Israel 2026-07

Israel 20,

July 21, 2026,

Hi Everyone,

This was my last day in TLV so I did the usual things that one does on the last day. Early morning emails, airline check in, swim to the break water, run 5k and pack. All very exciting. I fly to Paris and on to Montreal tomorrow. Let’s hope that I can do it in 12 hours. The last flight here took 36 hours door to door.

This evening I took Vicki out to eat at a beach side restaurant. The food was so-so but the company with Vicki is always nice. No one knows what the outcome of the war will be. Trump is too crazy to predict. There will be an election in October and hopefully a big change in government. The government just voted that studying Torah is equivalent to going into the army. That unfortunately guarantees support from the Haredi group. The country like the rest of the world is in trouble. No country in the world has a good leader now.

When I return to Montreal I have a busy 5 weeks at the office. I then will retire on Sept 1 after 44 years in practice. I have 3 goals this year: 1, learn to speak Hebrew. I will take an online course and them maybe do an ulpan next summer. 2, promote my book, Swords of Iron. I have several speaking engagements which should lead to sales and donations. 3. Learn to navigate. I can race my J 24 well round the buoys but I can’t do long distance navigation.

I have 3 triathlons lined up. The 1st one is in Wasaga Beach Ontario which I have to win to get on next years Canadian team. The 2nd one is the World Championships in Spain. The 3rd is a relay in Spain at the same time.

Love,

Brian

Israel 2026-07

Israel 19,

July 20, 2026,

Hi Everyone,

I got to bed at 1:30 after watching the World Cup disappointing Final game. But as the saying goes, ‘you win some, you lose some.’ This one ‘we’ lost. I was up bright and early at 9:30 just in time for breakfast which is served from 6:30 to 10:00. I met my Australian friends, M & W, from last night so we had cappuccinos and cinnamon buns together. We arranged to meet at noon to go down to the beach for a swim. W is a good swimmer and a swimming instructor so we swam out to the breakwater together. That is the 1st time in 3 years that I have ever seen a swimmer go out that far. She told me that in Australia she would never go out that far from shore due to the danger of being eaten by a shark. Why tempt fate. They left for Haifa later in the afternoon. They are on a 3 month world tour, ending up in Vietnam which leaves me drooling with envy. Next year!?

After my usual, I took a beach cold water shower and had the 6:00 soup and wine provided by the hotel. This evening, I decided to visit the beach side, 5* hotels. I have photographed them from the beach many times but have never ventured inside them. I took the initial picture from the outside from several angles. I then went inside to photograph the lobby. The final photo was taken of the main restaurant.

All of the hotels are beautiful and worth staying in if 5* hotels is your ‘thing’ and of course if you are willing to spend the money. I usually avoid 5* hotels when I am travelling, trying to stay in B&Bs or 2-3* hotels. I will stay in a 5* if a medical conference is being held there as we always get a group rate. The hotels did not disappoint me with their overall decor. The lobby’s and the restaurants were all tastefully decorated. The food prices, except for the Kapinski, were on par with the local nice restaurants. The prices of the hotels ranged from $500 to $1000 to $2000 per night. A pasta meal or a big Israeli salad could be had for $30. A fish meal was double that except for the Kapinski where the prices are much higher. Kapinski is really top tier, followed by the Hilton and the Sheraton. The Carlton, Renaissance, Herod, and Crown Plaza are just 1 step down but still nice. There are other nice hotels here but I concentrated on the ones on the beach. Next time I am here, I will have an Israeli salad in each one for comparison.

I am sitting in one of my favourite beach side restaurants that I have frequented in the past. The sea is black and I can hear the waves lapping the shore. There is soft rock music in the background, not loud enough to disturb. I am on my 2nd Tuboug beer to go with a falafel. It is 25C with a cool breeze. There is no better way to spend an evening in TLV. I walked on the board walk for 2.5 hours to do my photos. There must have been 1000s of people out, strolling, running, skateboarding, bicycling, and scootering. TLV has to be one of the nicest places to be in the summer. There are very few cities in the world of this size which have a beach-waterfront so easily accessible.

Love.

