some good conversations

At least half the passengers on our flight to Tel Aviv were Orthodox Jews - a lot of praying went on both at the departure gate, and on board. So we were wary initally of talking to our neighbour. But as he was reading Wilkie Collins' The Moonstone and in 'mufti' we asked him if our request for Israeli visas to be stamped on separate paper (rather than inside our passports) should be in Hebrew. He replied "they're not very enlightened but they do speak English". So we knew we could speak freely from then on! He said he was apprehensive about returning, as a gay guy who'd lived abroad for some time. His parents' home was near Gaza. He'd done film studies so we spent the rest of the journey talking cinema and favourite directors. If he ever reads this it was sheer delight and by the way, don't forget Robert Bresson!

We found our little Palestinian hotel, dumped our stuff and headed for the Damascus Gate for a drink. A Palestinian cafe, great vantage point good atmosphere and delicious (but expensive) Taybeh beer. Got talking to a French Catholic priest who confessed to a taste for arak. He was a Provencal, with a jolly disposition and a liking for his native cuisine. Alas he'd been to England as a teenager (Royston of all places) to improve his English. He said food and weather was 'orrible! He didn't mind talking to atheists and didn't give us any religious guff. He was going to spend the following night in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and asked us if we knew who unlocked and locked the church each day? Any guesses? Muslims! That's because the Christians can't agree amongst themselves who has the right/privilege in the pecking order.