Leave or Remain, That's the Question

map of Great Britain*

I'm not enthusiastic about  countries joining unions and federations, and I'm well aware of the fact that once - In - , it's very tricky to get - Out -.  Having said that, let's have a very brief look at 'Brexit'.

Great Britain wants out of the European Union.
So far, things don't look good for her; Let's hope the efforts invested in the above direction (Brexit) won't turn GB (or is it UK?) "into the best show in town".  

GB has a North  Ireland  problem, a Scotland problem, a monarchy problem, but the real problem lies elsewhere, and is common to all countries, not only to GB. It's called leadership problem.

Countries hold elections in order to enable their people to choose someone capable of forming a government that will decide things for them,  not  call for referendums (as the former british PM, Cameron, did). Referendum is the tool of the non-leader, a way of letting the "mob" rule even after the elections.
But before we blame him or any other leader/non-leader, we have to examine the whole picture, and it's  a rather gloomy one.

It seems, the old  western political map of  parties, elections, parliament, coalition,  opposition - doesn't work any longer (See USA where almost half of the population refused to accept the results of the last  elections).

In my humble opinion (and upon examining things in my own country), the above situation is, partly, because of the constantly growing diversity within a country's population, which brings about a great diversity of interests, and ultimately diviseveness.

Diversity makes life look more exotic but it comes at a huge price. 
It  makes democracy or the so-called democracy, a big Burden. and not at all an efficient system.  Unless there's some new, up-to-date efficient political/social system on the way, divisiveness and corruption within nations, and even extinction, yes, extinction of nations (with or without  Mother Nature's help),  are likely to occur in a fairly accelarated mode - and no leader, elections or referendums, could do anything to stop it. 

It's a pesimistic view of things, I know that, but then reality (inclusive, the reality in my own country) is not an optimistic one at all.

As for Great Britain, I wish her Good Luck whatever she chooses: leave or remain. She can always turn to Shakespeare and count on him for Honor and Fame,(the last paragtaph rhymes: remain/fame/ I like that :)

* internet map

The (In)Famous Grandpa

Discount stores (the one dollar shop, the five dollar shop, etc..) and fast food eateries (the local ones, as well as the foreign names of McDonald's, Burger Ranch, and  others) are an  all-family fun experience involving parents, grandparents, kids, siblings .
(I rather pity the staff  for the noisy atmosphere under which they work, especially during school-holidays. The place is not a museum where children and adults alike silently contemplate works of art).

MAX chain of discount stores - main branch, Nethanya, near Ikea

Our most popular discount stores are 'Max 20' of the 'Max' chain (Max - the name of the owner, 20 israeli shekel - about $5- maximum price of most items ). 
The most popular fast food places, being the local falafel/shuwarma/kebab/schnitzel/shakshouka/
veggie omelettes eateries, and , of course,.. McDonald's branches.

entrance and main street window of a 'Max 20' store

inside a 'Max 20' store

Mc Donald's branch

poster attached to the  window with  food names

 same poster attached to the inside counter of the eatery

Anyway, it so happened to me once, that after buying some household items at one of the discount stores, I entered a near by fast food eatery to get myself a bite to eat. While sitting at the table I noticed a small group of four (previously seen at the discount shop) that looked like grandparents and their two grandkids

people sitting at tables at Mc.Donald's

girls enjoying  shuarma at a popular local eatery

The man's face seemed familiar. It was. It belonged to a chief pathologist at the Forensic Institute -  involved, at that time, in a terrible public scandal regarding mishandling  of removed organs and tissues from corpses.

( He was found guilty and released from  his post. He managed to escape jail as he had answers, and not many people had the professional capacity to contradict him. There was also the desire to close the case and not prolong suffering of the involved families, among them families of two late TV figures and an army general).

I couldn't take my eyes off of  the four. Grandpa was very gentle with his grandies (a boy and a girl about 9-10 years old), helping them with cutting  (no pun intended) their food portions .
I kept thinking and asking myself whether the two kids knew and understood the line of work of their grandfather, whether they read about him in the media,  asked him questions about the scandal. 

My curiosity remained, of course,  unanswered.  It ended up though, with me feeling angry at myself for totally failing to see the bad guy that was - perhaps - deeply hidden in that frail, gentle grandpa.

Rain - Water - Fencing

When I was a little girl ׂ(ages ago), my mother used to wash my hair with rainwater, as it was considered beneficial to both scalp and hair. I suppose nowadays, mothers wouldn't do this to their girls as rainwater is full of all kinds of pollution particles  that cause damage to soil, to humans, to our flora and fauna. 

And yet, in spite of its contaminants, we badly need rain, want rain, dream of rain, pray for rain, expect rain, feel miserable without rain.  Rain cools the air, and makes the heat of summer more bearable. It prevents famine and thirst .

fountains - as a "cooling" sight.

Despite smart desalination and irrigation water systems, and the bombastic headlines style " Israel helps world fight water shortage" - the sad truth is that water is a never-ending problem in our country, because of rain, more precisely - lack of it.

It rains mainly in winter, and even then, not daily or weekly. Maybe 'Climate Change' will change that, and bring us some more rain, who knows. I wouldn't count on that, though. This Climate thing is quite unpredictable and very, very scary!  In the meantime, we have to keep an eye on our water supply and consumption, so that we don't get into deep trouble.

There are things that can be done to prevent water waste without affecting our life too much. Here's one tiny example - replace living (green) fencing with the various other options: wood, metal, stone,wall, bamboo. Living fences (shrubs) need  water (quantity depending on the requirement of the plants that make up that particular shrub).

living (green) fence, neatly trimmed

dry fence ; no water - no living (terrible sightֱֱֱֱֱ!)

Most house owners  prefer a green fence, it's a favorite, but this is gradually changing, as water is not the only one problem with this type of fence; there's also the regular cutting and trimming process which requires time/patience/money. In addition, there's the growing awareness that home and garden security might be better assured by the other options, especially stone and metal.

overgrown shrub - not trimmed, not nice fence

white wooden fence

wall-type fence

bamboo-type fence behind the bus stop.