Brian

Israel 2026-07

Israel 18,

July 20,2026,

Yesterday I felt that I had had enough sun so I took the day off to walk around Tel Aviv. TLV is a great city and fun to visit on foot. I needed a new mouse as they tend to break if you drop them too many times. The price was the same as in Montreal which surprised me as everything else, from restaurants to apartments is much more expensive. I still managed a good swim and a run. My afternoon snack consisted of a frozen yogourt at Golda’s but I found the taste too sweet and will stick with ice cream for my next treat.

I met a nice couple from Australia and we spent the evening together watching the World Cup final between Spain and Argentina. Billed as Europe vs South America or Palestine vs Israel, depending on how you look at politics. It was supposed to be a thrilling match between 2 championship teams. Unfortunately, the game was uninspiring for us. We came down to the beach front restaurants at 8:30, expecting to easily find seating. Everything was either reserved or had long lineups to get in. We walked down the beach for a while eventually finding seats off to the side but with a reasonable view of the screen if you had binoculars. There were at least 2000 fans on the boardwalk and on the sand watching the game, eating and drinking at our chosen restaurant.

Spain had 20 shots and 12 on goal. Argentina had 2 shots and none on goal. The Argentina goal tender kept them in the game until the 2nd overtime period, stopping 11 shots allowing a 1 goal victory by Spain. The Spanish midfielders were on top of Mesi every time he touched the ball. The audience was silent for the whole game, as Argentina’s performance gave us no reason to cheer. After the game, we filed away quietly to lick our wounds. The game ended at 1:15 AM so I slept in this morning.

Love,

Brian

Israel 2026-07

Israel 17,

July 18, 2026,

Hi Everyone,

In Israel, everything is very quiet here on Friday nights as people spend Shabbat with their families and most restaurants are closed. That changes completely on Saturday when the whole city descends upon Tel Aviv Beach in spite of the fact that it still is Shabbat.

For the last 2 weeks, except for the weekend, I was up at 5:30 and usually didn’t get home until 5:30 pm. Given the fact that I find it difficult to go to bed early, I have been sleep deprived the whole 2 weeks. Last night for a change of pace, I slept for 8.5 hours. That is close to a record for me who usually goes on 6 to 6.5 hours of sleep per night all year.

I woke up fully refreshed and ready to start the day and my 4 days of holiday. I had my usual full filling breakfast and then headed upstairs to the roof top terrace to catch up on my emails. It is amazing how much emails pile up in this day and age if you don’t select, file and turf what you don’t need on a daily basis.

The rest of the day was filled with R + R (rest and relaxation for those of you who have not watched MASH in the 80s). Without going into details, I rented a beach bed, suntanned, swam to the breakwater twice, ran 5k, Magnum ice cream at 4:00). The beach was rather crowded but far less son than the Riviera beaches. I had to duck footballs, volley balls and paddle ball games which slowed down my run a little. I am now as dark or even darker than most Israelis. However, they still address me in English in bars and in restaurants. But, 1 French lady addressed me in French (do I now look French). 2 young Americans asked me if I spoke English (to them, do I now look Israeli). Their question was, ‘what were the dates of WW1?’ I guess with my white hair they must have thought that I could be a veteran of the Great War.

After a light supper of soup, wine and a fruit salad I took a stroll on the boardwalk. The whole town is out tonight. All the bars and restaurants are doing a great business. There are musicians out playing sax, guitar or just singing. There is a championship game of beach-volleyball-football with hundreds of spectators. It consists of a volleyball net on the sand and 2 players. They use a football (soccer ball) and hit it back and forth with their feet, chests and heads. It is amazing how long they can keep the volley going while being encouraged by the noisy crowd.

I am writing my blog, enjoying the warm summer breeze, overlooking the Med, sipping a beer and eating fries. Lovely. Tomorrow is the FIFA final between Argentina and Spain. I will try to arrive early to get a seat as the place will be packed. Israel is routing for Mesi (who is very pro Israel) and Argentina as Spain has a reputation of being very antisemitic.

