Have I aged in this month?  I see myself in the mirror every day and it’s always a bit of a disappointment, but I don’t see daily wear and tear.  We’ve been meeting with old friends and there is always something different to notice, but not usually age.  But today I decided to watch the news carefully and see whether the commentators have been affected physically by the strain of war.  Here are my conclusions:  the women have been fixed up or replaced, unless they are well known experts in their field.  Expert women take care that their plastic surgery is very gentle.  The men, however, have acquired innumerable worry lines in their face – worry lines that will not be erased.

There are other signs of an altered society – the fact that my car was smashed up by a careless driver is a detail multiplied thousands of times. That only today, after ten days, has someone looked at the car to see whether it can be repaired, and that only once the damage is determined can I be provided with a substitute car (because all the insurance adjusters are busy evaluating damage from the cluster rockets), are signs of the times.

But what the hell – now that there’s a break in the fighting (in central Israel at least) – we have all been behaving like dogs who are let off their leash in the park.  

And now I’m going to put on make up so nobody sees all the wrinkles…