Lest we forget?

Here's a timely little reminder to all you budding "oldies", like me.

Can you distinguish the bruising on that finger? I've put shakily drawn lines around them with the help of one of my lap-top gizmos. Well, they're a sign that things are not what they used to be, believe me!

Let me tell you a little story...........

A wee while ago, our local Aldi store was selling pliers similar to these:

for a very reasonable price. So reasonable, that I was almost tempted to buy a pair. However, as I didn't envisage clarting (Colloquialism: clarting = messing) about with any ceramic tiles (for that is what they are for) in the foreseeable future, and any surplus money would have been better used by going into my melodeon fund, I resisted and left them on the shelf.

Woe is me, Dear Reader! Here we are back in Luxor, and I have now embarked on the latest project which is something that I foolishly agreed to do for my beloved as a Christmas gift; it involves cutting tiles, as you may have already guessed. So I should have bought the d****d pliers after all! Never mind, as I always have done, I'll get by with what I have; simple!

What I do have is a pair of cobblers pincers, which (I think) were bought here in Luxor, so will be of the usual quality of tools available here.

As can be plainly seen, they're not of quite the same build; shorter handles, less advantageous handle to jaw ratio, less ergonomic handle grips. The list goes on!

The upshot of all this is that when I came to nip off yet another piece of ceramic tile, and again gripped the handles of the pliers with much more force than would have been required with the right tool; I felt a searing pain in my finger, like something bursting or snapping, and it immediately swelled up and could no longer be bent. The job was stopped!

Lest we forget? Yes Dear Reader, lest we forget that we are getting older, and more frail, and that bits of our bodies are less able to cope with the pressures and stresses which would have been as nothing to them in former years. Let my lightly bruised but nevertheless painful finger be a warning to all you who would hope to delight your wives with a gift of your handiwork. BE B****Y CAREFUL!!!!!

Yet another foolhardy, and possibly life-threatening, pass-time of many of us older chaps is to try to relive our youth by riding about on giant-sized motorbikes. Like these, possibly?.........

They belong to the members of some Egyptian motorbike club, and apparently, they do a tour of Egypt every year or two, being welcomed with open arms, it seems. It's not everyone who gets a police escort and can then use the front of the Winter Palace as a car park! The hotel even put on their stock VIP outside show of the dancing horses and whirling Dervish etc. Not even Yours Truly gets that sort of welcome,......huh!

Mind you, the bikes were lovely, and I can see why many a man might be tempted! Suzuki Boulevardes evidently, with rear tyres which were over a foot wide! One of the riders was a childhood friend of Ahmed the caleche man, he told me that they had engines of 1800cc capacity, and were very quick! I declined his offer of a "backer"; I couldn't really see myself as a modern-day Peter Fonda, could you? (Colloquialism: backer = a ride on the pillion.)

That's all for now, as it seems that we have to go out and get the curtains back from the dry-cleaner. Bye for now.