A note about Crying

When I broke down in tears talking to my cousin Peter in Jerusalem, this was a reaction to six days of unremitting intensity. Life is so intense here, there is no let up from it, nowhere to go. People are talking about the Situation all the time: the wall, soldiers, detentions, prisons, roadblocks. There is absolutely nowhere to go to escape it. I wonder if they feel this in Israel too? But at least there they have the kinds of escapism also available to people in Europe and the US: shopping, getting drunk, going to nightclubs, taking drugs, the beach, the sea. Here most of these things are not available, except of course sociability which is on a very high level. As I have said, this is one of the most friendly places I have ever been to in my whole life. My flatmate Sarah told me that she had also broken down. Apparently it was indirectly to do with me. I didn't realise it but there had been an issue about me sharing this flat with her. Some people she knew didn't approve of it, and there was some pressure on her not to let me stay. In the end she had burst into tears over it, just as I did talking to my cousin. It is all settled now anyway. We are still sharing. People in the town seem to accept it as far as I can tell.