Summer is a'comin' in an' winter's gone away, oh!

Yes folks, we "welcomed in the May" at the Sheherazade Hotel on the West Bank, in some style, and in good company too I've got to say.

Tutankaren (AKA Lotusflower) from Welsh Wales had intended to join us and Mr and Mrs suzychuck of Trip Advisor fame to see what it was all about. Sadly, when the time came, Karen was indisposed and had to cry off, what a pity.

Never mind, we met the suzychucks at the Etap at the appointed time, actually REFUSED A POT OF TEA, and made our way along to the ferry. Freda had wanted to go over on the public ferry (I think she wanted to show some solidarity with the proletariat, or something like that) but we were approached by a nice motorboat (Mama Africa) captain, whom I know a bit (he went to college with another Egyptian friend) and we went with him. It's a lot easier and quicker than waiting for the ferry to fill up with the aforementioned proletariat before it sets off.

When we reached the "Side of the Dead" we boldly refused taxis and massages etc. and struck off towards our destination, it's only ten minutes or so, after all! As we arrived at the hotel, we saw two of Luxor's more famous West Bank ex-pats leaving! I did check my watch, and we were in plenty of time. Actually, we were twenty minutes early; call it "Reverse Egyptian Time", if you like!

A few of the local peasantry were gathered in a rustic bandstand type of place, with a roof of rushes (or some sort of organic stuff, at any rate) and seating around the edge, facing inwards. It was charming, to say the least. We were welcomed by the lovely Christine (Soloman, that is, manageress of the hotel, and not the lovely "Christine the Sand Dancer" of Tutti Frutti fame) with tea and English cake. Isn't it queer; that's exactly what we had refused at the Etap. Here's the lovely Christine, reading a Mayday poem, with the May Queen seated on her left.


We only knew one or two of the people there. Christine, of course, Stan, whose Luxor4U screen name, and website, is "Living in Luxor", and that's it, actually! Here's a picture, of my usual quality, of Stan the DJ talking to a young woman who is unknown to us (we being East Bankers).


One woman arrived sometime later, whom I think we've met before, but I cannot remember her name. During the proceedings, a man arrived and went around introducing himself. He was one Justen Karlsen of TA and L4U fame. I knew who he was the instant I saw him, but I couldn't tell you how. He was very charming and polite, and lo and behold; he was from the same part of Lincoln as Mr and Mrs suzychuck, what a small world. When he got home, he posted on L4U about meeting suzy and her beau. Fame at last, eh suzy? And here they are, Mr and Mrs suzychuck, he's the one in the middle, with the foliage coming out of his head. (Something was said about being green AND cabbage-looking)


Here's a candid one of Mr suzychuck, without his disguise. Not too sure about the two dodgey looking people (obviously still wearing their disguises) on the right though!


Got one of suzychuck herself, but that couple were still determined to be in the shot!


Several more people arrived as Stan the Man played suitable music for the occasion. (Started off with some Donovan, but mainly Steeleye Span, and Maddy Prior in other guises, and with several other worthwhile pieces as well.) I thoroughly enjoyed the music. In fact, at one point I telephoned Dear Sister in Windy Nook, and let her hear some of "Alison Gross" over the phone!

Most of the other revellers were ladies who seemed to be still in their hippie mode of the sixties. I was rather taken by one lady who walked as if she was trying to emulate the daft models on the catwalk, but on second thoughts; maybe she just needed a touch of hip replacement surgery, it was difficult for a mere layman to tell.

There were a few children around, all Egyptian as I would imagine that all the English and other foreign ladies present were possibly past the age of childbearing (although a few younger ones did turn up a bit later).


After the adult ladies had managed to not quite strangle each other with the Maypole ribbons; it was time for some of the little ones to join in and have a few goes. The younger ones were supervised by their equally hopeless elders, much to the mirth of us innocent bystanders.


Eventually, there was quite a bunch of local kids doing their level best in trying to strangle the beautiful little May Queen, they almost did, as well! This pic of the May Queen was taken before the strangling attempt, it just goes to show that no-one is safe here in Egypt, lol.


The children were obviously having a whale of a time, I don't suppose that they had ever seen anything remotely like this before.

Mr and Mrs suzychuck were very good company, they even paid the bill! I'm going to have to watch myself here; if this matter of TA people paying my way on nights out carries on, I'll be vying for the number one spot on KV Explorer's "Luxor Cadgers List". The current holder of that accolade is supposed to have a nifty habit of disappearing to the loo, just before the bill arrives, then returning after their guests have settled it. (And that's before their commission!) Nevertheless, one day, insh'Allah, we'll be in a position to repay their many kindnesses. As my old Dad used to say, "When the ship comes up Bottle Bank!" (FYI Bottle Bank is a short, steep street which runs by the Gateshead side of the Tyne Bridge and down to the small "Swing Bridge" crossing the river. The major problem with a ship coming up it, however, is that it has now been officially designated as one-way, and that way is downover!)

Anyway, after all that, I think we can say that the May is definitely IN !

