Topic: Anybody Heard From Jona?

[medic09]

Our member Jona (hell, what's his screen name?) lives in the Haifa area.  That's in the Mt. Carmel region, where the worst wildfire in Israeli history is raging.  http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=197785

Entire small towns have been evacuated and destroyed.  40 Prisons Service officers died on their way to evacuate a jail.  I don't know what part of Haifa he lives in, but the word is that Beit Oren up the mountain above town has been destroyed.

Yeah, I know I sound a bit panicked; but hey, what are friends for? 

[medic09]

Answer to my own post.  I just heard from Jona.  They live on the north slope, so they're okay.  Otherwise, things look pretty grim for now.

[SteveD CB500F]

Haven't seen you on the Sprint forum recently Mordi - you still OK?

[medic09]

Hey Steve, well I've never been quite right you know...    Actually have had one arm in a sling for the past three weeks; but that's not so unusual.  Sorry I hadn't visited the forum, or said a proper exiting thank you.

I sold the Sprint a year ago.    Shame, really.  Single best all-around bike I've ridden; with a wonderful motor.  I had expected to keep it to it fell apart.  The wife insisted, along with the physical therapist.  Even with risers, the posture was aggravating an old, recurrent neck injury.  The wife found me a Tiger ('02 Girlie), and urged me to sell the Sprint for the Tiger; which I did.  Bit tall, but very nice bike.  Then, about 5 weeks ago we were on an errand at the BMW dealer, and they had a low-mile '07 aprilia CapoNord on trade-in.  Just in that morning.  Wife urged me to test ride it.  We bought it next day, trading in the Tiger.  Really nice ride.  The unexpected bonus is that she is very happy with the bike, also.  Says that, as pillion, it is the first of all our bikes that she would actually choose to ride on back.  The 'Nord had been lowered by the PO, so it is noticeably lower than the Girlie.

[SteveD CB500F]

 

Good to see that your avatar still depicts your favourite...    

My red ST was destroyed by a white van driver in Lewisham (SE London) in July, so now have a black one.

Story here

[cb750k7]

Hi friends.
Thank you all for your caring, lucky for us,  we live a few KM north of the disaster area and the winds favor so far.
It has been the driest summer ever here in Israel,  the temperatures now (December!) like 28-30 Celsius!!!!all it took is just a minor garbage fire that went out of control and engulfed the whole Carmel mount and all the villages and Haifa subburs.
Unfortunately,  no one was prepared for this calamity,  and it cost lives of more than 40 people so far.
As of now,  the firestorm is still raging,  and is not controlled yet.  We got help from other countries who are better equipped with dedicated equipment like planes and helicopters.
Many lost their houses,  my friend's son lost his house (burned).
What makes me sick is all the yada yada of the politicians and officials who are responsible for years of negligence that surfaced now  :-(


Sorry for the grim news,  we are in grief here in Israel because of the lost of so many good lives.

Best regards you all.

Jona

[cb750k7]

Some pictures of the disaster.

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/12/wildfire_in_israel.html