6 Haruvim Street

This is Haruvim (Carob) Street, the street on which I live. Indeed there are a few Carob trees on it, but the street's main attraction are the gigantic Ficus trees that once made an impressive green canopy over the road. When I came to Pardes Hana looking for a house to live in, I walked under the magical trees and fell in love with the street. It is in an ideal location, within walking distance of the town's center, post office, banks, "Hagoren" (The Barn) bakery and the Central bus station. Lately this has been closed and is now an asphalt wasteland and an environmental eyesore since it has been turned into a weekly market every Thursday, with terrible traffic jams and cars parked the length and width of the entire area. Aside from the excellent location, the trees transformed the street into a little corner of a dream. As you walked under the canopy of the gigantic trees, with the dimness created by the lofty branches, you realized that you had left the world of thorns, weeds and shade less earth of large parts of the surrounding country side behind, and felt that suddenly you were in another world in which ancient gigantic trees rest contentedly over peaceful streets and houses. Nirvana.
But all that is only a vanished dream. Considerations which I find hard to justify, overcame the dream and the beauty. The saw came and in a single day cut down the street's pride and glory. The trees will grow again, perhaps, but many years will pass before the street will regain its former beauty, if at all. And that is a shame.