We are packing and testing ourselves and beginning to make plans and our neighbors keep calling and coming by – not to visit or say goodbye – but to argue.  Most apartment houses in Tel Aviv are old and frail, and many of the residents as well.  And the young people moving in to replace the dying and dead are cramped and disgusted and frightened by the peeling walls and the rusting pipes.  Me I never notice it, think it is part of the charm of the city, but I remember Mark Strand would go around collecting samples of the walls.  There is no doubt the buildings should be replaced, but the old people can’t be moved.  And now the problem is coming to a head in our building.  Out of 18 apartments we have at least 7 widows and 2 apartments being rented out to students because their owners have died.  we’ll be away and who knows what will be decided.   

Sorry if I’m repeated yesterday’s blog but I didn’t realize then how general this problem is in the entire city…