Back home.

Well that was an adventure, to say the least!

Our original plan was to loaf about Aswan today, and take the teatime train back home to Luxor. However, that would have entailed leaving the Zekrayaat at 07.00 and being in Aswan all day without ready access to a clean toilet and shower facilities, not something which we really fancied! So, we asked to have our train tickets changed to last night, and caught the 19.30 from Aswan which got us home by about 23.00. (Too late to clart on with the blog, I'm afraid!)

Here we are though, another day and raring to go; I've titled all the photographs and now we're getting down to the Nitty Gritty.

After mooring for the night just south of Kom Ombo, we sailed on to Daraw in order to visit the Camel Market there. Abdullah had promised me something I would like, as a means of transport! We had no idea what he was on about, but while we were watching the crew tie up to the walls etc on the bank; we could'nt help but notice the Tuk-Tuks flying backwards and forwards along the road. Sure enough that was our surprise!

All I can say about these queer little contraptions is "I WANT ONE!!!!!"

The Camel Market is a fair distance away from the river, so we were quite a while on our Tuk-Tuk, weaving in and out of the rest of the traffic and scaring the living daylights out of anyone who was foolish enough to get in our way. It was absolutely magic! Between the main town and the market, the road snaked through the fields, where I saw the "olde world" way of ploughing:


I was surprised to see bales of hay, apparently just lying in the street! I later realised that this was for the animals which were "corralled" behind the walls all along the market's approach road. Thursday isn't actually camel selling day, it seemed to be more goats, sheep and donkeys. Nevertheless, there were camels aplenty for photographing. Not exactly pretty, more intriguing, wouldn't you agree?



Their camel's eyebrows reminded Freda of our long departed Chancellor of the Exchequer; Dennis Healey!

The bargaining for the goats etc got quite intense on occasion. I thought that one bloke was going to lose his temper when his "opponent" (who was seated while he himself was on his hunkers [haunches]) grabbed the sleeve of his galabaya to stop him getting up and leaving. They were shouting at each other very viciously! I walked on and snapped this next one where it was a little more civilised.


Abdullah then led us out of the actual market area, just a minute up the road, to have a look at the place where they check the animals for disease etc before they are put up for sale. A truck was being loaded with camels for their onward journey. It was a lovely 6-legged Merc Actros.


This next pic reminds me of making sure that the "Wrinklies" were safely belted in for their coach excursion to Scarborough!!!! Only we weren't allowed to hit them with big sticks when they wouldn't sit down!


I thoroughly enjoyed the journey back to the boat, thought I'd snap this well loaded pick-up truck for you on the way!


Back on board, we set about our arduous tasks of eating, snoozing, reading and chatting, until we moored on the west bank so that our Dutch companions could have a stroll through one of the local villages with Abdullah. Freda and I carried on with our aforementioned tasks by ourselves, very difficult work in the afternoon heat!
We hadn't been there long when the local "likely lads" arrived and spread their wares out on the small riverside beach next to our dahabiya.


There were about six or seven such displays along the short stretch of sand, all with the same sort of handicrafts on show. The boys, while they awaited our companions return, decided to have a swim and play in the cool water:

After a long wait (but after a lot of fun as well) the Dutch didn't buy!

From there, we sailed on up to the very picturesque Aswan Bridge, where we moored for the night.


It was still light, so the Dutch couple went for a walk along the banks, among the lush palms and trees etc interspersed by stretches of sand dune. It was idyllic. Freda and I opted to stay aboard and ordered tea in the shade on the sundeck, that was more to our idea of idyllic! The young men, who made up the crew, decided to play football on the sandy area just off from the boat. (They must be slightly "touched" I think!) After our tea, we packed up and tidied the suite so that we could take a few pictures before we left.




For info on this boat and her sister ship the "Orient" copy and paste the following link:

http://www.nile-dahabiya.com/

Six o'clock came around too soon, and we said our farewells to the crew and boarded the tug for our lift to the side of the bridge and our waiting tranport to the railway station in Aswan.
I snatched a last quick photo of the dahabiya as we left her behind with mixed emotions! (Cue: Frank Sinatra, "It's so nice, to go travelling, but it's oh, so nice to come home!"


The journy to the station was uneventful, although I couldn't remember travelling along that particular road, which took us into Aswan, before. There were some very picturesque outlying villages, perched on the hillsides.

