Carly has an appointment at the Ministry of Absorption in downtown Tel Aviv. Her fold up e-Brompton was refused entry, and so Carly, with her platinum U-lock, chained it up and told the bike not to go and get itself stolen, as it wasn’t yet insured. The purpose of this visit is to tell Carly her rights and hopefully benefits of becoming a recent Israeli immigrant. It means she knows where and when she will receive some income for the next six months, as well as what discounts she is allowed. It is an appointment designed to make her feel welcome. She wonders what other countries have such a system set up for new immigrants. “Maybe it’s because the bureaucracy is so horrendous”, Carly suggests. “No”, she thinks. That is pretty much the same in most places. Maybe Israel really does welcome new citizens. “Does that account for Israel being one of the happiest countries in the world after Scandinavia”, wonders Carly. In fact, it’s not happiness at all. It is self-actualisation. That makes more sense at this current tricky time.
Carly finds herself sitting next to Batya whilst they are both waiting for their allotted time slots at this Government department. Carly hears Batya, a woman with luscious, dark long black hair about the same age as Carly, talking to her daughter on the phone “No, they don’t seem to make raisin challah for Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) like they do in South Africa”. Carly leaned towards her, careful not to invade her space. Carly made a comment “That could be a thing, like a business venture!” Batya laughed, ended her call and they found they both lived in Jaffa. Then they swapped mobile phone numbers. “Oh, my goodness” they both exclaimed simultaneously. They had identical numbers apart from the last two digits. It was clear they had come to live in Israel only a few days apart, as they had been given these SIM cards on arrival. So, they had five things that bonded them already: gender, English speaking, age, mobile phone number and living in Jaffa.
Off they went for their separate appointments and vowed to meet up for coffee later that week. They arranged to go to café Ada together. Excellent coffee but a bit pretentious. Carly could probably volunteer for the tourism centre in Jaffa and only give advice about coffee institutions – she had made it her mission to try them all out and rate them for the standards of their beverages, staff friendliness and venue ambiance. But café Ada was on her road and so a useful place to hang out as well as a well-known meeting spot. Then they discovered that not only did they both have dogs who were transported in the plane hold, but also, they loved knitting. Carly was in ecstasy. It was so lovely to meet a fellow crocheter and knitter. For once, she could discuss her favourite designers and what yarn she liked to buy without any reluctance or embarrassment. When Carly returned to London for work a few weeks later, Batya was able to order a cardigan kit from Marie Wallin. It took up quite a bit of space but what could be better than carrying around sumptuous yarn? Batya more than returned the favour by fetching way cheaper anti-worm/flea/tick treatment for Carly’s menagerie of animals from New Zealand when she returned there for her daughter’s wedding dress fitting.
Having an almost identical phone number did have one disadvantage. They both used the same pet shop. In fact, Carly probably spends more money there than in any other shop. On toys, food and of course treats as well as things to promote dental animal hygiene. The staff really like her dog Talulah and teach her new tricks like ‘rabbit’, where she has to sit on her back legs and ‘round’ where she has to go around Carly before she throws a ball or stick. These all keep Talulah on her toes. Recently they advised on a type of training slip leash as Talulah is still a bit ‘pully’. At the pet shop they always ask for your phone number to bring up your account. Usually, you only need to give the first few numbers. But this is neither the case for Batya, nor for Carly. They need to give the number in its entirety. But that is a pretty minor disadvantage to an otherwise good friendship.
Carly and Batya have both been divorced. But Batya’s was a long time ago and she has since remarried the wonderful Sonny. He is the consummate gentleman. Always looking after Batya and collecting and delivering her to places she needs to be. His only real fault is that he is ridiculously tall. But that is all relative. Carly is exceedingly short. Sonny works with helicopters. It sounds very exciting to Carly, but he reassures her that it is mundane most of the time. The demanding problems are dealing, as always, with staff. Like Carly, Batya is in healthcare. As a hand therapist. Carly shows Batya her small fold-up keyboard she can connect via Bluetooth to her phone. This means she can save her thumbs from texting, prevent repetitive strain injury, and keep knitting. It reminds Carly of a mug she has seen. “Keep calm and carry on knitting”. She is sure Batya is impressed with Carly’s attempts to undertake preventative measures.
