Civil Unrest..Luxor Style

Here we are again folks! We had an interesting trip out this afternoon, with our good friend Ahmed the caleche man. We were strolling down to the Etap, to sample their tea and free cake, when we came across Ahmed (he’s been our caleche man for about 10 or 11 years) and changed our plan. When Ahmed asked us “Where to?” the Boss said that it would be up to him. (As you know, I just “fit in”, it’s best that way!)
Anyway, off we went along Karnak Street, travelling north, towards the airport. Ahmed drives very slowly when we are with him, so the car and ‘bus drivers just love us to bits, and show their appreciation by honking their horns at every opportunity, we wave back at them to be sociable. Within a minute, I was feeling for the camera, as Ahmed explained why there were tents all over the new grassed area just past the two big Churches on the right. It appears that some of the locals are under the impression that their beloved leader, Samir Farag Governor of the Luxor Governorate, has gone, and with him “his” plans for the development of Luxor. So, they are reclaiming the land which the authorities took from them, and “squatting” on it in makeshift tents and shelters. I’m not sure with what purpose in mind, perhaps they are intent on getting a better pay-out than they have already had. I’m sure they aren’t daft enough to really believe that they can actually reclaim the land legally, even though rumour has it that much of the Land Registry paperwork was destroyed by vandals when they attacked the Council Offices at Awamaya! There are quite a number of them along the route of the Kabesh Road, one actually on the road where it crosses the sphinxes! I think that they are probably spending money for nothing and are in for a big disappointment, and quite possibly some harsh treatment from the police, eventually, when they come to evict them, again.
Here are a few of them, either on either side of the Avenue, or by the side of the airport road. As usual, you can click on the pictures to enlarge them, or click again to make them very big.








One thing that I really enjoyed about the ride was the renewed friendliness of the passers-by. They kept on asking Ahmed where he found his tourists and of course he just laughed before admitting that we were “Egyptians”. Along Karnak way somewhere he pulled over (we were in the outside lane, going the wrong way along a stretch of dual carriageway) against the central reservation. I asked him why he had stopped and he told me that there was a good place there to buy “macarona”, and he wanted to get some for us. I don’t like pasta (foreign muck!), so off he went, promising to stop next at a good falafel man. When he returned, a few minutes later, he brought some food for himself as well. (I was very pleased to see this, as his brother, Samir, tells me that he hardly eats anything at home, and he’s getting far too skinny!) Being a Nosey Parker, I asked what he had. Of course, I had to then try it! It happened to be delicious, and was called “hawassy”. I remembered the name by thinking of Zahi and his big hat. The nearest I can think of, which might relay to you the taste and texture of this delight, would be haggis, thinly spread between two thin layers of filo-like pastry, and too hot to touch! I shared his, and then sent him back for another, I was also brave enough to try a bit of pickled something or other, which smelled like coconut, but obviously wasn’t.

The Current Situation at "Our Luxor"

I would hate you to think that I'm spending my time slacking! Just because we've had two cancellations due to there being no aeroplanes for our guests, surely you couldn't believe that the Boss would see me vegetate????
Talking about vegetation; we got a couple of plants from a small garden centre up on the Susanna Mubarak Touristic Road. That's a bit of a mouthful for what used to be Movenpick Road, isn't it? One is a Frangipani, for our terrace, the aroma is intoxicating when we open our apartment door in the evening! The other is a boring old Coleus for the pot outside of the guest apartment, it doesn't need any sun, apparently.

I decided to make the most of our little "holiday" by getting on with the kitchen in our bedroom, as it shouldn't entail spending cash that we don't have. We brought some tile thingies from England to act as a "splashback", behind the sink. The biggest problem that I could envisage was that we would have to wait until the surgeon on the first floor, Doctor Al Malach, was closed altogether, as the water would have to be turned off downstairs before tha meter. (You see, of course, that this wasn't going to be the biggest problem at all, don't you? You've "slidden down this bannister before" haven't you? So have I, and I'm getting MIGHTY SICK OF IT!!!)

Just in case you'd forgotten how I was doing with our kitchen, here's a reminder....



Since then I've been doing bits and pieces, like making some shelves under the sink for storage and stuff like that. Anyway, back to the present "saga"; To facilitate sticking the tiles on the wall, the new tap has to be removed and the tiles cut around the tap fittings embedded in the wall. All very straightforward? Not b****y likely!

