Distance: 109 km / 67.5 miles
Time Waited: 15 minutes
The Story: I'd been waiting for about 7-8 minutes when two girls joined me. They'd been at the reggae festival (which apparently wasn't that great), and were trying to reach Netanya. We pooled our resources (whoever doesn't look like a prepubescent boy or have crazy dreads gets to "stand"), and waited. It didn't take long for a car to stop. A driver in his 30s, holding a very cute (and very tiny!) dog on his lap picked us up. We piled our bags in, and set off. His destination was Gedera, which was a little more south than I intended, but he would drop me off at a great intersection. In other words, I could get from Haifa to Jerusalem with 1-2 rides - hitchhiker's jackpot. Bypassing Tel Aviv is key!
As we chugged along, he kept petting and stroking his dog. Words cannot do justice to how cute, fluffy and adorable this dog was. And I don't even like dogs. It was about the size of a large melon, and looked like something you wouldn't mind keeping wrapped around your neck, or use as a pillow. Throughout the ride, he kept babytalking at the dog, and at one point he leaned down to get the dog to "kiss" him. Please sir, keep both eyes on the road. Plus, he really enjoyed talking about the dog, which he'd gotten off the street a week ago (vaccinations pending). The driver had been at his annual HaBonim beach weekend with friends, and it had been the dog's first time at the beach. Good times were had by all.
The driver works in real estate, which is apparently going quite well. Apparently Gedera strikes the country-living-but-close-enough-to-commute balance quite well, and houses are in high demand.
Ron, my former housemate (also known by his nom de guerre Hummusius - the Greek god of Hummus) is from Gedera. I texted him and asked if he was around, and sat back for the ride. As one point I mentioned Ron, and it turns out that they know each other! The driver said, "tell him Ben-Shabbat gave you a ride," and added, "we're even friends on Facebook." Of course, this shouldn't come as a surprise. At a recent street party Ron was selling hummus, and nearly every conversation I overheard was someone bragging that their friend made the hummus. Cheers.
No comments:
Post a Comment