Enjoy your summer, wherever you are.

Rain, rain go away. (Don't come back another day!)

It's 05.25, and handsome chaps like me should still be asleep!

The temperature when we went to bed at about a half past midnight was still over 35c, but I didn't want to have the A/C on all night just yet. Big mistake! The bedroom was quite cool from having the new unit blasting away for a couple of hours before bedtime, and I (at least) was soon asleep. However, it was a fitful sleep as the room didn't stay cool for long. I awake violently at 04.16, it was raining, and hard enough for me to hear it stotting off the roof!

I panic at the sound of rain, as all I can think of is (a) having to repaint the flat, and (b) what can I do to stop all the furniture getting wet? I was out of bed in a trice. As my hand touched the wall to steady myself, there were sparks! I'm having this problem of static electricity at the moment and I keep giving Freda shocks when I touch her. (It's a good bit of fun, actually, as she's been doing it to me for years!)

Anyway, back to the point of this. Brought all the cushions in from outside, and the line of dry washing, of course. And then went and sat in the shaded bit of the roof terrace, willing the rain to stay light and to stop shortly. (Shades of King Cnut, eh?) The big nasty black clouds which were dispensing the rain were moving north easterly, and I could see little bits of night sky here and there. Then came the lightning. (I'm always reminded of scripture when I see the lightning: "As the lightning flashes from the east to the west; so shall the coming of the Son of Man be!" As quick as that.)

It seemed to ease off, so I came indoors and .... made a cup of tea, of course! It soon started again but after a while of being on and off, it now seems to have stopped altogether.

Now that we are wide awake it's no use going back to bed, so Freda is on with her absolutely favourite task, ironing, and I'm about to try and do something with the roof terrace, as our current guests are expecting breakfast out there at 08.00.





I'm just waiting for it to dry before I get the vacuum out. The dust was blown up just before we retired for the night. The wind has been coming and going as well, lately, but I suppose it is the season for the Khamsseen Winds from the Sudan.

Never mind, it'll be sunny again tomorrow!

Some Mothers do 'ave 'em!

No, not a reference to the old TV programme starring Windsor Davis et al. Just an exclamation really.
I noticed, the other day, that one of the "Referring URLs" (where people are referred from to my blog) was actually a hardcore porn site! You could nave knocked me down with a feather. For a while now, I have been recording some of the search keywords which also direct viewers to the blog, I thought that they might give you a little amusement. So here they are............

Search Keywords for blog

love note for secretary 27/04/2011

wedding winter palace 27/04/2011

pictrure of practical chemistry 20/04/2011

reinforced cement concrete 19/04/2011

strange tank transporter 17/04/2011

Escort girl 14/04/2011

rent a flat in belzoni house Luxor 13/04/2011

luxor color civilian camera 12/04/2011

apartments in sardines 10/04/2011

luxor dish 20/03/2011

mr. ramadan Luxor 2010

I can see the connection in some of them but some of the others are really beyond me. What do you think? There had been one or two, previously, which were utter nonsense, but for the life of me I cannot recall them now, it's so frustrating!!!
One of them (again, I cannot remember now which one) I typed into the search engine and found something like 25000 results. Thinking that most people won't go looking at more than two or three pages; I decided to try and find the reference to "Discover Our Luxor Apartment". Well, after scanning 900 results, I gave up. Who is daft enough to trawl through all those (and obviously more) pages? (If you're going to say "Daft Edward" Don't!!!!)

It be the first of May, me ol' mangleworzel!

Today is Easter Monday, to many of us anyway. To some it's just a bank holiday Monday, or the spring break or whatever.

Here in Egypt it's "Sniffing the Breeze", a custom which has been celebrated since at least 2700BC, apparently. All Egyptians, whether Muslim, Christian or "other" celebrate the renewal which spring brings by having a picnic! The usual fare is salt fish and onions, coloured eggs are also part of the festivities. I cannot back up this claim with references, but I should imagine that most civilisations have some history regarding appeasing the gods at this time of year, and using the symbol of the egg as a sign of new birth is common all over.



Luxor residents tend to congregate wherever there is a small piece of grass on which to spread their blanket. If there's no grass; then any space will suffice! The Corniche will be heaving with mothers and children, some fathers too. The paved area behind the Temple will be jamb-packed. But.....remember what I wrote yesterday about litter and rubbish? Well, tonight and tomorrow will demonstrate just how messy Luxor can get for the poor Amoun men!

Spring being in the air here (it's absolutely gorgeous here, by the way) some of the mad English people residing on the "Side of the Dead" intend to have their own Mayday celebration over there at the Sheherezade Hotel on Sunday! Yes, Maypole, May Queen and the works. I'll just have to get over to see it all. According to my source, it starts at around 4pm and people attending should wear flowers of some description. The Sheherazade is only a ten minute walk from the ferry, I might see you there!

Luxor: the unadulterated truth!

Hello everyone, I'm sorry that I haven't been tapping merrily away and writing witty little articles etc for the blog. But I've been a bit downhearted!