Our wonderful (latest) plumber Mr Girges fitted the tap, as you may recall. When I came to undo the nuts which hold the tap to the pipe fittings, one of the fittings was coming away as well! Don't panic (Mr Mainwaring), I can fix it when it's all to bits. (In fact, "Can we fix it? Yes, we can!") So here I am, with a pair of Peterson's Vice Grips and an Egyptian spanner on which I'd had to file the jaws parallel, trying to unsrew the fitting from the tap. Now then, I know I'm getting older and I'm not as strong as I once was, but I was REALLY trying with this, and getting nowhere fast. The fitting is made of brass, which the jaws of the Vice Grips kept chewing up, I couldn't believe that it was so tight. Then I twigged what friend Girges had done, he'd cross threaded it, hadn't he, and being Egyptian wouldn't dream of owning up to it, so carried on in "the Egyptian way" stuggling on till it stopped leaking. Never mind the poor schmuck who would eventually have to take it to bits again!!! If he'd been there, I think I would have killed him.

Of course, to top it all off, it now was Sunday evening, and I needed another mixer tap. The shop I usually use for plumbing stuff is run by Christians, so no good going there! Another shop, just down on Gold Street, was open however. I stepped in to find that no-one was there, after a minute or so a boy appeared from up the street wanting to know what I wanted, no English, so I pointed at a mixer tap on a shelf asking in my best Arabic "Becam di?" He didn't know. He then disappeared down the street, returning with a little plump gentleman who I'd seen there before. "Becam di?" After looking on all sides of the box, and finding no price, he had a long discussion with the boy before getting out his mobile phone and dialling. In just a few minutes, another boy (maybe around 20) arrived, and between them , they came up with a price of 85le! I'm sure that you would have thought the same as I did, "The shop owner doesn't know the prices of his stock? Then he has to confer with two boys about how much to charge the "Kawaga" (foreigner) for this tap? I don't think so!!" Goodbye little fat shopkeeper. I went back home to have a cup of tea and a think. My brain was just about steaming by now!

If I recount the trials and tribulations of my journey to see Ahmed Hashem at his lovely bathroom shop in Madina Street, we'll be here all night. So, suffice it to say that his "Ideal Standard" mixer was 365le, but he had Chinese ones at his other shop for only about 90 or 100le! I went home defeated, execpt for the four lovely soft breadbuns from the Madina Street baker. I also had to find a way of closing off the pipes, in order to get water for washing etc, before bed. The tap isn't normally going to be in that position.



I was reinvigorated the following morning (today, that is) when I attended my first choice of shop (the Christian one) and came home with a nice mixer tap complete with fittings and everything, a large roll of PTFE tape and 4 spare rubber washers for 50le. My frame of mind was much improved!

I don't know if you've ever tried fitting a mixer tap before? It's not as easy as one might imagine, or so I've learned today. The two fittings which come with the tap are both "offset" to allow for imperfect pipe positioning in the wall. Good, one may imagine, but awkward, nevertheless. In trying to get the two ends in the right position to fit the tap, and level at the same time, I managed to snap one of them in the pipe fitting buried in the wall behind the tiles. This was (not just me being heavy handed) because the fittings are of an inferior quality, being cheap and nasty Chinese RUBBISH! Again, not panicking, I soldiered on and managed to get the pipe end fitting out of the wall without too much damage to the tiling. Back to the friendly Christian plumbers merchant, where a long while was spent with him impressing on me that I should be more careful, and me trying to explain to him that I would like some sort of jointing compound for the connection in the wall which I couldn't access with the PTFE tape (or the hemp he was trying to force onto me). Why oh why did I thow away that tin of "Stag Jointing Compound" 30 years ago which had always been among my Dad's stuff? A brainwave came to me on the way back to the house, " I could use some paint, or varnish!" And so I did, stuffing some strands of hemp into the fitting and then soaking it with Sipes "Varno" before scewing it onto the pipe end, perfect!

Eventually, I managed to get it all back together. Now, all I need is a "Farouk" (angle grinder) to trim the floor tiles which I intend to use to make the small benches at either side of the sink. So here's another picture to finish off with.



Well, not quite finish off with. Feeling quite proud of my efforts and their results, I had a nice long shower, followed by watching a film on the telly downstairs and some lovely chicken and honey mustard sandwiches in those soft buns with a fresh strawberry trifle to top it all off. The end of the day would be taken up with typing up this rather long and boring saga. But as I was doing it, just now..........water started to leak out of the hot tap fitting, running down the wall and puddling on the tiled floor!

