Spring Once Again, Catching Up

Spring flowers from a small succulent in my window, cool wet weather makes for a colorful spring / 

It has been a long time since my last post. Personal and work changes kept me away from the blog. Yet the seasons keep on going and we are at spring time suddenly. This year winter was warm and the rains did not make up for the long drought. Spring came slowly but it certainly here. Passover came and went, for me quietly. Somehow with less political noise (Trump election in the US, no political change in Israel) there seem to be a quiet in the land. The media is just as noisy and controversial, but otherwise things are quieter. There is also a sense of less drastic change, no wars, even small ones.

But the quiet also brings more energy spent on personal and community life. There are less government programs with foreign organizations. There is more focus on internal Israeli life and issues. There is a start-up boom going through the economy, now at about two years into the cycle. Some start-ups have closed. The hiring frenzy is gone, so is the fast investment buzz. But this also shows how the boom-bust cycle of business in the start-up sector is now more acceptable here. People know some technology trends (mobile apps, cloud enterprise tools, medical devices) bring a short boom, usually two to three years. Then comes a bust of three to five years. The cycle in tourism is also tied to politics and the security situation. After a war, there is a year of slow tourism. The difference now is growth of Chinese and Indian tourists which seem to ignore the mainstream media news outlets from Europe and America. We are starting to see direct flights from China, a sign of the demand from Chinese tourists. This is a quick re-start, come for more pictures and stories...