Be Afraid (of clowns)! Be very afraid!

Thanks to Simone for the pic. Do you see the look on that girl's face?

Ever wonder why some kids are afraid of clowns? Well, I won't be wondering anymore. Now I know.

On Ben Yehuda (a big anglo hangout in the center of Jerusalem) there is a stoned-looking Israeli clown. His costume consists of a soiled purple and yellow clown suit (if you catch a peek through a slit on the side, it appears there is nothing underneath), a black cowboy hat, a red clown nose, a green parrot which usually resides on top of the hat, a bag of balloons and a polaroid camera.

We watched for about twenty minutes the other day as the clown harassed each group that would walk by. He would yank young children by their arms in order to try to pull them into a picture with him and the parrot and beg a few shekels for the polaroid from an annoyed and angry mother. He placed the green parrot on the shoulder of a mother holding a young toddler, and as the scared child frantically avoided they eye-aimed pecks of the parrot, the clown actually yanked the cell-phone from the mother's hand, screamed "she'll call you back" into the phone and actually thought that she would take kindly to this and hand him a shekel.

A Russian man looked distinctly uncomfortable as the parrot was placed on his head to pose for a picture he clearly hadn't asked for.
There is nothing like watching a burly, Russian man run down a crowded Ben Yehuda, being chased by a crazed Israeli clown!