I've turned off the hot water and I'm going to bed.

A note for the Foreign Secretary, William Hague, about the situation in Luxor

Well !!!! I've finally managed to source some of the right Anthracite (pretty hard to come by in Upper Egypt, I can tell you!) to run the boiler on my steam powered laptop. I don't know how long it will last, so I'm having to use it sparingly, and I haven't yet tried to upload pictures; so wish me luck?



The past days have been rather strange, to say the least. The guests we had until last week didn't have any problems as they trailed around the town and the sights/sites. We have actually been out looking for spots of bother, but found them very elusive. We did manage to catch some rowdy youths attacking the Susanna Mubarak Heritage Centre, breaking some of the windows and letting off fire extinguishers. They soon scarpered when they heard the trucks coming and the tear gas was let off after they'd gone, typical! We were travelling in Ahmed's caleche, to get a good view of whatever we came across.



It seemed as though the vandals were attacking Government buildings, actually the "attacks" were breaking windows as far as we could judge. These broken glass shots were taken along Karnak St, the first one being the telephone building near the savoy Bazaar.







You all know what Luxor is like for being a rumour mill, don't you? Even I ended up adding to that reputation last week! I had heard, from a trusted friend, that the Kier Zaman supermarket on TV St. had been ransacked and looted. I had passed this snippet of info on to one or two others before I passed the very same shop on the 'bus, only to see it as busy as ever and without the slightest sign of anything amiss. I felt such a fool!

The "powers that be" have certainly been taking this spot of trouble seriously. Shortly after it first kicked off in Cairo, I saw two old Magirus Deutz army wagons trundling along the Corniche, "Aye,aye", I thought to myself, "they're expecting trouble in Luxor are they?" It still came as quite a shock when I saw the tank opposite the Iberotel!





The tank transporter was a nice thing, a three axled six wheel drive Faun, (with two lovely big winches on the back) pulling a substantial drop-well trailer. The soldiers weren't too happy at me taking pictures of their tank! The only other unusual vehicles I saw were the armoured up mini-buses, the same as we've been seeing on the telly in Cairo, and the 4x4 army trucks outside the Supreme Council building, next to the Etap.



I've got to say, however, that while all of this might seem rather troublesome; our usual outings to watch the tourists and shop etc. haven't been curtailed at all. We know that the anger which has resulted in these bouts of vandalism is not aimed at tourists or foreigners in general, but at people in government and in positions of power, who the general populace are very unhappy about.

I'm sure that most people in Luxor know where their bread and butter (or perhaps their fuul and falafel) come from, and don't really have any animosity towards us. I have certainly not experienced anything out of the ordinary as far as our dealings with Egyptians are concerned. The few demonstrations which we have seen have been good humoured affairs (as you would expect in Luxor) with more of a carnival atmosphere, a bit like the Moulid parade.

It's getting sad now though, very few tourists left to gawk at while we have our cups of tea, two lots of guests cancelled through lack of flights, and a general sense of gloom descending on everyone we talk to! How long will it last, I wonder? Perhaps everyone could write to William Hague and ask him to take Luxor off his hit list? He seems to be a straightforward sort of bloke, you never know, he may just see sense!

Trouble in Luxor?

Here I am, sitting in Tuttie Fruittie, where I'm using the owners laptop 'cause mine is not working properly.
Trouble in Luxor? Not really, I'm pleased to say. Curfew in Luxor? Against everything I've seen on the telly and read on t'internet, no there isn't! I keep asking my neighbours, and they keep saying "No". The buses are still running (all evening, at least) as usual and people are still wandering about till all hours! A few tourists to whom I have spoken tell me that their hotels have told them to stay indoors after dark, but I think that there may be a slight "profit" motive there, eh?
Although I have spoken to BBC Online several times, they continue to misrepresent the situation here in Luxor, as do all the other TV channels. When I see and hear TV reporters talking about the different levels of unrest occurring in Cairo, Alex "and other cities", it makes my blood boil! Don't they care at all about the livelihood of the poverty stricken Egyptians? Is the rush to have a sensational report to file more important than the truth?
I must be stupid to think that the truth could matter, where reporters and TV executives are concerned!

Back online

Good day everyone.
Although we are back online we now have a problem with our laptop but hope to bring you all up to date after the weekend.
Watch this space !