I thought that the carriage of the train was going to be at Abu Simbel, it seemed to be miles along the platform! We had dinner on the train, which consisted of a half chicken (each) mashed potato and roast potato, along with a bit of salad (uggh) a bun, some cheese, a piece of basboosa (cake soaked in golden syrup) and a bottle of water. What I ate was absolutely delicious, and all for 45le each.
The last picture of the trip is of the first class carriage as we left it at Luxor station.

Zakrayaat means "Old Memories" and that is what we had today!

As I said in the last entry, we visited the Temple at Kom Ombo. What I didn't tell you, was that we bumped into an old friend there.

As we entered the Temple, we were separated and got a bit mixed in with at least one other group. It was then that I seemed to recognise the face of one of the ladies, but I wasn't sure. Later on during our tour of the Temple both Freda and I, together, saw her again and we both thought that it might be the same lady. Eventually, I had to go up to her and ask outright. "Excuse me, are you Nahla?" Just as I asked her, I noticed her name badge which read (of course) NAHLA.

Nahla, was our guide on our very first visit to Egypt in 1997. It was a delight to see her again after all these years.

Here she is, complete with her Kuoni badge and board.


Goodnight.

Day Three of our latest Nile Exploration.

Good evening and welcome. (I just love pinching other people's catchphrases!) Here's one specially for my old Mother at home in Windy Nook, "Can you hear me Mother?" We don't telephone very often, as we are both going deaf, but she is in the modern age and consults her laptop regularly.
Anyway, back to our day on the Nile. This morning, Abdullah took us ashore to view the Temple of Horemheb and the adjacent tombs of Tom Dick and Harry. Very interesting, I'm sure! Before we went, we had our breakfast on the sundeck. While we sat there Freda pointed out a cat sized creature strolling along the footpath. It had a long fat tail, like a cat, but short legs and a rather pointed face. Of course, as usual, I hadn't brought the camera, and by the time I retrieved it from our suite the beast had disappeared out of range. If you know what it might have been I'd be pleased to know. Abdullah the guide said that it must have been some sort of rat!
We started off wandering along the rat path in some lovely soft deep sand, it reminded us of our summer holidays spent at Seahouses with the children. There were many footprints on the way. Lots of birds, some which Abdullah described as "wolf" prints (but we all know that many Egyptians call the small desert foxes wolves) and also a track which had obviously been made by a unicycle:


Daft Abdullah said it was the track of a scarab beetle, but what does he know????

It was an interesting walk, I've got to say. As well as clambering about in the tombs and rocks we came across some different things; like the empty lightbulb boxes!
Being of the normal consciencsous type, the man in charge of replacing the bulbs which illuminate the antiquities hereabouts, just drops the boxes wherever he happens to be! (I think he must be a regular visitor at Dr Al Malach's surgery downstairs!!!! Abdullah showed us where the ancient sailors had made themselves a tying up place for their boats and ships:



I was quite taken by the coloured ceilings in some of the tombs:


Abdullah was also explicit in his instructions to NOT put our hands in or near any cracks or crevises in the rocks, we couldn't know what was lurking in them! So, when we had to make our way up this gully in the following picture; he threw a stone up it first. He actually looked quite concerned!


These monuments are situated in what Abdullah described as "The biggest sandstone quarry in the world." I'm not sure whether that is technically true, but it did seem to carry on for a long long way. Just past where I took this next picture from, there is a sign forbidding further exploring.


The David Attenborough in me led me to also snap this queer little six winged creature:



We travelled under sail for quite a while during our onward journey to Kom Ombo. This meant that other boats were passing us, as there wasn't a great deal of wind. One such boat was the Abercrombie and Kent dahabiya. It is very large! In fact, it has TWO tugs to tow it along when the wind drops, here it is:



I'm sure you will agree that this vessel bears more of a resemblance to a large motor driven cruiser than to a dahabiya!

We visited Kom Ombo Temple along with the tourists from several other cruise boats, it was quite busy. In fact, Kom Ombo was very busy! Whilst we were moored there, there were about 30 cruise boats visited, including those which were there when we arrived and those which arrived before we left.
As usual, Abdullah was excellent; showing us things on the walls which we had not seen before, even though we've been there about 6 or 7 times. He's also very willing to please.

Day Two on the Zekrayaat. (Old Memories)

Well, here we are again, Shipmates!

We visited Edfu Temple this morning, and although we've been there many times our guide Abdullah showed us some different aspects and explained some hieroglyphs to us that were fascinating in themselves. Our Dutch companions stayed on at the Temple for an extra hour while we came back to the boat and had some well earned tea!

