The flu is back.
Eldest and I stayed home. Mum would have said I went back to work too soon (At one time she'd also have said it was because of all this vegetarian business and not drinking my chicken soup like a good girl, but she eventually gave up on that). Eldest has actually been off school for a while. Bish is not very well either, but he had to go to work because his boss is a slavedriver (he's self employed). My boss wasn't too happy either, although I did go in for an hour, this morning, to get some urgent stuff out, which I think is very nice of me. Our Sis's lot are also under the weather and so was R.T., but he went back to work today. Our Sis wonders if it isn't biological warfare. Maybe the Hizbullah have been spitting into the Wazzani River up in Lebanon instead of pumping the water away. How's that for sophisticated warfare? Give us all the flu, instead of organizing us to die of thirst. Brilliant.

The Shabak (General Security Service) caught a terrorist that was allegedly planning terrorist attacks (Hebrew link) including an attack on a tourist bus in Mitzpe Ramon. Well, tourist buses are few and far between in Mitzpe Ramon these days, although some stop there on the way down to Eilat for a bite to eat and a glance at the scenery. Mitzpe Ramon is such a sleepy place. I can't imagine a terrorist attack there, but they have security guards there just like everywhere else.

We were planning to go down this weekend, but I can't see Eldest being well enough, so it looks like Bish will be going on his own again. I hope they don't try to blow up our apartment building there. Mind you, it's so run down, it could be very cost effective for them. They wouldn't need any explosives, they could just send the big bad wolf to huff and puff a bit, and it would come down on it's own. What if the Iraq offensive starts on Saturday? If it does, should we be joining him there? Should we stay home? The way I feel right now, I just want to stay in bed. Maybe we’ll just huddle together in Youngest’s bed, until it’s all over.

The other night they showed on TV the "secure area" of one of the big hotels in the Tel Aviv area. They've turned a big underground car park into a giant shelter. I suppose they have it all fitted out with air pumps and everything. And they said it was going to be all set out with mattresses and sheets and blankets and everything. Made me feel dead jealous. Definitely the place to be. I wonder if they'll put those little chocolates on the pillows of the camp beds. Not that you can eat them with gas masks on. But then again, they won't need to put on gas masks if they've got air filters. They said it was the hotel the foreign press is going to use. What a waste. Those guys will all stay on the roof to get the good shots. Maybe they'd like a well-behaved Tel Aviv family of four to come and fill up one little corner? Just so it won't look empty in that big old shelter, what with all the brave reporters on the roof? Please? You can even take our photos and put them on CNN (we may even consider starting watching it again). We're very photogenic, honest.

I remember hearing stories in 1991 that the place to be was Tel Aviv Museum of Art, which was said to be fitted out with a whole nuclear shelter, where they put all the works of art. Nice to spend the war with Picasso, Van Gogh, Modigliani, Monet and the likes, what?