Current Situation

Just a quick note to anyone wondering what was happening with Edward and Freda, everything is as normal in Luxor at the moment (as normal as it ever is!), and they are both fine and carrying on as before - as is the majority of the rest of Luxor. I'm sure Edward will resume normal service on here as soon as the restrictions on internet access have been lifted.

Benjamin (their son)

Archaeology, Luxor Style!

While idly chatting to some of the neighbours in Adam's coffee shop this morning, I learned that the excavators on the Kabesh Road (just across from the Emilio Hotel ) had brought up a large box! One chap had actually seen it being lifted out, and reported that it was about a metre square. Of course, to hear them rabbiting on, it was full of gold! But eventually he said that it was taken away unopened.
They are working at full pelt, as the Dear Leader is coming soon to open the Kabesh Road. He's reported to be bringing with him a dozen or so "World Leaders", so they had better get their skates on!

And, they are!!!!

None of your namby-pamby pointing trowel and paint brushes, like the foreigners, for Zahi's men. Get the big hats and the big buckets, it's time for the men to play, real men, Egyptian men!

If you click twice on the first picture, you should be able to pick out the same procedure going on in the distance, between the two tipper trucks.

As a measure of the size of the bucket on the machine: it took six of them to fill this tipper. The machine operator is quite a hand , I stood and watched him deftly work around that two inch cable without damaging it. Very clever. It's a pity he didn't see what was coming next though!

Yes, you got it in one, a water main. A water main of about six inches in diameter, I would judge.

As you will see if you click on the video, the hole in the ground was filling up a lot quicker than it was dug out. I was quite taken aback by the sight of the gaffers, watching the water flow and scratching their heads (and of course, being Egyptian, other parts as well!). No-one seemed to be in the slightest bit bothered!

I kid you not!!!!!

You know when you're glad you picked up your camera before you left the house? Well, that was me today.
Freda had found two lamps which took her fancy in a shop called City Styel, (that's what's on his business card) on Television Street. We went for them today, and while the shopkeeper was seeing to two other customers, I was nosing around at his rather comprehensive stock, from toys to clocks, from lamps to ornaments, from train sets to cosmetics. He really does have quite an array!
But then I found something that I had really NEVER expected to find anywhere, but, this is Luxor. CARRY ON DOWN THE PAGE!





























Yes Dear Reader, it's the real, the genuine, never to be found again so buy it while you can! It's even 4 in 1 !!!!!! What more could the ladies ask for?
I wonder if he'll be "run out of town" like they did in the Wild West?

More Stick Dancing in Luxor.

We usually only get to see proper Stick Dancing during the Moulid of Abu El Haggag, but I know that there is some sort of famous Stick Dancing event held here in Luxor other than that. Maybe this is it? I'll ask someone who might know, tomorrow. Meanwhile, enjoy the show! (Double click on the vid to view it full screen)



I got another clip from the other side. I couldn't work from the front because of the lights, they would have blinded the lens. (I don't suppose that's real photographic terminology, but it'll have to do.)

Clever Clogs, with her perfect hearing, first heard the music as we were walking from the Corniche, up the side of the Temple. "I told you there was something going on", crows She! (Is it my fault I'm going deaf at this tender age?) There it was, behind the Temple, where the Squash Court had been the other week. No tiered seating this time, just rows of chairs and a man with a video camera getting in everyone's way.

I don't think it could be described as a "fetish", but I do notice people's feet and footwear, it rather takes the shine off a traditional dance when you see that the dancers are wearing trainers, don't you think? I cannot quite envisage the famous Earsdon Sword Dancers hoisting their intertwined rapper swords while poncing about in trainers, like Jessies, somehow!

Down our Street.

We went to the Etap this evening, before 6pm so we would get the free cake with our tea and coffee. (I know, you don't need to tell me that we're skinflints!) Got to the bottom of Youseff Hassan Street, and was confronted by the "new road" slicing though the spare ground where the Savoy Hotel used to be.
I did notice something going on there a few days ago, but wasn't really taking any notice, just daydreaming as usual! If you look to the left of the road, you can see all the new lamp posts as well. After our visit to the Etap, we walked along the Corniche, to have our usual gaze of envy at the steamship Sudan, and saw that these street lights were actually lit.