We set sail as soon as they had returned, spent some time reading under the shade on the sundeck and generally lazed about until lunch was served at 12.30.


It included some pasta stuff (which I left alone, of course) some egg salad a large dish of cheese toasted onto mashed potato, and was finished off with another dish with aubergine and tomato. Pudding was a dish of fresh peaches, lovely!

We sailed on up the river, waving at the envious passengers on the sundecks of the bigger "factory" vessels as they steamed past. One, named the "Armada" (full of Spaniards, no doubt) nearly choked us with the smoke she was belching out, I think a set of injectors and a pump calibration wouldn't have gone far amiss! After a good while we slowed to a stop, and the poor crew had to pull on ropes and push with poles (no, not "Poles") to get us into the side. I felt like Captain Pugwash as I watched them struggling, even the poor guide Abdullah got stuck in. It was here that we lost our Dutch friends for a while. They were having an afternoon stroll with the guide, only for about 4 or 5 kilometres. We gave it a miss, as we are on holiday not at a forced labour camp! We spent the afternoon chatting, reading, sleeping and waving at lots of tourists on the sundecks of the big cruisers as they plowed past. We are still learning that hurrying is not the way here in Egypt, but sailing on a dahabiya is one of our best lessons yet!

I should tell you something about the dahabiya, shouldn't I? For a start, the word means "The Golden One", and it's lovely! It has four twin cabins and two suites with large beds and private quarter-decks at the stern of the boat. You guessed it; we have a suite! As the late great Tommy Trinder would have said, "You lucky people!" And, we certainly are. Neither of us can imagine what our fathers would have thought of us sailing up the Nile in this sort of luxury and style. Here are some of the Egyptian antiques aboard:





Each cabin is air conditioned, and with nothing but the best! You know that I am slowly becoming an expert on A/C, don't you? Well, these are brand new Sharp split units, which I have been assured by my friends in the A/C community, are the very best.

We were moored for quite a while before the others caught us up at Gebel El Silsila, where we are overnighting. They had had a great walk and had seen some stone-age rock drawings as well as some pharaonic stuff.

Here's a picture of where we are actually moored.


Freda is pestering me to make some tea, it's not that I want some, you understand, but I have to keep her sweet or I'll get no more Jelly Babies!
Goodnight.

Did you guess?

Hi, from Edfu!

The alarm was set for 07.00 this morning. I need a good amount of time to get turned around in the mornings, hate to be rushed. Everything was done and ready for us to toodle down the stairs at 08.55, ready to be picked up at 09.00. Yes, I had remembered to water the plants and turn of the water and the water pump. We were all set to go and the Djed Egypt mini-bus was bang on time.

As we left Luxor, I asked the rep if there were no more people to pick up, "No, only you two." came his answer. I could hardly believe it, we were going to have a whole Dahabiya to ourselves for the next four days!!!!! I'm pleased to say, however, that we weren't going to be by ourselves, when we boarded the boat at Esna, we were soon joined by a charming Dutch couple. (One thing I found quite strange, but typically Egyptian, was that they had also been brought from Luxor that very morning, but in a different mini-bus!)

The crew wasted no time in getting underway. At first, we were towed by our ever present tugboat (on a long towrope, so there was no disturbance to us "Olde World" travellers) but after a short while the gigantic lateen sails were unfurled, the rope dropped, and we were under the silent wind power!

We lunched on deck at 12.30, very tasty tuna pizza, with baladi salad (yuk, rabbit food) Spaghetti with tomato and a large bowl of french fries. This was followed by a plate full of lovely sweet bananas. As usual, I forgot to take a picture!

"We will go ashore at El Kab at three o'clock" trumpeted the English speaking guide, Abdullah, "I will give you warning about fifteen minutes before." I, of course, went to bed. There he was, at 2.45 knocking on the door and waking good sleeping folk! It was about 3.25 before we moored up and went ashore. Then we had a quite long walk to the tombs, we had to cross the railway track and the main north/south highway before we got to the site. The tombs were interesting, for tombs. And the guide was very good' explaining the various hieroglyphs etc. On our walk there and back we passed a large mudbrick enclosure wall, it seemed to be about 15 feet or so thick. Abdullah explained to us that this is where the Pharaoh stored the foodstuffs during the seven years of plenty, before the seven years of famine, as the bible story goes. Some fascinating bits and pieces, I've got to admit.



By the time we were back onboard, it was teatime; English tea and chocolate cake on the sundeck very nice and most welcome. Another little sleep was then the order of the day, along with sorting things out in the cabin, before dinner (again on the sundeck) at 8pm.


