Blogger’s Delight

Tags

Bank of Israel, Wordpress

The other day I received a delightful email from the people at WordPress, my blog server, giving me an ‘Annual Report’ for 2015 with statistics about this blog garnered by what they call their ‘stats helper monkeys.’

Immediately in my mind’s eye I could see those eager little creatures running here and there, collecting, collating, assembling and number-crunching to provide me with the valuable information regarding the number of people who read my blog each day, week, month and year, which blog posts were the most read, and where those avid readers were located.

It certainly was of interest to me, and it somehow reminded me of those heady days when I worked in the English section of the Bank of Israel’s Publications Unit. There, too, we produced an Annual Report each year, though that was a weighty tome containing chapters of great seriousness with headings such as ‘Output and Demand,’ ‘The Balance of Payments,’ and other similar titles.

They, too, were based on numbers collected, collated and crunched, upon which lengthy and profound analyses were based, though I doubt whether the people who worked on these subjects in the Research Department would have liked to be known as ‘monkeys.’

Still, I must confess that I personally found the data regarding my blog far more interesting than those pertaining to Israel’s macroeconomic situation. In fact, I was fascinated to find which post was most read during the year (it was ‘Why I Had to Write ‘Time Out of Joint, the Fate of a Family’), which day was the most popular (Monday) and which time of day was most frequently cited (10 a.m.).

In an evident effort to sugar the pill of a slight decline in traffic to my blog from 2014 to 2015, I was told: ‘Some of your most popular posts were written before 2015, Your writing has staying power! Consider writing about those topics again.’

Now that is complete nonsense, in my opinion. Who wants to read about the same things over and over again? I certainly don’t, and I think that I really do try and keep writing about different subjects, though I admit that that’s not always easy. The political situation in Israel and abroad provides plenty of ammunition for any number of blogs (which is essentially what newspapers contain), but I don’t want to be constantly harping on about politics. It’s true that there’s always something happening in that respect, but there are plenty of other sources of information and opinion on that topic elsewhere.

I started writing this blog some time in 2012, so I suppose one could say I do indeed have staying power. After I had been writing my monthly article for the AJR Journal (Association of Jewish Refugees) in England for some time (I started in late 2003), I found myself wanting to say something about various subjects on a far more frequent basis. One article a month was just not enough! So, after having failed to persuade that august publication to appear on a weekly rather than a monthly basis, I enlisted the help of one of my sons and set up this blog. Since then I have been writing a post on average once a week. Although it’s not always so easy to find something to write about, usually something does turn up.

Just like the email I got from WordPress the other day.

 

 

Goodbye, Israel Museum

Tags

Bank of Israel, English-Language Publications, Intel

 

 

When my husband and I retired from our jobs about eight years ago (mine as Translator and Editor-in-Chief of English-Language Publications at the Bank of Israel, his as a senior engineer in Intel) we found that some of our spare time could be usefully spent by volunteering at the Israel Museum. We both entered what was then known as the Hosts program, in which we served as mobile information purveyors to visitors to the Museum.

Over the years the nature of our volunteering work changed as the Museum grew and developed. We remained at our posts as the extensive renovations went ahead, then accepted our new duties – mine as a Team Captain at the Information Desks, Yigal’s first in the Restoration Laboratory then in the Israeli Art Information Center. In both departments his work was highly valued, and both of us were happy and proud to be contributing to one of Israel’s foremost cultural institutions.

Our association with the Museum was on the whole enjoyable. It connected us with other volunteers, who tended to be nice, intelligent people, as well as with visitors, who were generally pleasant to talk to and appreciated our assistance. The volunteers in charge of the various activities were usually congenial and helpful, without being too obtrusive. Nobody knew exactly how and why this person or that was nominated for whichever managerial task among the cadre of volunteers, but this hardly concerned us as we continued to perform our functions to what seemed to be general satisfaction.