Also, across the junction of Youseff Hassan Street and Karnak Street, there are lines of powder spread across the road. On closer inspection it's obvious that they are delineating the lines for the ongoing Kabesh Road excavations. Looking to the right as we crossed the junction, I noticed that they have also marked out the positions (or expected positions) of the next Sphinxes to be uncovered. These markings are in exact alignment with the Easternmost row of Sphinxes, or should I say Sphinkes, like the Egyptians)

I was reading somewhere that the Minister of Culture (or someone important) was coming to see the Sphinx Avenue 'opened' in March this year. I think they had better get their fingers out!

Wedding Anniversary at the Winter Palace!

Yes, it has been our wedding anniversary today, the 8th of January. How I wonder what some of the guests back then would think, to know that we celebrated our 39th by having "High Tea" at the Old Winter Palace in Luxor Egypt? I'm thinking about people like Freda's Mam and Dad, or little Jackie Buckley, who took the photographs, or John Graham the coalman, who lent his car to transport the bride! I think they would be flabbergasted! But, sadly, they're all gone now, so we'll not find out.
If you've not had the High Tea at the OWP then you won't know what we had, will you? Well, it's in the Victoria Lounge (so that's a good start) there's tea, of course, and plenty of it. Then the waiter brings a nice three tier cake stand, laden with sandwiches (sans crusts, of course) on the bottom tier, smoked salmon, egg, chicken and tuna. The next tier has individual English cakes, in the shape of small loaves and with cherries inside, and generous sized buns plus two glasses containing jam and cold custard. The final tier is crowded with small cakes and things, ten in total. Believe it or not, we had to leave a couple of the small bits and pieces, else I might have burst, just like Mr Creosote in the Monty Python sketch! Sorry there are no pics, but the Boss forbade it as being in bad taste in such surroundings. She was probably right, as usual.


On the way there, I got a couple of pics of the foundation work for the new building.

That's a quite big machine down that hole! It's at the back of the Pavilion wing, I hope it's not too noisy in there at the moment.

This one is more to the side of the Pavilion, similar machine loading by stretching the bucket down as far as it will go into the vast hole out of shot, to the right of the picture.

They are certainly getting on with the job. I could say that they were "knocking doors out of windows" or that they were "cooking on gas", both of which terms you would no doubt understand. But I have in my mind a term used by one of my old old customers from many years ago, but in similar circumstances, which was "breaking eggs with sticks". Does anyone else know that expression? Or can anyone shed any light onto its origin?

The Death of the Small Trader!

We were walking up Medina Street last night, when I noticed this shop on a side street. I was dismayed to see it, and to think that a multinational organisation should be muscling in on the Luxor shoe trade.



I think that those of you who are on Facebook should protest, and that is why I'm bringing it to your attention!

Anthony the Stone Man.

Just for you, Dear Reader, I got off the arabeya at the railway station so that I could make sure that the statues were indeed Anthony's. It's only a five minute walk home from there, so it wasn't actually a huge sacrifice!

The first picture, I took with the camera on "Auto", but it seemed rather dark, and covered in spots again.

I cleaned the lens with the cleanest of my two hankies, and tried again on the night time setting. The result was better colour, but blurred with the longer exposure and my unsteady hands! Sorry, but it seems that I just cannot get this photography thing right!!!!!!



Anyway, I had a word with Anthony while I was there, and it seems that he didn't really mind the move and was sure that business would be OK. Let's all hope so.

Catering Wars in the Town Centre.

Eateries are always a matter of personal preference, I know that! So I'm not actually making recommendations here, OK?
This is a shot of the brand new "New Oum Hashim Restaurant" which is just up from the Duty Free shop in town.

It's actually diagonally across the road from the "old" Oum Hashim Restaurant, that's right next to the bakery: the one where you couldn't breath as you walked past! Funny thing is, it was recommended in several guide books!

Never mind, they seem to be going to run them like a two prison sentences: concurrently!

Before this new development they were a respectable distance from Chez Omar (from whence I have been buying take-away kofta for the past 5 years or so), but now they are practically on their doorstep.

As well as being in a more prominent place than their old one, they have also geared up to vastly increase their take-away trade, the targeted opposition here has to be El Zaeem 200 mtrs away on Yousef Hassan Street. El Zaeem (the take-away bit, at least) is always busy, and they've just spent a great deal of money doing the place out after only a couple of years.

I just hope that there's enough business for them all.

By Popular Demand.

Hi all,
I went back to the Etap (El Luxor) corner today and got these snaps. They've certainly made short work of the old shops. Do you remember the one on the corner, with the lovely old carved wood surrounds? It used to be just between the pedestrian and the lamp post, on the picture.

