YHEE

Eating fresh hummus in Kerem (the Yemenite neighbourhood) with Sandra and Daphna

Hanging out in the fountain-centred circus in front of the old City Hall at the end of Bialek

Talking to documentary-makers in the garden of old City Hall at CoPro15

Recent Happiness Experiment entries from the Old Country

Fri 2 April - Jerusalem

Visiting the Kotel with N and D (memories of my father)

Catching glimpses of the Easter action in the Old City around the Church of the Holy Sepulchre

An evening walk passing the abandoned old Jerusalem railway station (near the German Colony) - redolent of a heroic age

Sat 3 - Jerusalem to Bet Chananya

A blazing afternoon in the zoo - especially taken with the tamarins and other monkeys

Visiting Oskar Schindler's grave on my own, first visitor of the day to the Catholic Cemetery

Spotting the remains of a War of Independence convoy on the Jerusalem road at sunset (and a sign to the Burma Road) - memories of my dad (1976)

Sun 4 - Jaffa

Meeting Sandgold & Dafna in Jaffa - my first web-initiated real-life encounter

Touring the street art of Jaffa, above all the Rehov Auerbach derelict house

Jogging along the aqueduct in Bet Chananya - spotting parrots and poppies

Mon 5 - Caesarea & Petach Tikva

Paddling with D at the sea palace in Caesarea

Meeting my cousins Asaf and Guy for the first time, my older cousins Jaffa and Moshe after 15 years, and Ronen, Itzik and families after 34 years (my first trip to the Old Country with my dad)

Playing chariots with D in the hippodrome at Caesarea

Tues 6 - Or Akeva & Akko

A boat ride at dusk to give a view of Acre's walled old city across a dark wine coloured sea

Meeting up with Harold H, an old friend of Ma's, by chance 4 km down the road in Or Akiva

Lunch under the trees at the hummous stall in Bet Chananya, including lemon and mint drink

Wed 7 - Tel Aviv

Reading under a palm tree in a quiet court of the beautifully architected Ben Gurion airport

Playing basketball one-on-one with D in Bet Chananya

A display of Independence Day posters on the big slope at Ben Gurion

Recent Happiness Experiment entries from the Old Country

Tues 30 March - Bet Chananya to Negev (via Mishpa? Ramon to moshav Faran)

Lunch in the Ramon Crater beside rocks coloured with iron, culminating in desert tea

Off-road driving in Ohad's Range Rover

Bedouin tea in an open-sided tent at sundown

Wed 31 - Negev desert (Faran to M. Ramon) - Jerusalem

Spotting gazelles sweeping majestically along the dry river bed

Driving Li'am's desert buggy with U by my side

The perfect blue sky above a white desert canyon - colour of the flag

Thurs 1 - Jerusalem

Walking a section of Via Dolorosa

One of the waitresses (straight out of Delacroix -or is it Ingres?) in the restaurant over-looking the Old City at the Cinematheque

Reading Saul Belllow's To Jerusalem and Back

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Bet Hananya to Tel Aviv

Long jog along the stream followed by a dog

Reading Ministry of Fear on a grassy bank in the sunshine

Seder on a roof top beside Ben Gurion's house

The Old Country - Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Saturday 27th: London to Rome to Tel Aviv

A plate of cheeses and meats in Rome - my first fleeting visit to Rome

Drawing cartoon characters with D - inspired by Pocket Gods(?) game

Sharing tunes with N

Sunday 28th: Tel Aviv to Bet Hananya; Zichron Jakov

Jogging with D along a Roman aqueduct

Eating felafel, salad and hummous in the shade of some trees beside the moshav

Sleeping, reading and playing in the sunshine on the football field accompanied by exotic birds