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End of summer

rjstreets

While people are suffering and the demand for electricty has hit an all time high,

  some of the flowers are thriving in this weather, the blue Ofrit Hakef  is everywhere.

This summer’s heat and humidity seem endless,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

but the end of summer is quickly approaching,

and the various summer events are coming to an end

with another major event planned on the plaza of the Jerusalem Theater for next week.

 

In spite of the heat, the 25th annual Kite Festival

 was held August 17th at the Israel Museum

the new, refurbished

Israel Museum.

Kites of all sizes and shapes and enthusiasts

of all ages participated.

Parked cars lined the sidewalks near the museum, a sure sign of a successful event.

In contrast though,

the international arts festival has ended and in spite of the record number of tourists here,

the pathways of Kutzot Hayotzer are once again nearly empty.

For most people September 1st is the first day of school and marks the end of summer,

but for others it’s the Beer Festival which is being held now… 

 L’Chaim!

 

Jerusalem: Green Light Don’t Go

rjstreets

The Jerusalem streets can be very dangerous.

truck on sidewalk

Many are too narrow for modern vehicles

and sidewalks are often blocked

illegal parked car

forcing people to walk in the street in traffic.

 The traffic lights in the center of town often come in pairs,

traffic lights

   many times the closer light can be red, while the further one is green.

Those unfamiliar with this system often unwittingly step in the cross walk

 in front of oncoming traffic.

cross walk

While some intersections are extremely complicated,

blocked traffic light

the corner of Shalom Aleichem and Keren Hayesod Streets

is especially dangerous.

street crossing in Jerusalem

 The red light visible from most angles

blocked red traffic light

is really green.

 Much more dangerous though,

Jerusalem street

the green light is really red.

big street advertisement

While this traffic light was always hard to see behind the street sign,

 now the large advertising sign blocks the line of vision,

green light

making it almost impossible to see the traffic light.

street corner in Jerusalem

Thousands of visitors walk from Gan Hapa’amon, Liberty Bell Park area

on Keren Hayesod Street towards town,

this is a tragedy waiting to happen.

Many tourists eager to get into town look across the street,

see a green light and continue walking.

This recent sign says it all:

road safety sign

“Be Careful on the Roads-It’s a Matter of Life”

ambulance

and hopefully, not death… or injury.

Sheputzim

rjstreets

 The heat wave is over, normal summer weather has returned.

Now it is just plain hot, but unlike Moscow,

we can open our windows at night for a breeze.

Not having rain does not seem so bad either,

compared to the severe flooding in much of the world.

In all weather though, sheputzim, renovations, are a part of life in Jerusalem.

  Whether it is an old apartment being gutted and redone by new owners,

or an old house being enlarged

      or a new floor or two added on top of an old building,

someone is always sheputzing.

 The noise and dust of drills and hammers working on stone often fill the air.

     Change seems everywhere… 

 The area close to the Old City’s Jaffa Gate has experienced some  drastic changes.

   Across from recently completed Mamilla Mall,

the Waldorf Astoria construction is finally above ground.

The area between these construction sites and

Gan Haatzmaut, Independence Park was in need of a sheputz.

  

November 5, 2009 

  

August 10, 2010 

    August 11, 2010 

   The land is now clear, cleaned of everything except for a few trees.

 

At the other end of the road,

near the fence where the Museum of Tolerance is being excavated,

     on June 6, 2010 a man was smoothing fresh cement.

Construction bags were near by.

 

  August 10, 2010  large sheputzim bags

were at the other end of the old Muslim cemetery.

Fresh new stones

seem to be everywhere.

What a sheputz, 

 from one end to the other it is hard to find any litter.

 Now Agron Street leading to Mamilla Mall has a new look.

Could it be that the “clean up building material” signs in the city are working?

UPDATE

August 13, 2010

Seems that over 300 of the new tombstones were fake and have been removed.