Elf 'n' Safety

As you know; we've got no government to speak of here in Egypt. To the Egyptians, that means that they can do whatever they like! 

As I sit here in our livingroom, I can see four building extensions going up without any building permissions or anything, or so it would seem. One the right, looking down Gold Street, there are three buildings having an extra floor stuck on the top of already high buildings. They are all almost next door to each other.

The furthest away one must be a cheap job, as they aren't using any mechanical help. All the sand was carried up ladders in buckets on men's shoulders and tipped into a big pile. Today, there's been about eight men hand batching concrete, carrying it about on their shoulders again, and then shoving it down into the shuttering.

The next nearest one is having a bit of money spent! This is where the post title comes in. Last night, up till about midnight, they were working on the roof. No lights, no safety barriers, nothing! I awoke this morning to find this device had been constructed in the hours of darkness:

You can see what it is straight away, can't you? They've hired a concrete mixer (which is blocking Gold St, by the way) and a petrol driven winch to shoot a small skip full of concrete up onto the roof, where it's tipped into a four-man wheel barrow before being laid where they want it. If you look closely, you can see where they've knocked holes in the balcony wall downstairs through which they've shoved some of the supporting timber, what a cheek?

There are another two projects going on which I cannot see from here, I have to go onto the terrace to see them.
Surely, now that the Egyptians have a chance to change their circumstances through the ballot box, they must stop taking advantage of any and every opportunity to do things the wrong, or the snake, way! If they are going to carry on like this; then they'll just never advance and take their place in the modern law abiding world where starvation isn't always just around the corner!

I sometimes despair!!!!!