Dinner consisted of beef, rice, okra and chick-pea rabbit food. It was very tasty also, but I preferred the kanafa which was served up for pudding!

I'd better go now, as we have our tea and biscuits to get before the power goes off in a few minutes. I'll speak to you again tomorrow.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh!

Now then!

We are dropping out of sight for a few days. No-one else, Dear Reader, knows to where! But if you would care to drop in here tomorrow evening; I might get time to give you a taste of "Something Completely Different", to borrow a Pythonesque reference.

Watch this space, and think "Amelia Edwards".

Hush, you never know who's listening!

Just a quickie.

Have you ever come across the saying "If it ain't broke; don't fix it"? Well, I'm the living exemplar of its veracity!

The window in our bedroom isn't level, it runs off a bit down to the left. This isn't a great problem, as you can still see out of it, and open and close it. It's a window! Nevertheless, its been bugging me for a while as the curtain rail is fastened to the architrave around the window frame, and the heavy weight of the the curtains is starting to pull at said architrave. What would any red-blooded man do in this situation? He'd fix it, of course! And so I started out.

This is a very simple and straightforward little job, about 30 minutes or so, insh'Allah.

I had a batten in mind which was in the big dikkeh on the roof terrace, it just needed a few inches sawn off the end. Three holes drilled in the wall, in which to insert some wall plugs (fissures, in Arabic) and fasten the rail back up, Bob's your uncle! Why oh why do I keep falling for these same old lines? Have I learned nothing during the past four years of living here?

Drilling holes in walls has always held a kind of dread for me. This venture would prove to be no exception, my big nasty JCB hammer drill drilled so far and then wouldn't go any further, then went off course, making the hole bigger than I had wanted it, too big for the fissures! To cut a long story short (again) I eventually had to get out my 14mm "Hilti" drill bit, in an attempt to break through the stoppage. Still no use!!! This particular hole was now about an inch high and almost five eighths wide! I had to use a hammer and chisel in the end. It wasn't the brick which was the problem (I thought that it might be concrete and a hard pebble was in the way) it was the mortar! As hard as bell metal!

I overcame the drilling problems then cut pieces of wood which hammered tightly into the holes to take the three screws, marked the wall with a pencil using my spirit level, drilled and countersunk the batten, all was ready to put it up. Haha, you really think so? When I "offered up" the batten; it rocked from side to side, because the wall had a camel's hump in the middle! "Ah" I thought, "KV Explorer's Surform!" It worked its magic on the wall, and the batten and curtain rail went back up without further ado. Alhamdulillah! It only took about three hours! The operation involved using 21 pieces of equipment/tools, and drove me stark staring bonkers. Also, I'd left the mounting studs in the ceiling from the A/C fan unit which used to hang in front of the window. They were about 6 inches long and I kept banging my head every time I turned around while I was up aheight, one bang even drew blood!

Of course it is all my darling Freda's fault, after all, who else should have told me that it really didn't matter, and reminded me that we are in Egypt; where these small irritations are of absolutely no consequence? Maybe I'll stop speaking to her for a few days, that'll teach her!

Copycats!

It's funny, but when I saw the two young tourists in Youseff Hassan Street taking a picture of our local "PC World" shop, I had to smile, as I remembered myself taking the self same picture a few years ago.
More or less opposite the PC World is the Mola Me shoe shop, with it's large "M" shaped logo, remarkably like that of McDonald's. Then, just a few doors down, is the "Orange" mobile phone shop! Not a copycat, but rather amusing if you're an adolescent boy, (like me) is the perfume and make-up shop a few doors further down called "Boobi"!
No doubt you'll remember the "Facebook" shoe shop of the other week, well as I was passing by, two days ago, they seemed to be emptying it! Maybe they weren't getting enough Internet coverage, lol.
Today, we went hunting for Ginger Snaps! We met a Welsh lady friend (Hefina) and her daughter-in-law (Alison) in Tutti Frutti. Hefina is a regular visitor whom we've known from the New Winter Palace days. Bless her heart, she'd brought me some Gingers, and Freda some Bassetts Jelly babies! On the way there, though, we'd called at the 2S supermarket to see if he had any of the Arabic Gingers we've been "making do" with. He had, so I stuck four packets in a bag and dumped them on the counter. "Hello (and all the usual niceties) that'll be 28 pounds please" "Whaaat?", that was Freda, nearly bursting. She was right, of course, as we'd been paying only 2pounds 50 for them at the Forty Market just along the street! I'm pleased that Hefina saved the day.
Anyway, that's not what I was going to tell you. When we left Tutti's, we strolled along to the said Forty Market, only to find that they were out of stock of the Egyptian Gingers. It didn't matter, of course, as we now had the ones from Welsh Wales (look you). But on the way there, just a few doors before it, and across the road, and on the first floor, I saw this............