Love,

Brian

Israel 2026-07

Israel 10,

July 13, 2026,

Hi Everyone,

After completing my blog on the terrace yesterday, I went down to the beach for my daily athletic event. I swam to the breakwater twice, a distance of 1k and then ran 5k on the beach. Some people have told me that they have been stung by jelly fish so I will have to be more careful with my swim. I wear swim goggles so I should be able to identify one before getting stung…

I purchased a day ticket that allowed me to go back and forth from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem for 24 hours as well as to take unlimited trips on the local bus and light rail system in both cities. I met my cousin, David, in Jerusalem in front of the City Hall. The trip to Jerusalem takes 45 min and the light rail trip takes 10 min. I first met David 50 years ago in Trout Lake at my grandmother’s cottage and renewed acquaintances with him 2 years ago. He was a rabbi in the Israeli Air Force and now does IT research for the government. We are diametrically opposite on the religious spectre and still get along superbly. We went to an upscale restaurant in an upscale mall and had a wonderful dining experience together. I broached the political subject of the solution to the current crisis hoping naively for incite or an answer. Unfortunately at the present time there is none. I personally don’t think that Israel will strike Iran first unless Trump asks them to do so. On the other hand, Iran is striking Middle Eastern countries at will on a daily basis. I am scheduled to fly back to Canada on July 22. I have made a decision to stay and work with MDA if rockets are flying in Tel Aviv before I leave.

Today I worked an early shift with MDA. We had multiple false starts that were cancelled before arriving. The 1st case of note involved a 44 y/o worker how had a heart attack and cardiac arrest on the 5th floor of a building under construction. The white, BLS ambulance arrived first. The patient was in ventricular fibrillation requiring shocks twice. We learned of this before arriving, by the web. We ran up to the 5th floor with all our heavy equipment. They don’t let me carry anything probably believing that it would be too much of an effort on my part. They are right, 5 floors at full speed is enough cardiac exercise for me.

On arrival, the patient had partially regained consciousness. We did the usual routine, IV, EKG, oxygen, blood sugar, BP, pulse, fluids etc. We placed the patient on a back board for precaution. 6 of us then carried the patient down the stairs to our ambulance. We rushed the patient to the hospital with sirens blazing.

The 2nd patient was a small child with a possible anaphylactic shock from peanuts. This was not really the case but we took the patient to the hospital with appropriate monitoring for precaution.

I met several people at the Maxim daily cocktail, one of whom is a French-Israeli author and film maker of note. He has a Wikipedia page describing his accomplishments. That is my next goal. We exchanged emails and formed a WhatsApp group. Perhaps this will help me to advance my book sales.

Love,

Brian

Israel 2026-07

Israel 8,

July 11, 2026,

Hi Everyone,

Last evening I was invited for a Shabbat dinner at one of Vicki’s son’s homes. Several of her children were there as well as some of her grandchildren. She has a lovely family. She is divorced but seems to have a cordial relationship with her x, as he was present. I had an interesting discussion with him about his travels. He was originally from Washington DC. He travelled for 2 years from about 1970 to 1972. He went through Europe, Africa. South America and Asia eventually arriving back in the US 2 years later after many adventures. I travelled for 1 year in 1970-1971. I considered continuing to travel around the world but in the end, made the decision to go to France and study medicine. The road that you did not travel is the road that you will never know. We then had a stimulating political discussion around the table. No one knows will happen in the near future between Trump and Iran and how that will affect Israel. One of her children lived in NY for many years and another one in Boston. He will take up a position at the U of T for 1-2 years.

I worked 4, 12 hr shifts in the last 4 days so it was time for a rest today. I think that I am finally getting over the jet lag and was able to sleep 7.5 hr without waking up in the middle of the night not know the time or where I was. Today was laundry day. My old laundry place has closed down but a new one opened up 1 block away. My last 2 cappuccino cafes have closed but a new and better one opened up next door. My kickboxing school has closed down but a new exercise place opened up 1 block away. I will find out if it is the same instructor as last year.

In the afternoon I swam to the breakwater twice and ran 5k with ease. Maybe my triathlon won’t be too difficult this year. I will do 3 this year. 1 in Ontario to qualify for the Canadian team for next year’s World Championships. I will then do a sprint and a super sprint relay in Spain for Canada at the Worlds this year.

Love,

Brian

Israel 2026-06

Israel 3,

July 6, 2026,

I slept for 8.5 hours so I think that I am all caught up from sleep deprivation from the time change and my 36 hour voyage from hell. As they say, no pain, no gain.

