Who has the Power?

The power went down in my office this morning, and as we all made our way onto the balcony to wait it out, it became apparent that we were not alone. I phone call from a friend deeper into Herzlia Pituach revealed that the power had gone out all over the city, so no point in going to the mall to shop the power cut out. I am supposed to be meeting my father for lunch today… we are having a Father and daughter lunch for no other reason than my mother has chucked him out of the house so that she and her book club could reorganise their library in peace… I guess without dad making suggestions on how best to organise the books (“Girly Crap”, “Depressing Girly Crap” and “Only Oprah Would Read This Crap”) So I called my dad to check if the power cut had spread as far as Ra’anana. I was surprised to hear laughter being his only reaction…

Me: What’s so funny?
Mr. Graham: Well the house has fine electricity, but I just came back from the bank. I was taking money out for lunch only to find that when I put my card in the machine the power went off… eating my credit card.

At this point I get into a little panic… someone other than me ate Daddy’s credit card!!!

Me: You have other credit cards right!!

My Dad continues, ignoring my little panic attack.

Mr. Graham: Well I went into the bank and said to the lady there “You need to pay your leccy bill luv” ha ha ha

I love how my dad laughs at his own jokes!

Me: So you got your credit card back?
Mr. Graham: Well not exactly. She said that my branch would have to send a letter stating that they should release my card. Only problem is that the electricity was still off so we could not send the fax.

Me: But you have other credit cards right!!
Mr: Graham: Of course darling!!!... I have yours!! HA HA HA

Back in the office, the girls are sitting on the floor giving each other manicures, while I am starting to go further into ADD mode, and wishing that someone owned a guitar, or that I had chosen to learn to play the guitar instead of the clarinet, and could actually amuse myself. I call Nooman to check the situation in Tel Aviv, and it would appear that the Azrieli centre is still standing although the traffic lights have gone down. I look out of my window that looks onto the main Herzlia junction and see that all the traffic lights are out, creating a standstill leading all the way back up to Ra’anana. No wonder my Kfar Saba workmates are running late… there is only one direct route to get from Kfar Saba to Herzlia, and the only way is through that traffic!

Half an hour later, the electricity is back up and working. My dad calls me to confirm that all is fine; he has got his card back (PHEW!), we are back on for lunch, although he cannot get any cash out so I am going to have to pay the tip… a small price to pay I guess.

My work colleague just walked in… he finally made it from Kfar Saba, and while the rest of us are asking him if it was due to the power cut, he gives us all a look of amazement.

Workmate: There are terrorist warnings in Kfar Saba and Ra’anana… The sirens are going off all over the city… I cannot believe you haven’t heard about it!

The smile is wiped from my face. My parents are in Ra’anana. My dad is running around trying to get money out, and never at any point mentioned the terror alert. My gut reaction is to call him and tell him to go home, to cancel our lunch, but for some reason I don’t. Of course I am concerned! I am also concerned that at any moment a Katyusha rocket could land on my building! But at the same time I am not going to let my life be affected by it! It may seem ridiculous to those of you who live in your ‘peaceful’ towns and cities who cannot imagine what it must be like to live in a country surrounded by nations that hate us and only want to see us obliterated. It must be weird to imagine living in the knowledge that you could die while on your way to safety. And even while we fight a war on two fronts, the third front of terrorists with bombs strapped to their body still continue to try to kill our people. I would like the G8 to explain to me what they mean by disproportionate response! I feel for the people of Lebanon… the modern and open minded citizens who live in peace and want to live in peace… but I cannot understand how people refer to Hezbollah and Hamas in the same way they refer to the Conservatives and Labour parties. They are terrorists… they are NOT freedom fighters or militants, they are Terrorists! They are part of the same group who were behind 9/11 and 7/7! It makes me laugh that when they attack anywhere other than Israel then they are terrorists… when they attack Israel, they are “freedom fighters”! I am coming to terms with the fact that we are on our own. We have to and we have already defended ourselves… so in terms of asking for your approval?? No thanks… we are alone, we will give ourselves approval… but thanks for the offer!

Meanwhile my dad is still trying to make his way to Herzlia for our father and daughter lunch...