No, it has nothing to do with advancing age and infirmity, nor even with our lifelong shortage of cash.

We have had a dissatisfied guest in our apartment!!!!!!

I never thought that the day would come when we had a review on our advert which would be anything other than full of praise. After all, that's what we aim for; with the decoration, the cleanliness, the comfort, the all-in price, the central position and the high standard of service which we hope to deliver.

Although there was no mention of dissatisfaction from the two (very nice) guests while they were here, we were dismayed when we read their review. Yes, the apartment and service did seem to be what they hoped for and expected, but they weren't prepared for the streets of Luxor, even though they had been here before.

It would seem that because they weren't first timers, we hadn't really explained enough about the town, and our immediate area in particular. So, that is why I am going to try to put that right here and now, any future guests should read this posting which I hope will give a clearer insight into Luxor life.

We are, as it says in our adverts, "right in the middle of the old town". We chose to be here. After about eight weeks, over two years, of scouring Luxor and its environs for the property which had the potential we needed; this was it! Nowhere we looked at appealed to us like this place. You've all seen the pictures of the apartment as it is now, it took us two years from buying it to get it into that "liveable" condition. Here's a picture of our little street "Haret Osman" (Osman Alley). Our building entrance is just out of shot to the right, up the three steps which you can see.



That's Freda with her back to the camera, she doesn't like having her picture taken, as I always manage to get her eyes to look like a vampire!! The street crossing the entrance to our alley is Mustafa Kamel Street (stop that giggling at the back!!!!) which is one of the longest streets in Luxor, and incorporates Gold Street, where all the gold workshops and shops are.

Our guests' complaint was that the area was "poor and filthy" and "depressing". I cannot wholly disagree with them regarding the "poor and filthy" part of their assessment, but neither can I fully agree with the idea that it might be any poorer, or filthier, than the rest of Luxor! Egypt is a "poor" country (in comparison with the home countries of most tourists) and generally filthy all round. The filth is a national disgrace, to the sensibilities of us foreigners, but to my utter amazement; my Egyptian friends don't seem to notice it! I'm sorry to say that filth is the order of the day in Luxor and every other Egyptian town or city which I have visited. Litter and rubbish is dropped wherever the litterer stands, or is thrown out of the nearest window, to fall wherever it may. It is no longer the problem or responsibility of the person who discarded it.

Although there are many "Amoun" men sweeping the streets, only the tourist areas around the nice hotels are kept tolerably clean. On our main street (and all the others in town) the Amoun men brush the dust into little piles and leave it. If the wind doesn't blow it away; it gets bigger every day, as more and more dust is swept to the same spot it eventually becomes a speed hump! The smaller sidestreets, like our alley, don't get any "official" attention at all, if we don't clean them: they stay dirty! We prefer to actually pay a man to clean our street. Mr Rashad comes every day (well, he's supposed to, but then; he is Egyptian!) to sweep the stairs and take the rubbish out of the street. So there you have it regarding the filth.

"Poor" is a relative concept at the best of times, but in a society in which wealth is hardly ever shown (showing off being "haram"); it is even more difficult to quantify or distinguish. Yes, as I have indicated, our street and area do look poor to the unaccustomed eye. Nevertheless, the area is far from being without a great deal of wealth, whichever yardstick you care to use! Two of our nearest neighbours are multi-millionaires, having names which are world famous in Egyptian tourism. Land values in our street are very high in comparison with other parts of Luxor, why do you think that all the other rental properties are further away from the centre?

As for being "depressing"; I cannot feel depressed whilst I'm here in Luxor! I see the blue sky and the bright sun every single day, and also the smiles on the faces of children who have very little, other than the love and security of their extended families around them.

Here's another pic, this one taken outside our alley, the entrance of which is just behind and to the right of the first mini-bus, between the shops.



Actually, now that I've got that off my chest, the review doesn't seem all that bad! I suppose that "Our Luxor" really is in the "Nitty Gritty" area of the town, and all the better for it! I'm just sad that our recent guests didn't see it that way when so many of the others have thoroughly enjoyed the experience of stepping out of the door into the mayhem which actually is: LUXOR!

Busy day and Full Belly!

The Manufacturer!

Freda's lists are ongoing, as you know. Lists of things for me to do, her to do, things to get now and things to get and do if and when the money becomes available. Well, we've conquered the A/C problems for the moment, but the new one in our bedroom is rather unsightly on the outside.

Solution? Get Edward the carpenter to box it in with some "Islamic" patterned board stuff (like pretend meshrabeya). That's been my job for most of the day today, but it isn't finished yet. When it is, I'll let you see the pictures I've taken as I have been going along.

Poorly balloon!

I'd actually forgotten that I'd snapped these the other day, until I was loading some other pictures onto the laptop. The balloon looks as if it is showing its occupants the Avenue of Sphinxes, from very close up!

Then, the strangest of things happened.................

It must have landed actually on the Avenue, I cannot think of where else it could possibly be!

The Main Event!