Batya is also a very good baker. She has given some of her sourdough starter and taught Carly how to make some very delicious breadsticks. For Carly, there really are too many steps, and maybe, quietly, Carly might renege on one or two of them. And then she goes on to being as experimental as she dares with her additions to the sourdough sticks. She tries the usual ones like olives, dried fruit, and nuts. But when feeling enterprising, she has put in Bombay mix or popcorn. Unfortunately, Carly cannot rejoice. They really don’t work out at all.
Batya has worked very hard at learning Hebrew. She takes it very seriously. Carly is a tiny bit embarrassed about her own learning journey. Well, actually, Carly has actively decided that, at 59, she isn’t going to learn. Well, not in an active sense with a teacher. She was rubbish when she was 19 on her gap year in Israel. Why on earth would things have improved 40 years on? But she admires Batya for speaking it well enough to work in a hospital as a hand therapist. “Well-done Batya”, says Carly.
Several months after they met, Batya confessed that she wasn’t really sure that Carly was who she claimed to be. She thought that Carly was over-the-top (which she is) and not to be believed. So, she looked Carly up to see if she had an online profile. And there she was. The person she did claim to be! When Batya owned up to this, Carly guffawed with laughter and said “How very comical”.
Both Carly and Batya are keen to expand their circle of local crafters. And this has led to a series of evenings to realise this. With lots of sourdough bread sticks. To eat. Not make. And alcohol. To drink. Not so good for consuming when reading complicated knitting patterns. But good for the soul. Carly has always loved a drink. Batya less so. She did intend to improve but like Carly’s inability to learn Hebrew, Batya has given up and remains tee-total. Through their circle of crafters, Carly agreed to make some crochet inserts for a final year fashion degree piece for a friend-of-a-friend. But Carly isn’t a very expert crocheter. She can only really do flowers. So, she had to go to Batya for advice who shook her head gravely and said that she knew Carly would take on this project and come running to her for help. But it all worked out in the end.
So, not only did Carly enjoy Batya and Sonny’s company and hospitality, but so did Talulah. She would greet their dog Ted with exuberance and mischief. Usually, Ted was alright with this. But sometimes the young upstart Talulah would eject Ted from his own bed and then he would wander around a bit miffed. But there is always a hierarchy in life. For instance, Batya is better than Carly at Hebrew, knitting, and baking. But Carly is better at being a doctor. Well of course. Batya isn’t a doctor. And Batya is better at being tidy and keeping her apartment spick and span. Carly is better at accumulating and accepting mess as well as allowing sand from her animals in the bed. Well, up to a point. It can get irritating sometimes, Carly muses. She wonders if sand is good for exfoliating her skin at night? This is just a random excuse for not shaking all that sand out onto the floor, before it is caught in paws and returned back onto the bed.
Batya is also not shy to tell Carly a thing or two. She told Carly that in the winter Talulah was cold and needed a coat. Carly never put Talulah in a coat in the UK and that was much colder. Even when it snowed. Gosh did Talulah love frolicking about in all that white, cold powdery stuff. And Batya also remonstrated that Talulah needed a handmade blanket for her bed. Carly capitulated on both counts. Talulah has a nice coat from Puebla in Mexico and a purple knitted blanket with alpaca yarn edging.
Batya and Carly have a competition to see who can provide the other one with a location of a particular picture by their favourite street artist who goes by the name ID (Imaginary Duck). They both fail dismally at this. Only the person who took the photo knows. However, they do both love this artist. And, as we all know, it’s the taking part that is important. Not the winning. But maybe that is not true. Carly does love to win… And Batya refuses to play netball in case she loses…
