I'm becoming more and more conscious that I'm failing you, Dear Reader! Fewer and fewer posts, which increasingly contain less and less which appertains to matters of much interest concerning Luxor or the special circumstances which make living here so out of the ordinary.
There's not a great deal that I can do to change the circumstances which are causing this lack of inspiration, or whatever you'd like to call it. We don't have the tourists which were formerly the main source of our entertainment and which led to much inspiration, and we aren't getting out as much as we did, due to it being so cold lately, and where would we go? Even our favourite tea stop, the Nile Palace, is less inviting since they increased the price of their English cake from 13le to 35le!!!!! The Etap (now officially the "Eatabe", as many of you will know) has become a no-go area due to the number of Egyptian families staying there. Not that I've anything against Egyptian families, mind you; but their close proximity isn't conducive to having interesting conversation whilst sipping tea. I'm sure many of you who have been here will have sympathy with this comment, as many Egyptian children tend not to be disciplined at all, and run riot, making nearly as much noise as do their parents talking loudly into their mobile phones, while coming and staring at you as well!
So, our trips out are mainly confined to shopping at the Forty Market, or at KZ on TV Street, or just going for a walk to stop us from seizing up altogether, and grabbing some bread from one of the local bakeries as we go.
Although we still come across the odd interesting sight here and there, how about these things:
Freda thought that they might be cucumbers, but as neither of us eat them (Yuk, horrid things!) we couldn't actually tell. Do cucumbers grow on trailing plants on house walls? Here's the full picture, which gives you a better idea of where they are:
Most of them are a canny size; up to a couple of feet long with diameters reaching to 4 or 5 inches, I'd say. (Colloquialism: canny, in this context, = fair or good.)
Anyway, it's warming up a bit. It was forecast for 29 degrees today and I snapped the thermometer on the terrace:
We've not had the fan heater on today, either, which must be a good sign, eh?
I'm getting on practising playing the dreaded melodeon, which has mysteriously come back into tune since the weather warmed up a tad. I mentioned the melodeon disease to you, didn't I; Melodeon Acquisiton Disorder? Well, here's a picture of the longsuffering wife of a victim, when she realises he's "fallen off the wagon" yet again:
There's not a great deal that I can do to change the circumstances which are causing this lack of inspiration, or whatever you'd like to call it. We don't have the tourists which were formerly the main source of our entertainment and which led to much inspiration, and we aren't getting out as much as we did, due to it being so cold lately, and where would we go? Even our favourite tea stop, the Nile Palace, is less inviting since they increased the price of their English cake from 13le to 35le!!!!! The Etap (now officially the "Eatabe", as many of you will know) has become a no-go area due to the number of Egyptian families staying there. Not that I've anything against Egyptian families, mind you; but their close proximity isn't conducive to having interesting conversation whilst sipping tea. I'm sure many of you who have been here will have sympathy with this comment, as many Egyptian children tend not to be disciplined at all, and run riot, making nearly as much noise as do their parents talking loudly into their mobile phones, while coming and staring at you as well!
So, our trips out are mainly confined to shopping at the Forty Market, or at KZ on TV Street, or just going for a walk to stop us from seizing up altogether, and grabbing some bread from one of the local bakeries as we go.
Although we still come across the odd interesting sight here and there, how about these things:
Anyway, it's warming up a bit. It was forecast for 29 degrees today and I snapped the thermometer on the terrace:
I'm getting on practising playing the dreaded melodeon, which has mysteriously come back into tune since the weather warmed up a tad. I mentioned the melodeon disease to you, didn't I; Melodeon Acquisiton Disorder? Well, here's a picture of the longsuffering wife of a victim, when she realises he's "fallen off the wagon" yet again:
But I'm sure she enjoyed the roses after she calmed down!
TTFN
Almost forgot! I cannot see the videos on here any more. Is it just me, here in Egypt, or are some (or all) of you lot sitting there trying to imagine what they're supposed to be? Please let me know, as I don't really want you all to have to play guessing games.
Stupid stupid stupid!
I did forget what prompted me to put pen to paper (well, you know what I mean!) today. It was an awful taste that my memory brought back into my mouth, after an interval of about 15 years!
We were sitting here, admiring our view of Luxor's interesting rooftops and the West Bank mountains, and wondering just which delicacy to try for our luncheon, when I remembered that we'd asked Adam to persuade his wife to cook for us again tonight . "It's chicken tonight, isn't it?" I blurted out.
Instantly, I was transported back to our old family home in Pelaw, and I could taste it on my tongue; that foul concoction, "Chicken Tonight"!
Who amongst you remembers that awful ready-made-sauce-stuff with the catchy advert on the telly? It was very tempting, so tempting, in fact that we actually bought some. One taste was anough, though. As I said it out loud, Freda's nose filled with the unpleasant stench of it. But now we just can hardly wait for Mrs Adam's lovely offering. Yes, we are lucky, I know!
You do not want to eat that cucumber lookalike. It's luffa.
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luffa