I went shopping at the local Lidl yesterday morning. How did that compare with shopping in Haifa? Fruit and veg cost about the same price. Milk has gone up here enormously to about Israeli prices, but bearing in mind that most Israelis earn at least three times less than in Britain, with higher taxes, this represents very good value for money. Corresponding to the ubiquitous Russian in Haifa, there was the ubiquitous Polish at Lidl's and the same lack of shop assistance when requested. However - and very big difference this - when a new till opened, my attention was drawn to it, and I was asked by a fellow customer to be first in the queue - very unlikely to happen in Israel.
And the weather was similar outside, sunny and cold, but inside - far far warmer in Manchester.
Then met three or four friends who were overjoyed (no exaggeration) to see me. Plus one old lady, whose husband had just died this time last year. She had fainted in shul last Pesach and I'd been around to assist. I don't think she'd forgotten, because she beckoned to me in the park and asked how things were; said she had a daughter in Haifa who was editing her late husband's writings.
And other friends spoke of the increase in muggings and the son of one of my friends had suffered injuries to his head during one such mugging, which had taken place on Sunday in central Manchester. I remember this boy when he was three! People are being advised not to go around with handbags, apparently.
And then this in The Times:
'Queen's 'worry' at Sharia speech'
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article3360742.ece
A 'royal source' has told The Times that:
... the Queen is worried, coming at such a difficult time in the Church's history, that the fallout may sap the authority of the Church
of which she is, of course, Supreme Governor.
And The Telegraph speaks of the Queen's 'anxiety':
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/02/13/nsharia113.xml
If sharia were to be implemented in the way suggested, tomorrow's Valentine Day might look rather different:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080211/od_nm/valentine_saudi_dc
For, as has already been stated, sharia is not just a question of amputations and beheadings (as advocated by Muslim pupils in a school in a state school in Greater Manchester, not far from where my friend's son was mugged on Sunday), but also the little things that affect all of us and make life worth-while and precious.
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