Dateline Monday 2nd October 2023

Good morning, Happy Monday morning from London W10, I hope you had a great weekend. The weather has been amazing such a change from July and August today the temperatures are forecast to reach 22 degree C in the South of England very nice although rain is forecast this afternoon.

It’s the Conservative Party’s Bun Fight this week in Manchester or maybe that should read Conference but I am sure it will be a bun fight. On the agenda is HS2, the motorist, taxes interest rates and a whole heap of other challenges including the Labour Party’s lead in the opinion polls but as they say opinions are like “elbows” ( I have sanitised that) everyone has one.

It’s not just the UK that seems to be a basket case at the moment, the USA were gearing up for a federal shut down today when hundreds of thousands of federal employees would be furloughed without pay as the USA Government were about to run out of money, however, there has been a last minute deal which kicks the budget discussion into the long grass for 45 days.

The season of Jewish Holidays are like London buses you wait three months for one to come along and suddenly three festivals arrive in one month. The weekend just passed was the festival of Succot the English name for it is Tabernacles. The holy days of Succot started Friday night and ended Sunday night, till this weekend coming when it all starts again. Succot (Feast of Tabernacles) is one of the three biblically based pilgrimage holidays known as the shalosh regalim. The “three foot” festivals when Jews in ancient Temple Times used to walk to Jerusalem to pray in the Temple. Succot is an agricultural festival that originally was considered a thanksgiving for the fruit harvest. A Succah is a hut-like structures that the Jews lived in during the 40 years of travel through the wilderness after the exodus from Egypt. As a temporary dwelling, the succah represents the fact that all existence is fragile, and therefore Succot is a time to appreciate the shelter of our homes. So if you are celebrating Succot may I wish you a chag sameach (happy festival, English translation from Hebrew)

That’s it you are up to date from a David point of view.

MM and Company news update

Turkey

Muge and the team at Blue DMC have told us that the Four Points Express by Sheraton has signed agreements to open hotels In Turkey, two Four Points Express by Sheraton hotels have been signed in Antalya and Bursa. Four Points Express by Sheraton Antalya Lara will offer 52 rooms and is due to open before the end of this year. In Bursa the ancient Capital of Turkey, Four Points Express by Sheraton Bursa Nilüfer is close to the highway that connects Bursa, Istanbul, and Izmir.