Who remembers the Serendipity Singers, and was that song, of 1964, their only claim to international stardom? (If you're under about 55, you'll have absolutely no idea whatsoever of what I'm talking about! If you're going to keep on reading, then perhaps you'd better click onto this: YouTube clip )
The only thing that frightens me about living here in Luxor is the ever present threat of rain!! Now then, I know that that will sound ludicrous to many of you lot, but we do get rain here; sometimes (mostly, actually) it rains for about a minute and by the time you realise that you've felt raindrops and not bird poop, it's stopped again. Nevertheless, sometimes it does really rain! Like rain in England, or even like rain in Wales, for heavens sake! That's when I leap out of bed in blind panic!
Let me explain a little further. Our small rooftop hovel doesn't have a 'permanent' roof; it's not allowed to have one as it's only classed as a 'temporary structure'. So, when we had it converted from the original chicken and goat penthouse, we stipulated a wooden roof; after all, this is Egypt man, no rain! As I've said on here before, ignorance is bliss.
When the rain actually did come down like stair-rods, we were flooded out. It was like walking around in a very large shower/wet-room affair. Much of the accumulated dust from the roof, and the inner roof space, was washed down the interior walls, and the whole place had to be repainted. You know how I dread the thought of wall painting, so you can sympathise with my newfound dread of the rain as well.
As I was typing away at yesterday's blog, the rain was coming and going. It wasn't heavy enough to permeate through the heat-warped timbers, layers of Sahara sand and expanded polystyrene insulation, but I was afeared of going to bed in case it got worse. It did get worse, and Freda and I raced about, either covering things with waterproof sheets or transferring them to the guest apartment, which luckily was not occupied.
Polythene sun-block curtains can come in handy during rainstorms, no matter what anyone says:
The only thing that frightens me about living here in Luxor is the ever present threat of rain!! Now then, I know that that will sound ludicrous to many of you lot, but we do get rain here; sometimes (mostly, actually) it rains for about a minute and by the time you realise that you've felt raindrops and not bird poop, it's stopped again. Nevertheless, sometimes it does really rain! Like rain in England, or even like rain in Wales, for heavens sake! That's when I leap out of bed in blind panic!
Let me explain a little further. Our small rooftop hovel doesn't have a 'permanent' roof; it's not allowed to have one as it's only classed as a 'temporary structure'. So, when we had it converted from the original chicken and goat penthouse, we stipulated a wooden roof; after all, this is Egypt man, no rain! As I've said on here before, ignorance is bliss.
When the rain actually did come down like stair-rods, we were flooded out. It was like walking around in a very large shower/wet-room affair. Much of the accumulated dust from the roof, and the inner roof space, was washed down the interior walls, and the whole place had to be repainted. You know how I dread the thought of wall painting, so you can sympathise with my newfound dread of the rain as well.
As I was typing away at yesterday's blog, the rain was coming and going. It wasn't heavy enough to permeate through the heat-warped timbers, layers of Sahara sand and expanded polystyrene insulation, but I was afeared of going to bed in case it got worse. It did get worse, and Freda and I raced about, either covering things with waterproof sheets or transferring them to the guest apartment, which luckily was not occupied.
Polythene sun-block curtains can come in handy during rainstorms, no matter what anyone says:
That's the bottom end of our bed!
And that's the floor on my side!
Thankfully, the interior walls haven't taken too much hurt this time, although those outside will have to be repainted. (Actually, they were due anyway.)
Can you see the puddles on the roof across the road?
We've spent today cleaning up, obviously, and the washing machine hasn't stopped. Tonight we're sleeping downstairs, it's only till we get our own place spick and span again, and we expect to be back in our own bed tomorrow night (or even during the day, if I get my way, you know that I need little naps now and then).
mmm, a little rain, unlike the stuff they are having in Australia at present, whatr with fires before Christmas, now a cyclone and 10-12 feet of water and Brisbane being evacuated
ReplyDeleteIn the UK, we had floods, snow, now its melting, we are back to the floods again, with 83 flood warnings in place
It all makes Luxor very welcoming, I can cope with a little damp and actually use an umberella for what it was designed for rain and not sunshine, that is what a parasol is for