The exciting part of today was to come this evening. KV Explorer (of TripAdvisor fame) had invited Freda and I to join himself and his wife, and Suziesooze (of the same ilk) and her Mam for an evening celebratory meal at the cafe at Carter's House, over on the Side of the Dead!

It was Mrs KV's birthday, and KV certainly pushed the boat out. I was delighted to see an old friend there, the manager used to be at the New Winter Palace and had always been very welcoming and attentive when we used to either stay there or when we used to go and tourist watch when we first had our own property here. Needless to say (as most Egyptians do) he remembered me straight away, very gratifying!

There were three tables set together, with balloons draped around the four stout pillars surrounding the tables. Mrs KV was very excited, especially as we were the very first diners to book an evening meal at this very special venue. Can you imagine it? The very house where the famous Howard Carter, the discoverer of the tomb and fabulous treasures of Tutankhamun, the boy king. And no-one on earth has had this privilege before us, and for her birthday celebration!

The food was as you might expect food to be which has been prepared by the chefs of the Luxor Winter Palace, and the service was also what you might expect from one of the finest hotels in Egypt. The first course was a platter of four mezzes each, a beautiful creamy tahina, some aubergine with shredded carrot, Baladi salad, and some cucumber in yogurt, all with different dressings. With them came baskets of four different breads, and a small serving each of warm spring rolls. Utterly enchanting!

The main course was fish in a mouthwatering butter sauce, with a picturesque rice pyramid and all the trimmings.

The pudding was a gorgeous concoction of sorbets and coulis with candied stuff and sliced apple, magnificent!

The crowning glory of the evening, though, was the jaw-dropping birthday cake, not a mixture of different gateaux from Twinkies, oh no! It was a pastry chef's masterpiece from the head pastry chef at the OWP.

Yes, I'm sorry to have to tell you that they are indeed fresh strawberries all around the cake, and yes also that the statue of King Tut is made entirely of chocolate. We all had a substantial slice of cake, but there was still enough left to feed an army. Here's my slice, I had to manfully struggle to get it down!

Seeing as it's my birthday next week, I shared Mrs KV's party (and all at KV's expense!). As well as this treat, he also brought me a present of a box of assorted screws, from tiny lickle baby ones to BIG NASTY DADDY ONES! Plus, a mini Surform. We both appreciate tools, but KV's birthday girl doesn't share our passion, so I chose the following song for her birthday............

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QTcENEx7_8&feature=related

Have a listen, I hope you'll enjoy it.

Just before I go: I should tell you a quickie! When people find my blog, it tells me where they found it. Today, some one typed into their search box "luxor color civilian camera", and found this blog! Queer, or what? Goodnight.

Our Luxor Flat Improvements 1st April 2011

It seems that the people who look at my blog are rather peculiar!

I'll tell you what I mean: Here we are the 1st of April 2011, and Egypt has just come through an exciting and troublesome time. The Egyptians have been (some would say "always have been and always will be") revolting! BabaMu, the President for 30 years has finally gone, although many still look upon him as a national "father figure", he has been ousted in an overwhelmingly peaceful uprising.

Those of us who have been here throughout the period have been undoubtedly privileged to see history in the making, and it's not all over yet! There are still the elections for the new parliament, and the new president, to come. The world is waiting to see what the people of Egypt will decide!

So what are my readers most interested in reading on my blog? That's right, you got it first time, the "2009 Refurbishment at Our Luxor Guest Apartment".

I have to admit that I find it a bit strange that work we did over 18 months ago can be found more interesting than events which will probably change the lives of 80 odd million Egyptians! But who am I to judge? Ever mindful of my readers demands, I thought that I'd better let you know that we haven't been standing about since October 2009. In fact, we are, at this very minute, having a major shake-up of our A/C systems. See if you can "Spot the Difference" in these two pictures.

They're before and after! Ever since we bought the A/C for the guest livingroom, it hasn't been right, when the temperature is below about 44/45 degrees, it seems to work admirably, but once it got HOT, it didn't want to know. We've had Ahmed, Shaeb, Ayman and "Old Uncle Mohamed And All" out to see to it! (The "Old Uncle Mohamed And All" bit will only mean anything to the British readers, I keep getting wrong for doing this, but old habits die hard.) And, they all charge me enough to buy several new ones, but fail to get to grips with the problem!

At last, I've been introduced to a chap who, I think, actually knows what he's doing, and not just bluffing his way to con money out of unsuspecting foreigners.

The pic above shows the empty bracket where the outside unit of the offending item used to stand. It's now GONE! As has the pretty "high wall" fan unit which was pictured on the first photo above.

Below is the first shot of the "Man's Fan Unit" which Mustafa (our new A/C engineer), has decided should be mounted further down the wall, away from the heat which comes from the ceiling.

The outside pipework is s bit of a disappointment, however. Mustafa has a perfectly good, and quite new, pipe bender, which he used to make the tight bend where the pipes come out of the wall inside the livingroom and into the fan unit. Naturally (how stupid am I after all this time?) I thought that the bends which would have to be made to negotiate the corners etc outside would be just as neat. But, I had to have a cup of tea, so left Mustafa and his boy for about 10 minutes, and came back to this!