But about a year ago things changed. A new person was appointed to head the volunteers’ activities. Little by little, the atmosphere changed as tales began to circulate about insulting remarks he had made to one person or another, volunteers who had been dismissed on flimsy grounds, and a deterioration in the general atmosphere. I found it hard to believe that he had actually told one of my fellow team-mates, a Ph.D. who had called the office to get some information, that she ‘was devoid of intelligence,’ and did my utmost to dissuade her from resigning.

Then I heard from another member of my team that he had spoken to her in a rather rude fashion when she told him she was unable to attend a meeting he had set at a time that clashed with some other regular activity of hers.

The incidents continued to accumulate. Another team-mate, this one also a Ph.D., was asked to prepare a series of three lectures for volunteers, the first one to be given in another week. After working long and hard preparing the material she was told in a casual conversation that her lectures had been cancelled. No reason or explanation was given. My colleague was initially very hurt and insulted, as is only natural, but then decided very nobly that she was actually rather relieved.

Other colleagues were told after many years of devoted service to the Museum that their services were no longer required because they were too old. Too old! If only young people had the time and resources to devote to volunteering that would, of course, be ideal. But unfortunately it’s usually only possible to volunteer when one is no longer working in paid employment.

The last straw for me was when my husband was told by the ‘Volunteers Council,’ an unelected body of appointees, that his volunteering services would no longer be required. Outrageous calumnies and the distortion of facts were given as grounds for this decision. My husband is a person of absolute integrity and has a strong character that is outstanding in its honesty and decency (yes, of course I’m biased), and it seems that these qualities were not to the liking of the people heading the volunteers organization.

And so, in protest at the way my husband has been treated, I have resigned from my position as a volunteer in the Israel Museum. And so has at least one other member of our team.

Our association with the Museum has not ended, as we will continue to renew our membership annually and enjoy the exhibitions and events held there. We are both busy with many other activities, but it was not in this way that we wished to end our years of volunteering at the Israel Museum..

Goodbye to Gorgeous Garments

Tags

Bank of Israel, Bond Street, Marble Arch, Oxford Street

On my return home after spending several weeks in France and one in London, the last with two grandchildren, I found several new items of clothing in my suitcase. Of course, a trip down Oxford Street with a very grown-up twelve-year-old granddaughter inevitably entailed some retail therapy, and I suppose that both she and I went a tiny bit berserk as we visited every single store between Marble Arch and Bond Street underground stations.

Thus it was that when I came to put my new acquisitions away in my closet I found to my horror that there was no room at the inn! It seems that over the years I have accumulated an inordinate amount of clothing. Drastic measures were required.

It is now almost eight years since I retired from my job at the Bank of Israel. Admittedly, it was not a high-powered managerial position, but as translator and editor-in-chief of its English publications I felt that I had to present an image of efficiency and competence (whether my performance was either of those is not for me to say).

Oh, how I loved ‘going in to the office’ in my efficient-looking trouser suits of various pastel colours, with shoes that were not too frivolous, but not too old-fashioned either (I hope). That lasted for about fifteen years, up until my retirement at the ripe old age of 62, as the law permitted me to do at the time.

My career at Israel’s central bank came after I had worked as a free-lance translator/editor/writer for many years. Free-lancers can wear what they want, work how and when they choose, and only on rare occasions do they need to present a respectable front to the world. Having experienced both work situations, I found that I enjoyed each one equally, and have no regrets about either. In both cases I came into contact with interesting people and more-or-less interesting material.

But I now have to face the fact that those days are past. That I will never again wear those cute little trouser-suits, and so, since they are superfluous to needs, as the saying goes, they will have to go to make room for my new acquisitions which, though charming, no longer need to project any image about my ability to do the job.

Thus it was with a heavy heart that I weeded out an inordinate number of those dear little suits (how and why did I acquire so many?), packed them into bags and took them to the clothing recycling containers that the local authority has kindly placed at strategic points throughout our neighbourhood.

The clothes from these containers will be distributed to needy folk, of whom Israel has no shortage. I’m just wondering what kind of needy folk will end up wearing those clothes and on which occasions. Furthermore, they will have to be rather petite to get into them.

I wish both the people and the clothes the best of luck as they embark on their new career.