Category: Uncategorized

I never caught his name, the bloke at the Alhambra Palace Hotel in Ramallah. He was really sweet, very friendly, very good-looking, spoke good English. Thick, slick hair. George Michael stubble. Red shirt, jeans. It was the day before his birthday, when he was going to turn 36. “Be careful,…

The hotel bloke from last night was still hanging around the lobby and we exchanged smiles. It’s a curious thing. I could swear he looked a bit embarrassed, a bit morning-after-the-night-before. He had been a bit shouty, and he’d let his frustrations show maybe a little too much. I can’t…

When I was younger I went to Jamaica, stayed on this holiday resort compound. It was lovely but cut off from Jamaica. Could have been anywhere and it felt really uncomfortable, life as a posh tourist drinking overproof, overpriced rum, while the locals pressed their noses against the glass and…

I never caught his name, the bloke at the Alhambra Palace Hotel in Ramallah. He was really sweet, very friendly, very good-looking, spoke good English. Thick, slick hair. George Michael stubble. Red shirt, jeans. It was the day before his birthday, when he was going to turn 36. “Be careful,…

People milled around the hotel lobby, looking at Banksy originals with their calculators out, paying bills and waiting for cabs to take them back to the light. I had been toying with the idea of going to Hebron. The unease felt in Ramallah was long in the rear-view mirror and…

Another relaxing day at Ruth’s. I could get used to this. In the evening we went to some neighbours who were intrigued by my trip to the West Bank. They were immigrants – of course – but seeing as they’d been here since the 1960s… we can forgive them that.…

If Tel Aviv was all about good looking boys and girls silently whizzing around on electric scooters with the soundtrack being expensive laughter and chat, Ramallah is very different. There are a few women on the streets but it’s almost exclusively blokes. Groups of young-ish men mostly in their twenties…

I’ve been a bit caught up with what to do, how to plan it. This business of taking each day as it comes, not booking anything, making it up as we go along, this works in most places, but Israel, as we all know, isn’t most places. You can travel…

I’m sitting in an outside bar, having a drink and a smoke. It’s a beautiful evening, around 6-ish, and life is happening in a very Tel Aviv way. I’m reading a bit, thinking a bit, planning the next step – going to Palestine. Blimey, that’s exciting! – when…. My front…

It’s easy to get a bit romantic about these things. Look at this roundabout. It’s Dizengoff Square, one of the buzziest parts of one of the buzziest cities. All around the square are cafes that spill out onto the street, all full, all alive. Last night the square was a…