it should work. I also made most recent schnitzel, now the first couple of attempts did not go right, in fact they kind of looked like I had thrown them into the flame directly LOL.  So I had to throw them away and try again and while they might not be as perfect as others, they turned out okay.



I'm pretty pleased with myself for now finding the time and trying to cook.  As I said to someone on my attempts, maybe they don't look perfect, but with time and practice, I'm sure I'll maybe have food good enough for others to eat.

Anyway if people have ideas for recipes and want to send them to me so I can attempt, feel free to do so.

Dinner with the schnitzels I made

Back to Blogging and changes

Hi all, so I haven't posted in a while been busy and feeling a bit out of sorts in terms of writing but I'm here and going to update you all on what's been going on.

First off at work today it was a day of farewells as two people left the company and I'm sorry to see them go, but happy they are going off to do their thing and change is always good.  Still it’s going to be weird to not see Meredith at work from Sunday, if not for her interviewing me almost 2 years ago and saying they wanted me to come back for a 2nd interview, I wouldn't be at the company now almost 2 years later, so I owe her a debt, for seeing something in me for wanting to bring me back for that second interview with the head of the department and for teaching me about the job and supporting me as I learnt the ropes and to settle into a new role. I will continue to do as she told me stay positive, be confident in what I'm doing and stay focused to continue to do a good job for the department and for the company.  Although sometimes that’s a lot harder said than done when you have a lot of work.

The other departure was also sad as a colleague whom I tended to share the lunch table with, has moved onto look for his new challenge and it will be weird for a while to not see him at the table in the kitchen, but I wish him luck.

Otherwise what's new, work is going fine and life in general is okay, a bit quiet socially but it’s been a decent couple of months so far.  Still weird though to be renting an apartment as big as the one I'm in and for the first time in ages I hosted a party and it was good fun.  Thinking that while I'm here another party maybe in order.

Anyway not much else to say, nothing really earth shattering to tell you, just wanted to really say hi and get some thoughts of the day out of my head and onto here. I hope all who read my blog are doing well.

Update to the last post LOL

So after my last post a few days ago, I thought I would update as there have been changes.... more stress :-(.  And at least I know someone has read it since they commented on my post....

Anyway, spoke with the landlord for this potential apartment yesterday (Sunday).  Apparently he wanted to change the goal posts as it were, increase the rent after 2 months, which he hadn't done with the previous tenant (I asked her).  He also wanted a ridiculous amount of security from myself and from a guarantor and maybe its good to be cautious about your tenants, but there is being cautious and there is overkill.  And when you mention it to various friends living here and they are like 'abort, abort'. You know you have made the right decision to back away from this. So with 3 weeks until the end of the month I'm back to apartment hunting.

However, I should point out that friends have offered me an opportunity regarding the apartment hunting which could help me out for a few months and I will be grateful that they are willing to help.

This situation is one of the ones that sometimes makes me feel like I'm not suited to life in Israel, that I should just pack up and go back to England, where everyone speaks the same language, but I suppose my parents didn't raise me to quit... even though I feel like currently curling into a ball and just laying there doing nothing.

Also, although not that common knowledge my Dad was in hospital for 2 and a half weeks at the end of October and part of November.  He is back home and getting better, but its tough to be here in Israel while your Dad is in Hospital.  People said why didn't you go back to the UK and yes I considered it. But honestly I would have just spent my time going between the hospital and my parents flat and worrying.  My Mum kept me updated.  But this situation is one of those where I realise how really hard it is to be away from the UK and from family.