Here's a view from across the corner, and looking along the Corniche past the front of the Etap. There's quite a lot changed, I'm sure you'll agree.

Interesting to look behind where the shops once stood. If this isn't going to be the new entrance to the Etap, I'll eat one of my many hats!!!

Lets hope that Sandra and Mick don't think they're lost when they return, lol.

The Relentless March of Progress!

After the whirlwind the other night, I snapped this picture of the rather dramatic looking Western sky. At the time, I thought it had an "ominous" look about it!

Did I say "ominous"? It certainly seems to have been for the shopkeepers at the Northern side of the Etap, opposite the pharmacy. Along with the demolition crew, there were two small trucks (like the ones which empty the street dumpsters), a 16 ton tipper and a rather large Police contingent. I waited for quite a while before taking this photo, as I became aware that one of the policemen was staring straight at me as soon as I produced my camera! As I didn't fancy a night in the cells, I quickly put it back in my pocket, only producing it again after he was called away. As per usual, I forgot to wipe the camera lens, hence the spots before your eyes (no, it's not the DT's after all).

It seems to me that the fact that this demolition work was being carried out at night, and with a heavy police presence, tells us that there is something not quite right going on in Luxor just now!

On arriving home in Luxor.

Well, yes we got back home to Luxor without too much trouble, Hamdulillah! But many places are hardly recognisable. The front of the friendly old Etap (El Luxor Hotel) is covered in snow…………

The old premises of the Oasis Café which, you’ll remember, moved up to St Joseph Street next to Tuttie Frutti, has been turned into a new restaurant cunningly called the “Oasis Palace” which I think is a bit of a cheek!

Mind you, they have certainly spent some cash on the place, it's just a pity that they are trying to cash-in on someone else's good reputation!


We also called at the NP (Steigenberger Nile Palace, do keep up!) where they had a wonderful poinsettia Christmas tree. It was made up of individual plants in pots, most ingenious, and very effective. The funniest thing about their Christmas decorations, is that their Santa Clauses always have saxophones!!!!!!!!! What's all that about, then? Even some of the Egyptian Christmas cards have him with a sax!


We arrived back at the apartment to find a generous covering of dust, well, it was better than finding a generous covering of snow, wasn't it?

The good old Karcher vacuum made sharp work of that!

Who knows Ruby Tuesday?

No, not the one of Rolling Stones fame! Ruby Tuesday from Luxor, whose blog is
http://orangesbythenile.blogspot.com/ . The blog posts seem to have disappeared, and I'm unable to email her.
Anyone have an email address, or; are you reading this Ruby Tuesday? If anyone can answer yes, then please let me know.
Happy new year everyone.

Busy Bees.

Here we are again, still in Windy Nook!
A couple of weeks ago, I had an unexpected email from a lady whom I hadn't seen for a very long time, in fact she was just a daft girl when we last met! Diane was the daughter of one of my customers, and lived just a hundred yards or so from the garage where I had my business repairing (mainly) heavy goods vehicles. After exchanging a few emails between us and another long-time pal (Eric) we arranged a get-together of some of the old gang from all those years ago.

The business had been my father's and I was taken into partnership at the tender age of 18, sadly, he died when I was 19 but I was able to carry the business on. We worked from 08.30 till 10 or 11 in the evening. I took a partner who had been a school friend, and we had several helpers, one of whom came to us as a boy Scout looking for a Bob-a-Job task! We never let him go, and inculcated into him our love of repairing trucks and things, which he has put to good use, and 40 years later has a really good business still doing what he loves best.

Here he is, sitting behind Diane. He is "Little" Eddie, a name which will be explained in a minute or two. The next picture (l to r) is of Dennis the welder (who, in his younger days, was a dead
ringer for the famous Roy Wood of "The Move"), Potter, Ian Miller (affectionately known as "Mudguard") and, of course (being the "Belle of the Ball") Diane. Ian was always
a regular visitor, sometime helper (and sometime hinderer!). He is now is a very successful car dealer, he very kindly lent us a car to get around during our present holiday.
Potter is, in fact, Edd Potter who was a friend who became a business partner in our haulage business a couple of years later. Seeing as I was Edward, Potter was Edd and Little Eddie was another Edward: those two adopted the names which just evolved, so that we weren't spending all day getting mixed up! Mind you, I think Little Eddie is a bit sick of his after 40 years!
Dennis was a factory welder, with Potter (and several other assorted lunatics which were to impact on our lives in different ways during this and the slightly later period), who was a visitor and sometime helper.
Other notable worthies turned up, but (as usual) yours truly hadn't checked the camera, and the batteries ran out after half a dozen pictures!!!!!!!
It was a very good night, spoilt only by the loud music in the pub which I struggled to contend with, with my partial deafness. We have promised to arrange another meet-up in the summer, but at a quieter venue!

