Solly says good by to the Florida sunshine

Oy, back to London and the winter chill.  At least I see my little angel this week but oh dear what do I do when the family move down to Cambridge?  I still don't have a solution.  Maybe a skype call with webcam whilst I go through withdrawel symptoms?  Maybe a season ticket to Cambridge?  Maybe I should actuall finish my doctorate????
Bye for now

Solly

The aligator looked like a guy from shul

I did the tourist stuff today and went to Everglades.  This was 'touristico' to the extreme.  The whole airboat  thing took the same time as a disney ride and was just as authentic an experience.  Sure we saw a few aligators with their heads peering out from the water and a dozen nice birds but it was hardly the Amazon.  After a 25 minute boat ride where you could sense the motorway 300 yards to your left we were herded into a mini theatre to see a 'professioonal' wrestle with Larry the aligator.  "This is Larry" announces the big black professional  reptile wrestler. "Larry is an aligator - or a 'gator' as we call them in these parts'.  "Now don't do this at home" he says as he proceeds to stick his head into Larry's open mouth.  Larry was safely yawning after doing his schtick for the 100th time this month, no one dies except the audience.

Back to Miami for a great steak - I didnt ask if it was kosher but it was very tasty.

Solly lets his roots get the better of him

Today i visited the Museum of Florida Jewry in Miami.  It was easy to find and just tucked behind Ocean Drive around 3rd st.  Nice building, classic deco and a front of building security guy who was strictly 21st century.  Probably important to have heavy security, noit everyone wishes us well.  Nor, apparently did earlier generations of locals.  Indeed much of the museaums' treasures focus on discrimination and oppression.  Swathes of exhibits are concerned with the injustice meted out to a certain Leo Franke who was imprisoned and subsequently lynched for a murder he could not possibly have committed i.e he was a nice Jewish boy!

The museum itself is lovely and is run by a group of women who all look like aunts of mine.  In fact when I saw the guide I thought she was my Auntie Yentl risen from her tomb.  She even talked incessantly like Yentl with a sort of 'old country' accent and manner that cries out to be oppressed.  These people do a great job and I enjoyed myself a lot.  If you accept their video presentation Florida was build from Jewish blodd, sweat and tears.  Just to even stuff up a bit I should pop into a Cuban museum.

Solly does Miami

Noo, you thought I never left Golders Green didn't you? Well I do sometimes and here I am in South Beach Miami.  Although I do spend a lot of time loitering in London I do have some vague real world activities and one of them has brought me over here to the United States.  I'm staying at my niece's place - Judith has a smallish condo here on West Ave and she is visiting friends in New York for a couple of weeks so  it fitted in with travel plans. Oy, did it rain here yesterday!!!  No one told me to pack an umbrella so I actually had to buy one.  It was torrential but they say it will be sunny today. 

Havent had a chance to move around much yet but did a city tour yesterday on a bus and boat to pass the time and get oriented with the locale.  Lots of Jewish history here, sure I will fit in.  At least here a Zayde can feel among his own.

Still a bit jet-lagged will blog more soon

Solly

Solly, Dov and Mikey discuss strategy

Went for a falafel with Dov and his son Mikey after shul tonight.  I really enjoy the pita bread makes me feel i'm back in Israel.  In fact I'm going to suggest to our Rabbi that we have falafel for our monthly Torah breakfast when we are studying parashat hashavua bo.   We had a lot of hits to the blog yesterday, its all building nicely and I have had some good emails of support.  But we have a major problem looming,  my daughter and her nice goy are moving out of London to Cambridge where he is going to be a lecturer- he has quite a kopf on him!  Maybe Solly should be a scholar too?

How will I survive?? Where will the little smiles and gurgles come from now?  Keep reading and following and my strategy will become clear (maybe).

2 days of joy worth waiting for.

So the girlfriend and I turned up like the Magi bearing gifts.  As I mentioned earlier there was a hebrew reading primer from Oy Toys (I still can't believe the name) an exquisite snow suit from my partner in a lovely shade of pink (no gender re-inforcement here!) and the cutest ever pair of blue jeans that I picked up on the Kings Rd.  The jeans are so sweet with little diamante details around the pockets and for 6 months to 1 year.  When I bought them at the Replay boutique other shoppers gurgled their approval at my choice. I don't want to spoil my little angel but I noticed that my local jewelry store is closing and selling off stock and they had a lovely silver charm bracelet that would make a nice pressie when she is a bit older.  All our largesse bought us 2 afternoons of cuddles and smiles and a load of photos to load onto my private facebook page.

She's back, I'm back!!!

The festive season is over (NB I avoid the use of Christmas - Yiddishe blog etc) and my little darling perfectly formed jewish granddaughter is back in London.  How I have missed her!  It came as rather a surprise that her other set of grandparents (those nice goys I mentioned) had cuddle rights for almost a month - thats 10% of her little life.  But today I get her back.  Along with the usual clothes and cuddly toys as pressies I also got her her first Hebrew reading book from oytoys.com - yes it exists oytoys!  On the subject of 'oy' she has started murmuring something that apparently sounds like 'oy oy oy'  my own father Morry has been reincarnated.

I'll  report more on all this tomorrow when I have seen her.

Happy new year
from Solly