The raggy holes; I expected. The dirty handmarks which won't wash off; I expected. What I didn't expect was having to spend the next week or so boxing -in a load of unsightly pipework!

Never mind, eh? The sun still shines every day, and the rain only comes once a year! I hope our current guests from Australia won't be put out by me hammering and drilling during the night, when it's cooler, hehe!

We're always on the lookout for articles of furniture or fabrics which might help us to improve or renovate our guest apartment. Of late we've replaced curtains in the livingroom, bedroom and hall, we've fitted blackout curtains on the balcony, for when the summer sun comes around. We've improved the lighting in the bedroom and bathroom by fitting lovely chandeliers and also provided some pretty new table lamps in the bedroom and livingroom. We've painted throughout the apartment, changing some colours for a more vibrant effect, we think it's an improvement and we hope you'll agree.

Here's my new home-made pastiche of pictures, just to let you see what you get in the way of style and comfort at "Our Luxor"! It takes a while to load, so just click play and then pause and give it a few minutes. Enjoy!

Fire in Luxor's Savoy Bazaar! Yes, really!

We had a bit of excitement this morning!

As we were preparing breakfast for our current guest, and laying the table on the roof terrace, we saw some balloons had drifted over to our side of the river. They aren't supposed to come over here, but when the wind is in the right (or wrong) direction, it must be quite a job not to just "go" with it. Anyway, one of them carried on going down, and down, and down, until I was convinced that it must either be in the river, or landed somewhere about the Karnak St area, and then; it began to deflate!

It was then that I noticed the smoke. There was some to the left of my field of vision, and more to the right. This isn't unusual, as many Luxor folk burn their rubbish to save them the troublesome burden of carrying it a hundred yards or so to a skip (dumpster, for the Yanks), but the column of smoke to the right was a fair bit denser and blacker and higher than the other. It was also drifting towards the balloons. I thought to myself that I wouldn't like to get caught up in that, it wouldn't do your lungs much good, and that's for sure.

The next time I looked over at the larger column of smoke, it had turned to grey!



"Ahh," I thought " that's a fire, with water being poured onto it!"
I was right, as well! Apparently, two shops in the Savoy Bazaar went up in flames. We walked through there tonight and the whole place is absolutely stinking of smoke and dirty water. Horrible!

The only consolation being that no-one was hurt, as it was only around 07.00, and there were no shops open yet. As if that wasn't bad enough, in these straitened times, I see that the electricity supply must have been damaged, and all the shops (except the very end ones) were in darkness and closed tonight.

Apology

I was a bit ashamed about the misleading headings to my last two posts, in fact, I was riven by guilt as I remembered the tale of the "Boy Who Cried Wolf".

Well here we are on a different day, but this time we actually DID come across a REAL DEMONSTRATION!

No pictures, obviously. You do remember who's writing this blog, don't you? We were riding on the local 'bus, on our way to Tutti Frutti, when we saw this small demonstration coming down Sharia Mahatta (Station Street).

We were actually on the roundabout, where Station St meets Karnak St, before I saw it out of the corner of my eye. There were around 50 or 60 people, some of them children, and those at the front were carrying an oblong banner which was maybe 20 feet long. Of course, the writing was in Arabic (which might as well have been Double Dutch for all it meant to me) but near either end of the banner there was a portrait of someone. They both were of our beloved Governor Samir Farag. Then I noticed that each picture had a large red cross struck diagonally right across it!

The camera was in my pocket, ready for exactly this kind of opportunity, but as you might expect, by the time I thought about getting it out we were approaching the traffic lights beyond McDonald's! Another missed opportunity, the story of my reporting life!!!!!

More Evictions by Luxor Council.

Don't you just love sensationalist headlines?

But, I wouldn't tell you fibs, Dear Reader, the Amoun Men are out and about, evicting the poor Dickie birds from the trees on the Corniche!

Don't forget to click on the pictures if you want to enlarge them, twice to make them giant size!



Yes, here we are at the beginning of spring, and they're stripping the leaves from the trees as if it were autumn. The men have long sticks, with which they bash the foliage, and thus loosen all the leaves.


The problem, as far as the ornithologists are concerned, is that all these trees are inhabited by hundreds of little birdies. At sundown you can see them swooping low over the buildings and disappearing into these very trees. All along the Corniche, past the Temple and the Winter Palace, their twittering is very loud for quite some time, as the sun dips below the Western Mountains. Here's a longer shot of the bloke in the tree. Just think, if this were England; he'd have to have a tree climbing licence and £1000 worth of safety gear. Ha! Here he's wearing protective ship ships. (Flip Flops to the ignorant among you.)




Coffee and Tea, again!

We were at the Etap again, this time to see the fresh tourists arrive. Not many for the Etap this week, I'm afraid. Nevertheless, there were a good number of coaches came past from the airport.

