37 Humus on Friday
On Fridays I get up at the usual time and before I leave for my 'Friday round trip' I sit down for an intensive hour or so of work. After that I stretch, go down to the kitchen, take the car keys from the drawer and go on my way.
My first stop is at the gas station around the corner where I can get the weekend edition of "Yediot Aharonot" for five shekels. I save the television section for my mother, and try to include a short visit to her in the course of the morning. If this does not work out she will receive it at the Shabat meal at our home. The vegetable store is my next stop. After that I go to the grocery store in the shopping center, but first I stop at another gas station where I can get the Friday edition of 'MaAriv' for three shekels.
Although I took the shopping list with me, before I reach the stores I receive two telephone calls from my wife. She remembered a few more things we need and just now opened the fridge and saw that there wasn't any butter. I promise to add it to my shopping list and to remember it, but my wife takes no chances; she adds an SMS in which she itemizes the added items. When I am already next to the butcher, I receive a call from my daughter who wants me to add another few items and my mother calls to say that as long as I am already out shopping I should see if I can find some Kumquats, she wants to make jam.
I finish shopping and on the way to the cashier I am still undecided, but in the end I add a modest bouquet of flowers to the list. Now I decide that I deserve a good beer and choose a bottle of dark Czech beer. After unloading all the packages at home I take the car to the carwash. Until the car is ready I go to the nearby Humusaria for a small order of humus-techina.
Ah, the pleasure of relaxation in a humusaria on a Friday afternoon. There you find the youngster's home from the army, the bike riders who have just finished riding over Amikam's Hills, families of three generations, and young couples with babies in their baby carriers. And all of them are seated around tables in a strange structure whose like is nowhere to be found, not even in the movies, and everyone is relaxed and smiling - and the world looks good on a Friday afternoon.
