There but for the Grace of God.

We were watching "The West Wing" on the laptop (the complete "Boxed Set", a gift from our son) when we were aware of a commotion outside somewhere. It sounded a bit like a football crowd, heard from a few streets away. We often get deafening eruptions of yelling, which are repeated all over town, when one of the favourite football teams score a goal. Of course, it seems that all Egyptian men are avid football fans, and even though they don't actually attend at the games, they are all glued to a TV somewhere to watch any match which is televised.
On turning off the sound, we soon realised that it wasn't that at all as they were womens' voices we were hearing, and they weren't yelling.......they were wailing!
It was about 11.15, so we were not dressed for going out, but I wanted to see what had happened. I threw on some clothes and trundled downstairs, stepping over the rubbish which had been strewn about (purposely so, because Freda had reprimanded some doctor's visitors for blocking the newly cleaned stairs and making their usual mess) by the childlike numbskulls which pass for men around here.
When I got to the entrance of our little cul-de-sac, I was surprised to see the traffic backed up, in two lanes, for as far as I could see. The cause was a tumult of men milling around outside the small Mosque on the corner, the wailing was coming from along one of the streets opposite, which looked completely blocked.
I asked Adam if he knew anything. (Of course I knew that he would know ALL, him being the nearest we have to an old gossip.) Apparently a young man of 32 from the same street, had taken ill two days ago, and now he had died.
I had taken the camera down, but, even for you dear reader, I couldn't really be seen to take photos of mourning people, neither would I want to.
If you haven't heard Egyptian women wailing, then you will probably think (as I did) that it is wrong for them not to be allowed to attend funerals, but after experiencing this, I'm not so sure any more. It's now midnight, but I think the noise will keep the whole neighbourhood awake for some hours yet. Al Hamdulillah! (Praise be to God in all circumstances.)