We were told earlier in the week, that the Nile Palace was almost back to where it should be, occupancy wise, so with a decent number of newcomers today; things aren't wholly doom and gloom.

We came around the side of the Etap to have a look at the progress with the new frontage. It's coming on, as you can see.

A Different Subject?

While we were at the Sonesta, the other night, I took the following snap. I thought it looked quite nice, and it's of the handbasins in the Gents! What do you think?



I'm just coming to the end now, and just timed it nicely! We had Ahmed the caleche man take us to Karnak for some Hawawshi and Macarona tonight. It's gorgeous, I'll have to remember to photograph it next time. So now, we are having our pudding; strawberry Swiss roll and Birds custard. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

Yet More Demonstrations in Luxor?

Youths with “Smiting Sticks” demonstrate outside of the Luxor Governorate Offices!

Walking along the Corniche, I came across this very intimidating scene.

I was worried about getting a picture, as you can never tell what an ugly crowd might do next, and these were ugly b*****s, I can tell you! Nonetheless, as an ever intrepid blogger couldn't let this go by without telling his faithful readers, I stuck my neck out, you can call me John Simpson in future, if you like.

Of course, as most of you will know, these are the offices of the Luxor Governor, Samir Farag. There has been an army presence there since almost the beginning of the Revolution, and many government buildings suffered damage from gangs not unlike this one which I managed to sneak a photo of today.

Let’s hope that no unheeding tourist gets in their way, I was certainly glad to reach the relevant safety of the Etap Hotel, just next door. I wonder if they’re keeping their guests indoors during this time of unease and possible danger?

Some overdue happiness in Luxor

Was that post above filched from one of the big TV companies, or one of the broadsheet newspapers?

Actually, it wasn’t, although it would have been worthy of them, I’m sure. Just to demonstrate how the camera (with a little help from a sympathetic reporter) can tell whopping great lies, I leaped into action when I saw this group coming past the front of the Etap while Freda and I were having our usual tea and coffee. The first pic I got was my usual standard, the sun being behind the subject. So, I ran (yes, me running!!!) along past the procession, and the soldiers standing guard outside of Samir’s office, who thought it a great laugh to see this old gadgey running!

It wasn’t until I got just past them, that I had the idea! Wouldn't it be a good shot if I could cross the road and get the offices of the Governor in the background? What story could I invent around such a shot? (Would the BBC buy it???? No.)

Of course, those of you who are frequent visitors to Luxor will know, that very little is actually what it seems. This wasn’t a demonstration at all, it was the vanguard of a Caleche Man’s Wedding Procession, and here is the beautiful bride with her groom, just to prove it!


The procession was split into two groups, separated by a hundred yards or so. There were at least 100 caleches parading along the Corniche.

The noise of the music was, as usual, deafening, and it was added to by many of the women involved warbling their zagareet, like the young girl standing on this caleche.


The only two things which were the same as the demonstrations, which we saw three of in our street during the revolution, were the young men with sticks and the good humoured atmosphere of the whole thing!

The moral of the story being, don't believe everything you see on the telly, or in the papers!

Goodnight.

At Her Majesty's Pleasure?

Hello again!

I haven’t written anything over the past few days because there’s really been nothing to report on. It’s just like I imagine it would be if we lived on the “peaceful” West Bank, or, as the Boss calls it “The Side Of The Dead”, only without the mosquitoes, haha.

“She Who Must Be Obeyed” was out of bed early the other morning, and saw the balloons. They came across the river (naughty, naughty) and past our house, so she took some pics of them as they sailed on by. (They’re probably better than mine, so I’d better say nowt!)

The first one shows just how low they sometimes go, almost skimming the rooftops, I would say!


The next one is one of the bigger balloons currently flying.

Today though, we had an appointment with Her Majesty's Representative! The Vice Consul was visiting Luxor to follow up on his visit the other month. He’s a brave man, coming back into the “lion’s den”!

There were quite a few turned up, but I suspect that some were there chiefly for Mr Gaddis’s (he’s the Honorary British Consul in Luxor) now famous, ham sandwiches. Mr Gaddis has the Gaddis Hotel, in the south end of town. Being a Christian, he doesn’t have the restrictions which an hotel with Muslim staff would have, so his restaurant has a “Pork Menu”, very novel in these parts, I can tell you!

Anyway, the poor Honorary bloke got a fair beating up over Luxor remaining on the “Places to Avoid” list of Her Majesty's Government for so long. That part of the proceedings went on for a bit too long, with various people going off topic altogether, and others; talking among themselves, which I thought the height of bad manners! There was one bloke, sitting behind me, with a laptop on his knee, and listening to music on it! When I finally could stand it no more, I asked him to turn it down as I was struggling to hear the conversation. He did, but then someone else complained to him as well, so he eventually put on his headphones. Why was he there, I wonder?

The discussion was fairly wide-ranging and non-committal, including ways in which consular staff could get in touch with the ex-pats, the fact that they didn’t answer emails efficiently, what criteria they used to determine the “safety” of tourists, what they could do about exorbitant charges from private landlords (???), and several other silly points.

