Yes, here we are at the "Egypt Moving Forward" party, held behind the Temple amid much fanfare and hoohaa. We arrived at 2.45 to meet some friends (Mara and Bodyguard Amr and Beverley with husband Ahmed) so we would have plenty of time to get seated before the proposed 3pm kick-off. Lots of banners and trade stands with men in tee shirts advertising the event as well as their respective companies. Two of my neighbours were there, on the Viking stand, of course, as was the rather large Mr Ramadan (not the spitting electrician), whom I thought had a certain familiarity about him, he would being the brother of Mr Hamada whom I have met on numerous occasions. They are the controlling brothers of Viking. Anyway, the Event actually got underway not long after the supposed start time. The trouble was, that it did and it didn't! This charming little girl took some of the edge off our impatience, though.
After her came a series of speakers of one sort or another, some famous in their own fields, and made relatively short speeches in several languages. (I suppose we have to cater for the foreigners as well.) This was the boring bit for many of the gathering, I would imagine, but it really needed to be a part of the proceedings. The "entertainment" eventually got underway, and it was an eclectic mix, to say the least. An Egyptian band started the ball rolling, they were very good.
Next we had the famous (among jazz aficionados, apparently) Michelle Rounds. She was singing to a taped accompaniment and didn't go down as well as I had anticipated, but OK.
All sorts of folk were there, some in their Sunday (probably Friday actually) best, like this little boy.
I took small video's of everything, but some were so out of focus they hurt my eyes, so I had to delete them, sorry. (You know I need a professional cameraman don't you?) I've been trying to load the first one for over 30 minutes now, but the speed has dropped and it's just taken 8 minutes to load .02Mb of a 26Mb video. I think I'll let you see the pictures in the meantime, eh? I'll get the video's loaded during the day, if the speed holds up tomorrow. Here's the exit, which was very picturesque.
The final picture of this lot is of a friends son, he's just 13 months old. His Mam is Irish and his Dad Egyptian, and as his tee shirt states
"I AM THE FUTURE"
. Let's all hope and pray that his growing up will be so much better than that of his father.
Yes, here we are at the "Egypt Moving Forward" party, held behind the Temple amid much fanfare and hoohaa. We arrived at 2.45 to meet some friends (Mara and Bodyguard Amr and Beverley with husband Ahmed) so we would have plenty of time to get seated before the proposed 3pm kick-off. Lots of banners and trade stands with men in tee shirts advertising the event as well as their respective companies. Two of my neighbours were there, on the Viking stand, of course, as was the rather large Mr Ramadan (not the spitting electrician), whom I thought had a certain familiarity about him, he would being the brother of Mr Hamada whom I have met on numerous occasions. They are the controlling brothers of Viking. Anyway, the Event actually got underway not long after the supposed start time. The trouble was, that it did and it didn't! This charming little girl took some of the edge off our impatience, though. 
After her came a series of speakers of one sort or another, some famous in their own fields, and made relatively short speeches in several languages. (I suppose we have to cater for the foreigners as well.) This was the boring bit for many of the gathering, I would imagine, but it really needed to be a part of the proceedings. The "entertainment" eventually got underway, and it was an eclectic mix, to say the least. An Egyptian band started the ball rolling, they were very good. 
Next we had the famous (among jazz aficionados, apparently) Michelle Rounds. She was singing to a taped accompaniment and didn't go down as well as I had anticipated, but OK. 
All sorts of folk were there, some in their Sunday (probably Friday actually) best, like this little boy. 
I took small video's of everything, but some were so out of focus they hurt my eyes, so I had to delete them, sorry. (You know I need a professional cameraman don't you?) I've been trying to load the first one for over 30 minutes now, but the speed has dropped and it's just taken 8 minutes to load .02Mb of a 26Mb video. I think I'll let you see the pictures in the meantime, eh? I'll get the video's loaded during the day, if the speed holds up tomorrow. Here's the exit, which was very picturesque. 
The final picture of this lot is of a friends son, he's just 13 months old. His Mam is Irish and his Dad Egyptian, and as his tee shirt states "I AM THE FUTURE" . Let's all hope and pray that his growing up will be so much better than that of his father. 
