הגן של גוש דן, עלק

Yesterday the missus and I had an hour to kill, and we happened to be in the neighborhood of our old apartment in Ganey Aviv. (My grandfather has always given me hard time for leaving that place six years ago, and I've always had to defend my decision). Anyway, we said, let's give the old 'hood' a visit for old times' sake. The first thing you notice is the illegal Arab houses at the entrance. There used to be a few small constructions, but now they look like full fledged villas. There are more dirty convenience stores, car washes, and building material stores. There's also a lot of garbage by the roadside, and the unmistakable smell of sewage flowing in the open. The shopping center remained the same as before, and the building next to it is still in its basement stage. The new railway station was nowhere to be found. On a positive note, there's a new community center, and a tiny park for kids to play. The few trees that survived the bored youngsters, have grown bigger. Add to it a few Russian-looking people, wearing training shorts, carrying groceries in plastic bags, and you get the picture. Sure doesn't feel like a place you wanna get back to.