After the main show was over, and people split into their little cliques, I collared Shareen (the felucca owning lady, who also does the disgusting “ear candle” thing!) and asked her who several people were. To my utter astonishment, she didn’t know who some of them were! I thought that she knew, and was known by, everyone in Luxor! There were one or two other tourist property owners there, so we kept a bit of a low profile.

I thanked the Vice Consul for his efforts and had a chat with Mr Gaddis, before we made our way out, and into the warmth of a lovely March afternoon in Luxor. Aren’t you jealous, Dear Reader?

Arriving at Tutti Frutti, we ordered our usual teas, with the tea-bag on the outside, and proceeded to give Christine the “low-down” from the meeting. We were soon joined by another two renegades from the Gaddis, and the chatter went on for a while, as you might imagine. As the other two were preparing to leave; two tourist customers arrived. It being a small world, they hailed from Marsden, now part of South Shields where Christine comes from and a twenty minute drive from Windy Nook, where, of course we belong! Strange?

The Boss and I have just demolished a lovely cottage pie which she slaved over, and I think we may be going to watch another episode of “Jeeves and Wooster”, starring the incomparable Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie!

Invasion of Luxor by highly trained Syrian Special Forces!!!!!

I thought that I should let you all know about this under reported phenomenon. After the "Peaceful Revolution" we seem to be experiencing the "Colonisation by Trade"! It only concerns those of you who will be here in Luxor before 18th March, as I hope the Syrian traders will have been vanquished by then. Here's a pic of the entrance to their encampment, see: they are even importuning mothers with children into their lair! Will they enslave them?

The villains have camped on the spare ground next to the kiddies amusement park on Medina Street, and are persuading the women of Luxor into becoming tantalising seductresses by selling them saucy negligees in various styles and colours. It makes you wonder what their own Syrian women are really like???

They are also enticing the men of Luxor away from their traditional modes of dress, these suits with shirts and ties, will make them virtually indistinguishable from western business men, will these Syrian Devils stop at nothing?

Look, they even have western style food processing equipment, I can hardly believe my eyes!



We came across two of these shifty interlopers, handing out what they termed "free samples". Of course, we know that there is no such thing as a "free lunch" or even a "free sample", so, in the name of Freedom and of the New Egypt, we offered ourselves as guinea pigs for these foreign so-called "delicacies". We needed to establish whether they were indeed laced with some sort of stupefying agent. (The Boss murmured something about it not being detectable in my case.)

I'm not sure what their strategy is supposed to be, but with quality products such as these decorative beaded covers and large wall hangings, they are certainly giving the stuff in the souks of Luxor a real showing up! It's as well that I had my concealed camera with me, or you and the "proper authorities" would never have known!


The fact that these little examples of decadent frivolity look green instead of their alluring golden colour, is down to my camera being hidden inside my green pullover, and nothing at all to do with my picture taking skills, and if you dare to mention my colour blindness; I'll have the thought police onto you!

I strongly suggest that you don't read this secret report, as it may be held against you, if and when the counter revolution takes place. Just pretend that it's a Syrian Market, selling beautiful items which are well made and which would be very difficult and expensive to find in most countries.

Remember, "Loose Lips Sink Ships". Blue Leader signing off!

p.s. Don't forget to click on the pictures to make them more easily inspected for Further evidence, Shhhhhhh!

Excitement at Our Luxor!

Yes folks, what a riveting time we had this morning. We were expecting a (quite famous) visitor! I had to vacuum the roof terrace (after serving our current guest's breakfast) and make myself presentable (no easy task, as you know) and then the Boss was yelling at me over the noise of the vacuum, "ANSWER THE DOOR, WILL YOU!!!!"
I legged it down the dancers (why are stairs "dancers") to luckily find that I did actually have my keys in my pocket, for a change, and didn't have to go all the way back up.
Our visitor had just returned from a trip to England, and was laden with post from home, a months worth of magazine reading for the Boss, and three large packets of Waitrose cheap ginger snaps for me. (They are truly delicious, by the way.)
As soon as I saw the name "Waitrose" my memory was cast back some 15 or even 20 years, when I was an active member of the proud "Morris Cowley and Oxford Club". We started off with a Morris Cowley: 1200 cc, no heater, and 18 miles to the gallon! It was absolute purgatory travelling up and down to Arnold, near Nottingham, during the winter to visit the in-laws. The kids were wrapped up in blankets lying across the back seat, asleep, and no seatbelts!!! Is that child abuse, or what? When we later on moved up market to a 1955 Morris Oxford, I organised a "Round Britain Rally" where a convoy of Series 2 and 3 Oxfords and Cowleys travelled up the East side of the country, as far as Melrose in the Borders, (where we stayed in the delightful Burt's Inn, while some poor b***ers slept in their cars) and then came back down the West side. I cannot now remember how many cars turned out, but we made quite a showing, strung out along the M6! We met several other members for the first time, and one of them was a manager of a White Rouse store somewhere in the Deep South! I think it wasn't until the second day that I realised that what he was actually saying was "Waitrose" a name which I hadn't heard before. His name was Duncan Leece, Club Treasurer, and he and his wife had a four-poster bed at home. Happy days!
I digress (for a change), anyway, the gingers are a real treat.
Actually our visitor was even more welcome than the biscuits! We were over the moon to welcome back ............Ruby Tuesday! But she wouldn't say where she came from!!!!!

