Holiday

I'm typing this facing the pool in the Orchid Hotel, which is in the Red Sea resort of Eilat. We're spending a week here. getting away from everything. It's very easy to do so at this hotel, as it is not exactly the run of the mill hotel.

First of all, it's not really in Eilat; it's a few kilometres outside the city, on the way to Taba. It's directly across the road from the Marine Observatory, if that means anything.

Secondly, it's not an "eggbox" hotel; the rooms are individual wooden cabins which are scattered upon the hillside. We have quite a pleasant cabin with a good view of the Red Sea.

I was listening to Joni Mitchell's "Travelogue" this morning whilst watching people cavorting in the swimming pool. I'm not too fond of the Travelogue myself - most of the songs seem to have had their substance taken out of them - but it's quite good for incidental music whilst pool watching. I was struck by one of the lines in "Chinese Cafe" - "nothing lasts".

Maybe that's true of the modern world, but it didn't use to be so. In my mind, things are going to last forever, which is probably why I - and many other people - have great problems with change, be it on a personal, a professional or a national level. Nothing lasts. If I use that as my mantra, I might find it easier to navigate throughout my life.

Neither will this holiday last, but I know that it's only for a week, and then it's back to work I go, where nothing much will have changed during my absence.

I'm trying to write this entry surrounded by children playing strange games on the computers which the hotel has provided for guests' use. This makes concentration difficult, so I'm going to leave it for now and get some more rest.

Getting some rest