The Gasman Cometh!

It's Freda's birthday today, but we've spent this morning (it's now twenty to one) waiting for an Egyptian workman to come and do a little job! He said that he'd be here at 8 o'clock, much to my dismay, but we were up and ready in time, and we're still waiting! I'm just wondering which implement I'm going to use to kill him with when he does, finally, arrive.

Anyway, he's not the gasman!

It appears that our neighbours (Adam the coffeeeshop man and his nearest relations) have become the suppliers for our area. Our attention was drawn by an unusual noise, mid-morning. It sounded like the Amoun men emptying the rubbish skip (dumpster) on the main road. They tip it over onto its side, and then sometimes bang it up and down a bit to loosen the stuff which has become stuck to the inside, then drag everything out onto a large tarpaulin before sorting through it and hauling the tarpaulin (rubbish and all) up the side of the truck and tipping it into the steel body. If they have trouble emptying it, the noise can go on for three or four minutes. This time it had gone on for about a half hour!!!

I climbed up the roof terrace wall, and craned my neck trying to see what the cause might be, but to no avail. However, when I went downstairs to go shopping, it was immediately apparent:

A truckload of full butane bottles was in the process of being delivered!

I had been told that the bottled gas (which everyone else uses to cook with) was in short supply and as it got more difficult to source, was getting much more expensive. (Adam was complaining to me a few weeks ago that he was having to pay 35le for a bottle which was usually 5le!) It seems that the Ababda (*) tribe of Luxor have taken the initiative by ordering a truckload from the main suppliers. They are paying 8le per bottle and selling it on for only 10le.So that's not a case of profiteering, in particular, is it? I don't think that a mark-up of 25% is extortionate for a commodity which has been in short supply for months.

Anyway, it had all been sold or taken into the homes of the immediate family (for their own use) within a few hours. Just as a matter of interest, does anyone know how much a bottle of Butane is in the UK nowadays? 

(*) The Ababda are an Arab tribe, originally from Saudi Arabia (and known as the 'Fuzzy Wuzzies') who are in great abundance in Egypt (approximately 34,000,000 of them I'm told) who were greatly preferred as fighters by the British occupiers of Egypt in years gone by! They include the Haggagis (Viking), and Aboudis (of bookshop fame) of Luxor.

Muhammad's Birthday Celebrations.

Well then! I've often wondered why the Muslims celebrate the birthday of their leader, when they don't celebrate their own? One of our good (Muslim) friends was born on the day we got married, and now when it's our anniversary, he'll ask, "So how old am I today?"

It starts a week before the actual date, with the selling of those great big fancy dollies and sugar statues, and the lovely Turkish Delight which I just couldn't pass-by this year, it was lovely! I bought some from the hunch-back who has the shop on the corner of the Egyptian souk 15LE per kilo, I got a quarter (ruba kilo), plus he'd given me a large piece to try,  for 5LE, which I was very happy with, he's always been fair with me, and I like him a lot. Every year, I mean to ask someone what the sugar statues represent, and every year (this year being the same as usual) I forget! Neither can I fathom what the dollies are for! They come in all sorts of sizes and designs, some I noticed today (for the first time) with wool for hair! Rather different from the others, I've got to say.

One day, I might get around to telling you about my orange rug-wool wig, in which I used to perform (accompanying myself on the ukulele) when I could sing falsetto!!!! That's got your attention, hasn't it?

Never mind all that! I don't know if the two things are related in any way, but on this particular birthday of Muhammad; the Amoun men went back to work! (The Amoun men are the town's street sweepers, so called because the cleaning contractor was once the Amoun Company. And you know how we don't like to change the names of things in Egypt for at least a generation, or two.) I think I reported the other day about the rubbish in the streets, well today it's all been swept up! Here is how we do it Egyptian style:

Although the Amoun men have a roll along cart; they don't fill it with dust or rubbish.The dust is left at the roadside. In my innocence, I used to think that someone else would come along and take it away. But now I know that they don't, it just stays there until the wind, or peoples' feet, move it on! It makes walking a hazardous task, as unaware sandled feet can become rather dirty very easily through walking straight into a pile of dust! As you can see from the bottom right picture; the footpaths aren't really a practical proposition as far as walking on them is concerned. Then the Amoun man's pile of dust drives the pedestrian further into the traffic! It's not very good, I can tell you.

I actually took a load of rubbish photo's to go along with the dust photo's, but they were like their subjects: rubbish!!! I salvaged a couple, which I just know that you're dying to see:

As you can see from this first one, nothing is wasted here. The kind Amoun man has not only swept the rubbish into a nice tidy pile, he's also created a public amenity: a cycle park! What better place to park your bike? I'll bet the owners of those other two were dead upset, just because they didn't get there first!

This last one is typical of the skips (dumpsters, for you Americans) which are strategically placed here and there for the collection of household rubbish. 

So, apart from being kept awake nearly all of last night, and a good bit of the night before, by the wonderfully cheery nocturnal celebrations coming at us from about five different directions through very efficient loudspeakers, the rubbish collectors return to work was the most exciting event of this particular Moulid, for us!

But, happy birthday Muhammad, anyway!