Last evening I wandered over to Mike’s one of my favourite brasseries on the beach. It was a warm 23C with a cool breeze, just right to have a beer, in a pub, with the Med in the background, and watch the Norway-Brazilian football World Cup match. I was at a table with a family of Brazilians who had made Aliyah to Israel many years ago. They were very friendly and expressive but unfortunately it did not help their team win the match.

At the Maxim Hotel, you are free to sit at almost any table as the hotel caters to volunteers. I played ‘Jewish geography’ with a lady who was originally from Montreal and now lives in Toronto. She grew up in the CDN and CSL areas and we had many common acquaintances. I then spoke at length with a lady originally from South Africa and who now lives in Australia.

I spent the rest of the afternoon on the beach doing my usual activities. I am really a beachcomber at heart. In my spare time there is nothing more that I would like to do. I am not really very intellectual at heart. I was 30C with a slight breeze and only the occasional 2 foot breaker. I swam to the breakwater, 500m there and back with ease. The life guards must be getting used to me swimming out that far as they didn’t whistle me in. I didn’t hear a whistle anyway and I was the only one out swimming that far. I then jogged 5k on the beach knocking off 2 min from my time yesterday. If I continue at this rate I will be down to 0 in 3 weeks which is impossible if you do the math.

I bought a Magnum ice cream bar at 3:30 and got so excited by the prospect of eating an ice cream on the beach, that I got carried away and dropped my credit card on the sand. A ‘kid’ picked it up and spent 135 shekels ($65) before I could cancel it. It must have been a kid, as a pro would have made an attempt to empty my bank account. The store got the thief on their camera and I will review it later in the week. I don’t know if they have ‘wanted dead or alive’ posters here.

I am at the La Mer Restaurant overlooking the beach eating my 1st solid meal in 3 days. I really have not been hungry and except for breakfast, have only consumed liquids. There is a live band here to encourage me as I devour a margarita pizza and a local Maccabi draft beer.

Tomorrow, I will do my first shift with MDA so you can expect a full account of my cases.

Love,

Brian

Israel 2026-06

Israel 2,

July 5, 2026,

Hi Everyone,

I never had so many missed flights and cancellations on 1 trip. In the end I flew from Paris to Vienna and then onward to Tel Aviv, arriving at 5:00 am on Sunday having being in transit for 36 hours door to door. That is a record for me that I hope not to duplicate in future voyages. The stop overs through Rome or Athenes were cancelled along the way as I kept missing connections. I was lucky however, as the flights were not over booked. I easily found 3 seats together on 2 of the flights so I was able to stretch out and sleep.

I picked up a car at the airport but didn’t want to open the phone to use the GPS as that would have been expensive without an Israeli SIM card. I have forgotten my way around Tel Aviv so I wandered around on different street until I found the road along the sea. From there it was an easy hop, skip and a jump to my hotel. I now have an Israeli SIM card with an Israeli phone number but the same email address.

The hotel Maxim staff greeted me warmly on my arrival. This morning I walked around Dizengoff Sq and presented myself to several bookshops. They suggested that I contact the manager on the website to sell my book. Back at the hotel, Saeed, the manager of the hotel, and I worked on making a short advertising note for my Swords of Iron book which will be placed on the Maxim Hotel website.

It was a little cloudy in the morning until the sun broke through the clouds leaving a few wispy ones in its place. It was 30 C with a slight warm breeze. The water was warm and there were 1.5m waves. Much of the beach was black flagged with certain areas open for swimming and surfing. I did some body surfing and then swam out to the breakwater, 250m off shore. I was the only swimmer who ventured that far from shore. I then did my 1st 5k run of the season along the beach. Even though it was rather hot, the breeze and the proximity to the water made the run rather pleasant.

Love,

Brian

Israel 2026-06

Israel 1,

July 4, 2026,

Hi Everyone,

No matter where I want to travel, I always seem to have problems at the airport. This time is no exception.

I am going to Israel to volunteer as a physician/paramedic on a Magan David Adom (ADM) ambulance. This is the 3rd time that I am doing this in 3 years since the start of the Swords of Iron War. 2 years ago MDA accepted 150 volunteers mostly from the US with a few from Canada. Last year, I believe that only 2 were accepted and this year I think that I am the only one. This is probably due to the fact that I know Vicki personally. She is in charge of the volunteers and has been instrumental in finding me a place on an ambulance.

