Thoughts from the UK

I was in the UK last week. In fact, I just landed this morning and I'm flying out again tomorrow afternoon. We're doing business in Sheffield, so I have to be there.

I was surprised to see how much the British media covers the Israel-Lebanon conflict. It's in the headlines all the time. I was even more surprised to find Sky News' coverage very unbalanced. I didn't try BBC because I know that will drive me crazy. The BBC is very pro-Arab in all aspects, not only in the current conflict.

I really wanted to get back to Israel when I was there. Usually I don't mind seeing new places and traveling alone. But with the current war, I felt the need to be close to the ones dear to me. The pain I feel from the war is different in the UK. When I'm there, the pain is more national than personal. I managed to forget for a while about my cousin and friends fighting in the front, about my brother's family taking refuge in central Israel. It's not that I really forgot about them. But from the distance it's less troubling. I still called my friend every day to see how he was. I still talked to my mother and kept suggesting that my brother moves into my flat while I'm away.

But to the relief in stress from the war joined new stress - from work. Being the front end of your company against the customers is always stressful. You need to get used to it. And I am getting used to it. It's still very stressful, but not as bad as the first day when I really felt sick.

I take things too personally. Work, politics. I really need to get over this. Just live my simple life.

I had more thoughts from the UK, but I'll keep some of them for next week. I'll try to report from Sheffield. I really don't feel like going there again tomorrow, but it's a phase in our company's life when I just can't say no.