The Real Jerusalem Streets

The saga of the Jerusalem Light Rail continues with the public opening postponed from April to August.

 If you have not been to the center of Jerusalem lately,

you have missed what everyone is talking about.

 Jaffa Street

after years of construction,

with an indescribable  mess,

and digging,

and construction delays,

 

awaits the light rail trains.

Along the test routes people stop and look

and yellow-vested workers, do what ever it is they do to test the trains.

At first, private cars were banned, and lines of taxis

and buses filled Jaffa Street.

Today, choking vehicle exhaust fumes and overcrowding are just memories,

as nearly all of Jaffa Street is empty of all traffic.

      Yellow-vested security personnel are on corners to keep people off the tracks which have live power lines.

Originally signs read, “More than an hour”.

How long will they display, “Out of order” ?

It will be months until passengers are able to use the trains as regular transportation.

So where have all the buses gone?

Many are around the corner on narrow Agrippas Street

where even on a quiet wintry weekday thousands of waiting passengers line up

 

 and people spill onto the street from the narrow sidewalks

  

  near, the shuk, Machane Yehudah Market.

 

Many old stone buildings on Jaffa Street are set to be torn down,

while some are already being replaced.

Kikar Zion, Zion Square is getting a whole new look.

 With time,  Midrachov Yaffo could well be the heart of Jerusalem,

but a pedestrian mall on Jaffa Street near the shuk ready by December 2009 – impossible.

Meanwhile, buses are lined up on Hanevi’im Street waiting to get on to Agrippas,

filled with unsmiling passengers who could have walked to their destinations in half the time,

and the first light rail train has been hit by a car running a red light.

 

 German Chancellor Andrea Merkel is in Jerusalem along with nine government ministers.

 US presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee is visiting too.

Surrounding Arab countries seem to be on fire, everyone has an ear to the news about Egypt.

But, the big news in Jerusalem is …it’s finally raining and it’s pouring!

After months of praying for rain…it is wet and cold.

Not as cold as much the United States having yet another ice and snow storm,

but the few people on the streets in the grey, damp weather usually

 are not smiling.

Now seems like a good time to share a few favorite signs saved for a rainy day.

Hope this immigrant’s childcare services are better than her English…unless she is looking for a new family.

“Enter” is in large letters, but check the small print. How old do you have to be to use the public toilet?

Spelling mistake or not a “mistak”?

 

A series of signs installed along the Jerusalem highway were deemed too political,

however, at night car headlights make the words visible under the fabric.

Also, in the ‘who gets paid to think these things up’  category…

after years as King George Street, new city street signs are in transliterated Hebrew, Hamelekh.

 A temporary warning sign loses something in translation.

 Many of these signs are posted around the city and sometimes even no garbage is below.

 

An old favorite, the staff smoking in the supposedly forbidden area outside the hospital entrance.

Bagels in this neighborhood are “H”, not “holy”, 

while in the Old City and you can buy a “cheese and ham” sandwich.

There are plenty of political signs; some discarded campaigns not so familiar,

while others cause such a stir they end quickly.

Hmmm…

and how about this sign from an old campaign… something to think about?