Once again, I will be staying at the Maxim Hotel on Hayarkon St across the street from the sea. Most of the volunteers stay at the hotel while in Tel Aviv. There are large round tables in the dinning room and you are free to sit at any table and introduce yourself. “Hi, my name is Brian, I am from Canada.” It sounds a lot like AA where you introduce yourself by saying: “Hi, my name is Brian, I am an alcoholic.” I think that alcohol and volunteering in Israel both become highly addictive.

I originally had a flight from Montreal to Tel Aviv with a stop over in Paris for 5 hours. The flight was supposed to leave at 5:00 pm but was cancelled. I usually don’t like to fly to Europe late in the afternoon, as it robs you of a night sleep and you arrive early in the morning sleep deprived. The flight was reschedule for 10:30 and then 11:30. I was able to obtain 3 seats in a row so I stretched out to sleep for the trip. Knowing that I would miss the corresponding flight to Tel Aviv, I was rebooked on a plane to Athenes and then to Tel Aviv.

I was woken up 1 hour later for dinner. The food was pretty good and I had a small bottle of red and a sleeping pill. I like to fly with Air France because they offer a glass of champagne as an apero. Unfortunately the glass slid on the table spilling half of the glass. I will be more careful next time.

I arrived in Paris late, just in time to see my corresponding flight to Athens take off. I am now booked on a plane to Vienna with a correspondence to Tel Aviv, arriving at 5:00 am, 14 hours later that my original itinerary. If everything else goes as planned, door to door, I will have travelled for 35 hours.

Oh well, tomorrow is another day. I was hoping to see the Canada – Morocco game in Tel Aviv but will obviously miss it. Perhaps I can catch up with the news in the airport.

Love,

Brian

Whistler 2026-03

Whistler 3,

March 30, 2026,

Hi Everyone,

We arrived in Whistler yesterday afternoon and took possession of our condo. The girls went out shopping for food while Antoine accompanied me on my quest for gortex ski pants made by any company that had pants that fit me. Apparently, this is the last year for goretex to be manufactured. It is a wonderfu material designed by Mr. Gore who passed away a few years ago. It is 100% waterproof even in pouring rain and breaths so you don’t get overheated. It also lasts for ever and is virtually indistructable. Unfortunately, the manufacturing process is carcinogenic for the factory workers and it is impossible to recycle. I have been looking for gortex lined (not a shell) pants that fit me for over 1 year. After visiting a number of stores and trying on a dozen pairs of pants I finally found one made by Peak Performance, a Swedish company. I must have one in black as that is the colour for ski patrol pants. There was one left in the world so they will ship it to me in 2 weeks. Wow!!

We were up early and skied from 9:30 to 3:30 with a short break for lunch. Whistler is a fabulous ski station. It is divided into 2 parts, Whistler and Blackcomb. We skied all day on Blackcomp and didn’t ever touch half the trails. The Whistler Resort is huge, the biggest in North America and twice as big as most of the other resorts. It was a bluebird day with sunny skis, a few clouds and -5 C. You could not ask for a better day of skiing. The day started off with hard packed snow which eventually softened up around noon. We did groomer, broken powder runs, bowls and tree runs.

Spanky’s ladder is a snow ladder, 100 meters high at the top of the mountain and leads to expert black diamond and double black diamond trails. We took off our skis and started climbing. I make it ¾ of the way up and was gasping for breath hopefully only because of the altitude. Antoine generously climbed down to meet me and took my skis up for the last ¼ of the climb. The climb was well worth the effort as the run was largely untracked in places allowing me to enjoy my new skis. At the end of the day we did a diamond, tight, steep tree run appropriately named ‘Where’s Joe’ as is difficult to keep your colleagues in sight. This was the first time that I was able to try my skis on a tree run and they performed really well. To reward ouselves for a day well done, we had piazza and beer at the Handlebar, Bar where we met Dominique.

We each take turns cooking. Last evening it was Dominique’s turn. Tonight it is Antoine and Julia’s turn. They all know better that to ask me to take a turn.

Love,

Brian