Graham Wardrobe.

Hi, not much happening around here this week! Our dead carpenter's brother got our bits of furniture finished, though. You remember Taha the carpenter, nice lad who made our meshrabeya for the guest apartment. Sadly he died later on that year: drowned in the Red Sea, along with his fiance. Here he is, supposedly fitting the arabesque, but had to stop for a half a jar of Nescafe in each cup of coffee! He's the one tasting it.



And I'm sure you remember our old wardrobe which I dismantled the other week and made into two wall cupboards and other assorted rubbish.



Well, we now have the new wardrobe, just delivered and filled with all the stuff which had been stuffed into suitcases or strewn around the other furniture. It's probably not the best wardrobe in the world, nor the prettiest, but it is functional. I took a picture with all the doors open, but the boss wouldn't let me post "private" things! So I'll describe it briefly for you (aren't you grateful, Dear Reader): it's 2 metres wide and 2.1 metres tall, the right hand door contains 6 shelves, the centre two doors have a deep top shelf with long hanging below, whilst the left hand section is for me, with a top shelf, short hanging space and a lower shelf. All very practical. Our old mate (another one sadly deceased) Jim Crow (famous coach builder and general woodworking perfectionist) would have blown his top at the quality of this piece, but then he wasn't working with tools which were hand-me-downs from the pyramid builders!



We are quite taken with it, actually, so much so that we've given it a name! At the grand "Wardrobe Opening Ceremony" it was Christened "Graham", after a good 'bus driver (and rat catcher) friend with similar reliable qualities.

Now that the washing machine is in its new home, Abdu (Taha's brother) made us a new cabinet for the bathroom, it looks quite nice and is also functional. No we haven't given it a name, what nonsense! Whoever heard of a bathroom cabinet having a name? Are you crackers, or what?

Fancy Dress in "Africa" and the "Egyptian Way"

Hi, as you all know I've been abandoned to my own fate here in Luxor! Left to the whims of multifarious darkhearted foreigners. (This is to all to emphasise my calamitous situation to my Mother: who'll then remonstrate with Freda for leaving me by myself!)
Well, actually I'm not, not really! I was rescued by some fellow Trip Advisor Destination Experts, Suziesoose and that thug KV Explorer to be precise. They took me under their collective wing yesterday, we went quad-biking in the afternoon and then they had arranged for dinner at the Africa restaurant on the Side of the Dead. KV even went without his trademark hat and shorts, but don't be too alarmed, he wore long pants instead and in place of his hat he wore an Arabian thingy, like the villain Yasser Arafat. Although I took my Box Brownie on the quads, I forgot to get any pics, duhhhh! However I did remember it whilst at the meal, but then I forgot to wipe the lens so the pics are of my usual quality, sorry. (What do you really expect for free?)

Sorry, but after a complaint that the pics of KV Explorer had frightened some children, I've had to take them down!


Needless to say, we had a marvellous time, the quad-biking was great fun, and no-one fell off, which is always a bonus. Suzie had a bit of a problem, as her quad kept trying to crash into the desert wall, and at one point suddenly veered across the track and nearly ran into a bunch of date palms. The guide rescued her and looked after her after that. KV's trip wasn't without incident either. I was following him, and he seemed to be leaning right over to the right (as if he'd ricked his back), I wondered if there was something wrong with his quad as well. We stopped and swapped machines, as he said that his was pulling to the right all the time. (I have to say, though, that it was fine for me. I eventually deduced, dear Watson, that he has one arm about a foot longer than the other, and that's why his picture on the TA Luxor Forum is only a head and shoulder shot!)
The meal at Africa was good and wholesome, as you'd expect, and afterwards KV and I both had shishas. That man's just a rotten egg! He forced Suzie (a non-smoker) to have a puff of his apple shisha, the beast. Actually she was quite taken by it and spent the rest of the time texting friends and family to tell them all. KV is obviously quite a "lady killer" as well, and confided in me that Suzie's Mam has been after him the whole holiday. But when he tried to get her to smoke the shisha also, she shied off, maybe suspecting some cunning plan to seduce her. I don't know what his lovely little wife would have thought of that, though.
When we eventually got back to the civilisation of the East Bank, we sat out front at the Etap, far away from the wonderful singer, and had drinks and convivial conversation till we made our separate ways to bed.
All in all, it was a great time and I want to express my thanks publicly! So thank you Mr. Three Compressors and wife, and thank you Suzie and Mam.

Today, I made another teapot for Tutti Frutti Cafe (no pictures, as yet) and took it across there to be painted etc. Christine wasn't there, so her understudy, (Irish Lorraine) took pity on me and gave me a lunch consisting of a piece of very nice chicken and vegetable pie with mashed spuds, mushrooms and a white sauce, followed by some apple and cinnamon pie with fresh cream. As you would expect of this establishment: it went down a treat! Of course it also came with a pot of tea.
By the time I got back home, I thought that I'd try a glass of chai at Adam's coffee shop across the street.



While I sat there, generally enjoying watching the people passing to and fro and taking in the pleasant ambiance of our little alley, Adam was brushing the street (it's less than 6ft wide, by the way). I was a bit surprised when he stopped when he got to the road and just left the detritus there, in a pile. But then I came to my senses, that's the "Egyptian Way" i.e. leave it for someone else!



Two men were fastening up a sign for Mr. Gamal's Wedding Shop, just next to where I was positioned, obviously "Egyptian Way" professionals. What better fixing than bent nails and a length of twisted wire?



Just next to the sign, I noticed someones fuse box, what can I say?



And these are the people who conceived and built the fabulous and huge Pyramids at Giza, and the breathtakingly beautiful Funerary Temple of Queen Hatshepsut here on the West Bank and also the awesome and intimidating Temples of Abu Simbel on Egypt's Southern border.
The "Egyptian Way"! What do you think of it?