First there is a mountain, then.........

That's right, you're showing your age if you know the next line! It is (for the uninitiated) "there is no mountain, then there is" courtesy of our old pal, Donovan!




That's exactly what has happened here, or to adapt an even older song "Yes, we have no.... mountains". The Boss and I have been wondering over the past few days why we have no mountain illumination. I think that it's a case of the "Egyptian Way" (i.e. they've stopped working, so that's it!) and she thinks that they haven't paid the electricity bill. I suppose time will tell. Here's a pic of the lack of lights.



I'm constantly puzzled by Egypt and the Egyptians, they are a conundrum! I really believe that there is, indeed, the "Egyptian Way" and it shows itself in a million different situations.

Like, for instance; traffic lights. I remember seeing them, all over I suppose, during the years when I was a tourist. Only problem being that they didn't work, and looked as if they hadn't for years! Then, along came a new generation of traffic lights, and "zebra" type pedestrian crossings. I'm still not au fait with the traffic light procedure, who stops and who goes through on red? It's a bit of a minefield for pedestrians. (But then, they shouldn't mess with children, should they?) Oh, it's not them, no? Ahhh, pediatricians, that's it! never mind, back to Luxor........... The new traffic lights at the Iberotel roundabout have now been off for weeks, and it looks like they've been abandoned to the Egyptian Way! As for the zebras, they are only there to give the drivers some sport. If you notice, the warning signs on the road, to "slow down" and "stop" are written in English!!!! Even if the Luxor drivers were told that the pedestrian has the "right of way", they'd still adopt the "Egyptian Way" and try to knock the unsuspecting tourist down.


I'm currently re-reading Sophia Poole's book "The Englishwoman in Egypt" of 1844. It is fascinating, very much a ladies version of Edward Lanes "Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptian" from 1836. Of course, it would be, as they were brother and sister and Edward "kept her right" so to speak, while she was writing it. The book is written as a series of letters to a friend, and I've just finished letter 8, which ends with the words...."and here my eyes were opened to a new manner of accounting for the generally wretched appearance of the children of this country. Their parents put anything and everything that is eatable into their mouths, without the slightest regard to its being wholesome or otherwise. How then can they be strong or healthy?"

Then, as we ventured out this afternoon, I saw this and laughed!



There are 88 boxes of crisps (known as chips here), and some more stacked sideways under the "M" of the shop name. The pasting table in the foreground gets piled with individual wrapped pieces of cake (like Twinkies, etc.) and sweets and chocolate. Just the shop for those Egyptian mothers of yore, eh?


A few yards, sorry, metres farther down the street, I came across this "blast from the past".



For the uninitiated (again), it's a Bedford, from around 1960 ish. I worked on these as a boy, engine jobs made your ribs ache for days! I remember the "tin can" cylinder liners being very tricky, as they could easily buckle if you didn't get them dead straight! I apologise again for the poor quality of the picture. My mate Big Al would be drooling over these wagons out here!


With old things on my mind, (yes I'm sitting looking at the Boss across the room!) I should tell you about the hazards (about which I've just learned myself) of eating things that are "out of date". As many of you know, I like ginger! McVities Jamaica Ginger Cake, cheap and nasty ginger snaps, ginger puddings, chocolate ginger and crystallised ginger. The latter being something I have a love/hate relationship with, therefore it sometimes lies around for quite some time, without being finished off. Our last guest, brave Melanie, brought us some handmade chocs as a late Christmas present, among them was a chocolate ginger. As it melted in my mouth and the ginger caught on the back of my throat; my passion for the crystallised variety was................. re-awakened!

Now then, where is it? I can buy some Cadburys Dairy Milk to go with it, and I'll be transported to heaven! Of course the Boss knew where it was straight away. I enjoyed just a few pieces each night, wallowing in the pleasure which only connoisseurs really appreciate! Then, last week, the sticky ginger goo lifted an old amalgam filling right out of one of my molars! I couldn't believe it, I had to waste a mouthful of Cadburys and ginger! It's fixed now, by Dr. Farid (Shawky that is, on Cleopatra Street). But he said that I shouldn't eat any more of that "candy" (Philistine!) as an ordinary filling might come away again. I think he was really just trying to get me to have the 500le crown, actually.

When I got home, I checked the packet of ginger, just to see how much I might have to waste. The "use by" date was August 2007! I thought it had been a bit hard on first starting to chew, but it soon became quite alright. Never mind, I bravely threw away the remaining few pieces, and grabbed the newer bag, the use by date on this one is 2009, so it should be fine!!!! I don't recall how long it's been open though?