Escorting in the winter: Its cold, wet…

Israel is in the middle east where in pure meteorological terms:

Israel’s climate is Mediterranean with hot, dry summers and mild, wet winters, and arid/desert conditions in the south.

Now the road, civil engineers, building designers took that description literally and defined “mild” as wearing a light jack once in a while and “wet” means a few drizzles now and then. So when it came to road design, they figured that perhaps once in a 100 years would there be enough rain to flood the streets, rather than the once a year.

And those “mild winters,” well that meant the builders don’t have to waste time and money putting in insulation so that homes keep the warmth in when their heaters are on. And of course no need for central heating as, after all the winters are all just ‘mild.”

So we spend our time standing, sitting next to the radiators, wondering how much electricity they are soaking up. Parents with toddlers and their cute babies that are just now starting to crawl, are constantly watching them to keep them away from the hot metal of the radiators.

Some of us just sit on the couch with a warm blanket waiting for some one else in the apartment to move so we can order some hot coffee or tea from them.

Which is why in the winter I just want to stay home 🙂

They did not consider us escorts and our winter escorting requirements of getting outside

But staying home also isn’t the cozy sanctuary you might imagine. Because remember—no insulation means these buildings are basically fancy tents with plumbing. The cold seeps through the walls, the “mild” 10°C outside somehow feels like 0°C inside, and there’s no escaping it. You can feel the chill radiating from the walls themselves.

And when it does rain —it’s like Mother Nature is making up for months of drought all at once. Those roads the civil engineers designed for “a few drizzles”? They transform into rivers within minutes. Intersections become lakes. Cars stall in water up to their doors. The news shows the same footage every year: someone’s car floating down what used to be a street, a suv stuck in a flash flood, drivers standing on their roofs waiting for rescue.

The irony is that Israel has some of the world’s most advanced water conservation and desalination technology. We can make drinking water from the Mediterranean. We’ve mastered drip irrigation. But weatherproofing our roads and homes? Apparently that was a bridge too far.

But right now, in January, I’m sitting here in a sweater, thick socks, and a blanket, watching the rain pound against my single-pane windows, hearing the wind whistle through gaps I never knew existed, and wondering whether the street outside my building will be passable tomorrow afternoon so I can visit a client or if I’ll need a kayak to visit him in his warm central heated 5 star hotel.

I’m just waiting for the summer…..skirts, sandals, bikinis…..