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Tuesday 14 October 2014

The Tale of the Gold-Plated Pee!

Festival LogoAs the boys from Dickens’s classic begged for more and  other actors offered their hands in love, those running  tourist services at this year’s Acco Festival in Israel picked visitors’ pockets via outlandish charges for use of the public conveniences.

Please don’t think that I’m one to bear a grudge. Do not imagine that I relish  my title as the meanest woman in  Galilee. But I was flamin’ furious to be charged 3 NIS – £0.49 - US $0.80 – for what must have been the costliest pee in my personal history.

The experience came courtesy of the Old Acre Development Company, a subsidiary of the Israel Ministry of Tourism, whose purpose, the website tells readers, is to develop “tourist infrastructure … high-quality public services and quality enterprise …”

The poor English translation from the Hebrew attempts to explain further that a sub-contractor is responsible for the facilities and that those producing the festival have no part in the management or collection of the accumulated funds for these services”.

Please, Sir. Dare I have a drink?

© Natalie Wood (14 October 2014)

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