45 Seconds to Hide

So it's day seven of the "Pillar of Defence" and we're still waiting to see what's going to happen. The sirens have been blaring everyday, though less often now. I'll try and show you what we do.

First of all, we hear the siren. A very soothing pleasant sound. Since I came to Israel, this is war number four. The Gulf war, the Lebanon 2, operation "Cast Lead" and now "Pillar of Defence". Well, Lebanon 2 was up North and we didn't get the sirens in the South, but still, it was nerve racking.

 

So, we hear the siren (hope the video works. I believe the lines that you see in the sky are trails of Iron Dome rockets).

 

 

 The siren means that we have 45 seconds to go and hide in the shelter. We are lucky that "the bomb room" is inside the apartment. We are on the top floor, my parents downstairs. So we have to go down these stairs.

From the bottom of the stairs we go across to my parents' bedroom.

This is the reinforced room with a heavy door that is our bomb shelter.

 

Of course, my parents turned that room into a walk-in closet.

So we don't have much room in there. The Kid, my Mom, myself and the dog - and it's crowded. My Dad doesn't hide. He is a fatalist I guess.

The door locks from the inside with these latches. There is an old-style (not cordless) phone on the wall that always works.

Even when it's quiet you're always listening for that siren. And if it's been quiet for too long, you feel like "I wish it came and gone already". I'm not the sort of person to panic, I don't get hysterical and start flapping about all over the place. But there is always a feeling in your gut "what if".

Anyway, they say it's going to be a decisive day today whether they agree on ceasefire or not. We'll see. In the meantime the Ki

Sorry, we just had another one. I'm not being dramatic, I really stopped typing and didn't finish the word. I was going to say that the Kid is at home, not doing much, and it's a pain for him, and I can't really concentrate on my translations either.

Read one of my fave blogs last night. The latest post ended with a question: And how was your weekend? I thought of writing a comment but then decided not to spoil  the mood.