WORLD DIARY HUMMUS HUNT AND FACE-MASK FASHIONS

Every week our correspondents will bring a taste of life on their patch during the coronavirus pandemic. This week James Rothwell writes from Jerusalem

Monday

After seven weeks, Israel has reopened for business. I pass a park rammed with families having picnics, purchase a small mountain of hummus and head home, counting six police patrols looking to fine people who aren’t wearing face masks.

I tuck in. It has the taste of glue. As a relative newcomer here, I wonder where the good hummus can be found in Israel.

Tuesday

“Why is the hummus in the supermarkets so bad?” I ask a friend. “No one buys that stuff,” he chortles. “Make your own or get takeaway from the restaurants.”

I opt for the former, and buy a blender and an umbrella as it is raining for the first time in weeks.

The hardware shop is cramped for social distancing, but if any of the customers inside had the virus then Israel’s phone surveillance system would probably have picked it up.

Wednesday

You can divide the population into three broad groups based on their type of face mask. The fashionistas wear stylish black masks with brand names.

Practical types like me opt for a disposable surgical mask. Then there are the panic-stricken folks in full-face shields that look like riot policemen. In fact, there is a fourth group – people who don’t wear face masks at all – and their numbers are growing.

Thursday

A big story has broken about the British Government’s shipment of PPE gowns from Turkey which are not fit for purpose. I’m unable to travel there but make contact with a local Turkish reporter and we find out as much as we can about Mehmet Duzen, the mysterious T-shirt-salesman-turned-PPE-baron at the heart of the scandal.

Friday

Friday afternoons for the Jewish sabbath. I nip out for some beer. A grumpy security guard points a gun-like thermometer at my forehead. It appears I do not have coronavirus – hurrah!

Israelis should wear latex gloves as well as face masks in public. This has an unexpected benefit – it makes it very easy to unstick plastic bags at the checkout till.

I help an old lady peel off a few bags and head home, picking up some very expensive hummus from a restaurant. Israel’s eateries have reopened, but only for deliveries and collections. It is the finest hummus ever to pass my lips.

Saturday

streets are utterly deserted, as always, on Shabbat. I reflect on how the Jewish state is no stranger to coronavirus lockdown, as it has been practising for it once a week for the past 72 years.

Later today, I’m off for a run, but can’t find any guidance on whether you’re supposed to wear face masks while exercising. Can I even breathe properly while running in a face mask? It is a dilemma.

Did I decide to live dangerously, risk a fine and go without? Well, let’s say I’m not foolish enough to incriminate myself in my own newspaper – the head of the Jerusalem police force is a reader, after all.