Blog Posts, that is. Not postal orders from great aunts, nor the hailstones of the past few days or enquiries from potential guests, nor yet some brilliant prose to amuse and entertain you, Dear Reader.
It's unusual for me to post so frequently, and I'm doing so simply because we are in unusual times here in Luxor. On top of the revolutionary political crisis and the crisis of the dearth of tourists, from which the locals would normally make their living; we now have a crisis of (what many Egyptians view as) Biblical proportions as far as the weather is concerned!
And, what a week for it to happen; the very week that Thomson Holidays return to Luxor. I truly feel for those poor saps who've saved up all year for their 'Holiday of a Lifetime' here in Egypt; where "the sun always shines" or so the flash telly adverts tell us! One of my neighbours told me tonight that he's sure that Allah is angry with Egypt, and that is the root cause of the awful weather. (?)
Anyway, this afternoon we went out for the first time since the rains came. We decided to splash out (pun not intended) and have our Sunday dinner with the lovely Christine at Tutti Fruitti. I was somewhat taken aback at the amount of water lying on the road at the entrance to our little alley. It was that bad that Freda wouldn't walk down to Sharia Karnak to get the 'bus. No, she would have me lash out yet another pound on 'bus fares to get us down there!
Here we go, with the driver gingerly making his way along Sharia Karnak. No drains, you see; why would you want drains in Egypt?
The next few pics were taken on the way to Madina Street. The first one being at the top of Station Street (Al Ma-HAtta). Then Manchia and International Hospital Street (Sharia Mostashfa Dowly literally; Street Hospital International).
The time passed very quickly, as it always does when you're engrossed, and suddenly it was almost 6 o'clock! We had promised to visit someone else up that way, and have the 'Grand Tour' of the establishment where she works, which would also include a cup of tea! Alas and alack! By the time we 'phoned her to confirm that we were outside the door; she'd finished early and gone home.
No tea? A bit of a blow, as you can imagine! Never mind, as we were almost there, we thought that the Nile Palace might be a useful stop-off, as we know that the tea there is always good, and that they have 'De-Caff' coffee for the Madame. What I hadn't bargained on (especially seeing as she couldn't manage to actually finish her dinner) was that Freda had a sneaky fancy for some of their delicious cheesecake!
Yet another work of art, even if the strawberry has fallen off the dollop of cream! Along with the lovely Christine's equally lovely dinner, sharing this pudding made for an altogether exquisite meal, even if it was split between two different establishments!
We would normally get one of the Badawy brothers to come and take us shopping in the caleche before dropping us at home with our bags, but we weren't too happy about the poor horse having to tread through puddles hiding unknown surfaces and not knowing how they might react to passing vehicles soaking them etc., so we rang Ayman the taxi-man. We just got home before the next downpour, I do hope that it's finished now! I know that the local children have enjoyed the novelty of having puddles to jump in and of seeing and feeling the large hailstones, but I'm certain that there are many households where this inclement weather has been an absolute nightmare.
The least we see of weather like this; the better it will be!
It's unusual for me to post so frequently, and I'm doing so simply because we are in unusual times here in Luxor. On top of the revolutionary political crisis and the crisis of the dearth of tourists, from which the locals would normally make their living; we now have a crisis of (what many Egyptians view as) Biblical proportions as far as the weather is concerned!
And, what a week for it to happen; the very week that Thomson Holidays return to Luxor. I truly feel for those poor saps who've saved up all year for their 'Holiday of a Lifetime' here in Egypt; where "the sun always shines" or so the flash telly adverts tell us! One of my neighbours told me tonight that he's sure that Allah is angry with Egypt, and that is the root cause of the awful weather. (?)
Anyway, this afternoon we went out for the first time since the rains came. We decided to splash out (pun not intended) and have our Sunday dinner with the lovely Christine at Tutti Fruitti. I was somewhat taken aback at the amount of water lying on the road at the entrance to our little alley. It was that bad that Freda wouldn't walk down to Sharia Karnak to get the 'bus. No, she would have me lash out yet another pound on 'bus fares to get us down there!
The next few pics were taken on the way to Madina Street. The first one being at the top of Station Street (Al Ma-HAtta). Then Manchia and International Hospital Street (Sharia Mostashfa Dowly literally; Street Hospital International).
What's the driver doing there, apart from driving, that is? It looks as if he's either texting on a mobile phone, or possibly digging some tobacco out of his baccy tin to make a roll-up! (What? Me envious?)
All in all, I'd venture to suggest that Luxor has never seen so much surface water since the Nile stopped flooding! We were turfed off the 'bus at the end of Sharia Mostashfa Dowly as it terminated there, and we had somehow to manage to avoid the worst of the puddles while making our way along to Tutti Fruitti. (It's just struck me that it's a shame that the Puddleduck restaurant hadn't still been on the corner there, as I'm sure that they could have done something newsworthy; with that name and circumstances being as they were!)
It was lovely to see Christine, and our friend Val was there as well. Of course the dinner was beautiful, as usual. In fact, the creamed potatoes were soooo good, that I had to admit that they were even better than mine! The rain had started again while we were eating, so we took the opportunity of catching up with the gossip (sorry; news) about the English people living here. It was very sad to hear of an acquaintance from the West Bank who had died this week, and also that the son of a lady we know (also from the West Bank) had died in England. It was, no doubt, a little comfort to her that she managed to get back to England to see him before he went. But still heartbraking to have to bury one of your children, God bless her!
The time passed very quickly, as it always does when you're engrossed, and suddenly it was almost 6 o'clock! We had promised to visit someone else up that way, and have the 'Grand Tour' of the establishment where she works, which would also include a cup of tea! Alas and alack! By the time we 'phoned her to confirm that we were outside the door; she'd finished early and gone home.
No tea? A bit of a blow, as you can imagine! Never mind, as we were almost there, we thought that the Nile Palace might be a useful stop-off, as we know that the tea there is always good, and that they have 'De-Caff' coffee for the Madame. What I hadn't bargained on (especially seeing as she couldn't manage to actually finish her dinner) was that Freda had a sneaky fancy for some of their delicious cheesecake!
We would normally get one of the Badawy brothers to come and take us shopping in the caleche before dropping us at home with our bags, but we weren't too happy about the poor horse having to tread through puddles hiding unknown surfaces and not knowing how they might react to passing vehicles soaking them etc., so we rang Ayman the taxi-man. We just got home before the next downpour, I do hope that it's finished now! I know that the local children have enjoyed the novelty of having puddles to jump in and of seeing and feeling the large hailstones, but I'm certain that there are many households where this inclement weather has been an absolute nightmare.
The least we see of weather like this; the better it will be!
oh that cake looked good. I SENT THR RAIN WHY SHOULD WE HAVE IT ALL SANDRA MICK
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