OUR LITTLE ANGEL

Our youngest granddaughter started school in September, even though she is still only a baby! Fortunately, the school she attends hasn't wholly sucumbed to the political correctness which was instrumental in us deciding to escape to Luxor, and they still have a nativity play! Isabella is too young to have a major part, but she made a beautiful angel. (Yes, I know I'm biased!)There she is, right in the middle of the first picture, and posing nicely in the second.

A NIGHT OUT

I also went to the brilliant "Sage" at Gateshead to see Maddy Prior (of Steeleye Span fame) and the Carnival Band perform their annual concert of Christmas songs. The tickets are our usual Christmas gifts from my lovely sister, she gets one for me, one for son Benjamin and another for Alice, our youngest daughter. It was a super concert, but photography isn't allowed, sorry!

A NIGHT OF GREAT FUN!

On Sunday 19th December (last night) Benjamin and I accompanied sister Susan and her husband Roy to their folk music club at South Shields, that's where Christine (the owner of the Tuttie Fruttie Cafe in Luxor) comes from. We used to sing together regularly in our younger years, but now rarely have the opportunity. However, last night we did! We first gave them three verses of "While Sheperds Watched" to the tune "Up and Doon", which we sing every year while out Carol Singing. Our Benjamin got up and helped us out, even though he sang with his eyes closed, so that he could pretend that he wasn't in front of a crowd of people.

A few of the Windy Nook Girls Brigade Band were there, and gave the gathered folkies a medley of Christmas Carol tunes, they were pretty good and went down well!

After the first half, we were presented with a goodly spread of food consisting of pies, sausage rolls, roast potatoes, mince (spoilt by the addition of chillies), cheeses and pickled onions, crisps, cheese flans and Cadburys Chocolate Fingers!!!! It was just as well, as we hadn't had time for any tea.

The band started the second half off with some more carols, and we sang "Bright Morning Star Arising" with Christmas words written by our Susan's friend Maddy Prior. It felt good while singing it and it seemed to go down very well. We had a great night, it's just a pity that Freda doesn't enjoy that sort of thing.

Well, that's all the news for now, but I'll be back!!!!

Merry Christmas!

Yes, the time is again drawing nigh! Too much to buy, with not enough time or money to get what we would really like to. It's always the same for most of us.
Our son, eldest granddaughter and youngest grandson put up and decorated the tree for our house. I think it looks ok.



For us, it would be unthinkable to be away from our family at this special time of year when we remember the birth of Jesus, and all that it means for mankind in general and for us as individuals. It saddens me immensely when I think of all the folks I know who don't have a share in that tremendous sense of love and security which, particularly around this time, abounds in Christian circles.
Anyway, I hope all of our readers have a lovely time celebrating this mid-wintertime, and I'll leave you with the words of one of my favourite (but not too well known) Christmas Carols.

Cradled in a manger, meanly
laid the Son of Man his head;
Sleeping His first earthly slumber
where the oxen had been fed.
Happy were those shepherds listening
to the holy angel's word;
Happy those within that stable,
worshipping their infant Lord.

Happy all who hear the message
of His coming from above;
Happier still who hail His coming,
and with praises greet His love.
Blessed Saviour, Christ most holy,
in a manger Thou didst rest;
canst Thou stoop again, yet lower,
and abide within my breast?

Evil things are there before Thee;
in the heart, where they have fed,
wilt Thou pitifully enter,
Son of Man, and lay Thy head?
Enter then, O Christ most holy;
Make a Christmas in my heart;
Make a heaven of my manger;
It is heaven where Thou art.

And to those who never listened
to the message of Thy birth,
who have winter, but no Christmas
bringing them Thy peace on earth,
send to these the joyful tidings;
By all people, in each home,
be there heard the Christmas anthem;
Praise to God, the Christ has come!

Again Merry Christmas, and God bless.

Mary Mary quite contrary, how does your garden grow?

That's right, we don't have a garden, but we seem to be able to grow icicles ok!
I took this pic of our bathroom window on the day we arrived back here in Windy Nook.



