We speak English, don’t we?
The other day I started up a new WhatsApp group: Lloyds English. I announced it to my close family: Israeli-born offspring and Israeli-born wife, and stipulated that it would serve as a place where we’d communicate only in English. The immediate response to my announcement was: “What are you drinking and are you already drunk?” And […]
When is a Lloyd, not a Lloyd
I carried the name Lloyd on my long, solitary journey to the Holy Land, so many decades ago, only to discover that I was probably the only Lloyd in the whole State of Israel. Was this a new dynasty I was about to create, or would the Lloyd name peter out here altogether? One can only […]
Frozen wonderland without borders
“Do you have any ice salt?” I asked the woman at the Canadian Tire store.“No, all out.”“When will you have more?”“Don’t know. Going to take some time. The truck is coming direct from Montreal, eh?” When travelling for my annual Canadian winter visit, I never expected ice salt to become the most sought after commodity […]
Rob Ford – Making Canada proud?
You’ve got to give the guy credit. Not since the marital and post-marital antics of Margaret Trudeau has a Canadian managed to star in leading news broadcasts, late night show monologues, and of course – have someone play a caricature of him on Saturday Night Live. But no caricature of him can do the man […]
Facebook status: Grandparent
My daughter in-law, Sharon (with significant help from my son, Noam) gave birth to a beautiful baby boy and I am now a grandfather. Adva and I are still getting used to this new status. Grandparents… wow! Soon after being told the news,, a picture of the baby – taken with an iPhone – appeared […]
Wake up and smell the flowers
No, they aren’t roses. These be wild flowers. Wild, but protected by the Nature Authority. Israelis may be a grumpy, aggressive, loud lot – but they sure like their wild flowers. On a beautiful spring day (can the 9th of February be considered spring?), we wandered about admiring the flowers up on the Carmel Mountain […]
The Puzzle Maker
I have started doing puzzles – jigsaw puzzles. There is something therapeutic, soothing, yet stimulating in sitting in front of a puzzle for a few hours each evening. I imagine that we use only about five per cent of our brain during the day, even if we are multi-tasking twelve different screens on the computer. […]
Travelling the Italian Way
What is loyalty, really? I know you can be loyal to a husband, a wife, a country, or a friend… but what about being loyal to an airline?For five consecutive years I travelled from Tel Aviv to Toronto and back with Air Canada, faithfully collecting miles through their Aeroplan frequent flyer program. After having flown […]
Canadian Passport Blues Revisited
Canada has recently initiated the “Simplified Renewal Application Process” for a new Canadian passport. Yes, really. Does this mean that we are no longer left with the dreadful anticipation of wading through a complex bureaucratic nightmare at the Canadian consulate in Tel Aviv – a nightmare that I described in graphic detail in my blog […]
When New Years comes twice a year
Doesn’t seem fair, does it – that we get to celebrate New Years twice a year. First time around: family, gefilte fish and presents. Second time around: friends, cocktails and smooching at midnight. Officially, there is only one New Year in Israel – the Jewish New Year which falls sometime in September. Just as, “officially”, […]