I know I promised to write about my neighbourhood today, but I am absolutely wiped out and must get up early tomorrow morning (ie, later this morning) to face a long day.

So be patient, dear readers – I've got lots of stories to tell and promise to write more in the next day. Or two.

Meanwhile, I offer up the following anecdote as evidence that Israel may well be on its way to becoming an enlightened country.

Today, while riding the No. 2 bus on Allenby Street, I was absolutely flabbergasted when the bus driver blew importantly into his microphone and intoned, “Will the young lady speaking on her mobile phone turn it off immediately. Can't you see the “no mobile phones allowed” stickers right above your head? Yes, you! Look up!”

For my non-Israeli readers, here is a little context-for-comprehension:

• Israel has more mobile phones than people. I'm not kidding. It's not uncommon for one person to have two mobile phones – one for work calls and one for personal calls.
• I have heard phones ring at weddings, funerals, memorial services, during business meetings and during live televised interviews with VIPs.
• I have been tortured by a cacophany of discordant ring tones that didn't let up for more than a minute during a 6-hour bus ride from Tel Aviv to Eilat.
• I have sat at the counter of my neighbourhood cafe trying to read the morning paper, and fuming as the woman sitting next to me carries on a long – and loud – argument with her boss.
• I have been on dates with men who took long personal phone calls while we were having dinner.

I guess I've made my point.

Could it be that things are changing? (oh please, let it be so).