Six days later and see how they've grown, it must be that they are trying to thaw for a little while and then re-freezing. It is VERY cold!



I just thought that all you lucky people still in Egypt would like to gloat over what we are suffering here in good old Blighty.

Holiday time.

Hello from a very cold Windy Nook, where we're on our Christmas holiday from 3rd December until the 27th.
Actually, we really started on the 2nd when Freda had a fancy for a McDonald's. This is a bit of a queer occurrence, as she isn't a burger fan in general. But, you know me, anything to please the Boss. (I've always been a crawler!)
As we left McD's, I jokingly suggested that she might enjoy a chocolate brownie and ice cream at the Roof, by way of a dessert. To my great surprise she agreed, so we nipped into Snacktime before the "Little Shop Little Prices" man (Mamdou) latched onto us. Amazingly, the front table overlooking the temple etc. was vacant, so there we sat. The waiter was there in a trice and took our order "TWO chocolate brownies, please?" He was rather taken aback, as we normally only order one of anything, to share. "No shisha sir?" he thoughtfully enquired. But, unbeknown to him, I had already suggested that we retire from there to the Etap for tea and a shisha from Mr Bedawy before heading homewards. We enjoyed the brownies as much as we had enjoyed the cheeseburgers and made our way outside, crossing the road quickly before Mamdou got his beady eyes on us. Too late, he hurried through the traffic and caught us just as we were mounting the kerb on the other side. However, I managed to turn and speak to him before he had started his "Little Shop" spiel (once he starts he just HAS to finish) and when he recognised me he just said hello, and how are you and that sort of stuff and the a cheery "Goodbye".
The tea and shisha went down very well, as did the little "tourist watching".

We had arranged to be collected from the apartment at midnight to get to the airport in plenty of time for our flight to Cairo. All went smoothly, and we were soon ensconced in the grubby little cafeteria in domestic departures. Now then, this is a good place to people watch! Lots of Egyptian men (mainly) with an amazing array of different sizes of cardboard box. The clingfilm wrapping machine was going twenty to the dozen, the man operating it must have had quite a sweat on! And, of course Egyptian queueing! Need I say more? One chap had my attention for longer than any of the others. He looked like a typical West Bank farming type (I'm in no way denigrating the "type", by the way) with galabeya sleeves into which you could have flown Concorde, and a couple of winter scarves wrapped around his head which made him look like a pot of tea with a tea cosy on. His galabeya looked anything but clean, and he was small and stick thin. He wandered back and forth, haranguing people as he came across them, eventually sticking with an official looking bloke in a suit. His finger was wagging in the poor man's face, and his voice was raised. The poor official eventually made a call on his mobile and let the little fellah speak to whoever it was on the other end. The "whoever" also got quite an ear bashing before the customer was finished! He eventually made away towards the departure gates with his trolley full of his clingfilm wrapped boxes.
Anyway, we got to Cairo airport without mishap and managed to change terminals (only getting on the wrong bus once, which Saddam Hussein was driving) in our allotted time of 5 hours! Wondering where to go (Freda always looks around for signs etc. whereas I would rather just ask someone) I made my way towards the "Information" desk. Here it is below, but you'll have to click twice on the picture to see why I took it!

The BA flight from Cairo to Heathrow wasn't as nice as Egypt Air, but it did have a great selection of CD's to listen to, I had fun making my own playlist from CD's by the marvellous Leonard Cohen, the Rolling Stones, Etta James and Bo Diddley. Quite a change!

We arrived at Heatrow early, and left late, due to our last flight being postponed for two hours, in increments of a half hour at a time, very annoying! Nevertheless, we managed to get to Newcastle, where we found out that our son-in-law had just pranged our son's lovely (recently purchased) car, actually, another car ploughed into him in after losing grip on a bend, and there was no-one to pick us up from the airport. As we made our way down the covered walkway to the Metro station I was surprised to see the following icicles.

Our son-in-law managed to borrow a Nissan Micra to collect us from our local Metro station and took us home where the gang were awaiting our arrival. And more icicles hanging around our house as well.





According to the weather forecasters, we'll be carol singing in these conditions on Christmas Eve! So spare us a thought (along with some money!) when it comes around.
I'll be back in touch if anything crops up, in the meantime; enjoy the warmth if you're still in Egypt, and happy sledging if you're in England.

Happy Christmas to evryone.