Now, I've seen a couple of Co-op petrol stations here, and thought it quite amusing. But here we have a proper Co-operative Insurance "SOCIETY", it's just like ours! Do the folk in Irlam know about it, I wonder? The sign is quite obviously, by the amount of muck on it, nowhere near new, but I hadn't noticed it before. I must remember to have a look upwards as I wander about in future. Heaven knows what else I've been missing?

Freda the Ornithologist and Edward the "Humper"!

Well there you are then!

As you all know, I'm not much cop with the old Box Brownie. But, seeing as we don't usually let Freda handle cameras (it's a long story) it falls to me to be the resident camera man here at Our Luxor. Except when I'm not there, of course!

I wasn't available the other day when a hoopoe (a strange dickie bird) was banging at the door window, so, quick as a flash our stand-by camera crew sprung into action and snapped the little blighter on the roof terrace handrail.


It's a really good picture, don't you think? The very next day, we were at the Etap drinking tea and Nescafe, when another small bird showed up. It looked like a pigeon to me, but Freda said it was the wrong colour (she being the ornithologist, you know, and not being colour blind!) but I think it's just a bit dusty or something.



The Humper.

A couple of my neighbours and I have this sort of standing joke. They sit either in or just outside of Adam's little coffee shop in the evenings,


and when we come back from our (usually nightly) shopping expeditions, me laden with shopping bags which are trying to cut my fingers off, I make the donkey's braying sound. This indicates to all the escapees gathered there that this is sometimes all that we feel we are to our womenfolk; beasts of burden, humpers of shopping or furniture or whatever else they require of us.
Tonight it was moving furniture night! With the new A/C unit not blowing directly onto the bed, Freda is becoming overheated when she sits in bed reading (poor lamb!). So now I have moved all the furniture (apart from the wardrobe) in the bedroom around, in an effort to have her feeling comfortable. After all, what are husbands for? I had to ask her to vacate the bed, though, as I just couldn't move it with her in-situ! So now the bed is underneath the A/C unit, and it still doesn't blow on her, but it's a change for the time being, so we won't grumble.

Talking about grumbling: there are some right grumblings going on between the Muslims and Coptic Christians in some parts of Egypt! It really is rather serious when people are being killed for being different! As I've mentioned before (I'm sure) there is a bigger percentage of Christians in Luxor than in most other places in Egypt. Seeing as there is really only Tourism here to provide anything resembling mass employment, the two religions need to work side by side, and without the constant uncertainty which seems to be prevalent in other places.
We had our last guests in the tourist souk the other day and I was delighted to notice this sign hanging across the street.


It's given me a little bit more confidence to reiterate that Luxor is still a relatively safe holiday destination. So, get onto Thomson or Kuoni, or someone, and get yourself booked on a flight here soon!!!!!

Just "ramblings", I'm afraid.

Hi, we've had a quite busy few days!

One of our current guests is a famous (well, certainly in some circles) musician, although not at the moment, the height of his fame being 20 or so years ago. Along with his son, of the same name, he was the mastermind behind the music of an ensemble known as "Hash 'n' Thrash". They can be seen on You Tube if you copy and paste the following into your address bar:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8E-ypzfgsw

Our guest is the one with the guitar, who appears at about 1 minute and 30 seconds, on the left of the stage, with the hair and beard.

He's a fascinating bloke who has kept me enthralled with his various tales. I do really hope that he's enjoying his staying with us as much as we are enjoying having him here. He and his partner have been out and about with us on a number of occasions, which I think have been quite successful. Although this isn't their first time in Luxor, I hope we have managed to introduce them to a few of the towns less obvious delights!

This afternoon, we four are gracing the Victoria Lounge at the Winter Palace, where we plan to enjoy the ritual of Afternoon Tea. Freda and I did this only five days ago to celebrate her birthday, but we'll suffer it again for the sake of our guests! (Being a gentleman, I couldn't possibly reveal her age, but she won't see 47 again.)

Talking of "less obvious delights"; I think we have another couple of "Hawawshi" converts in Mr and Mrs suzychuck! (From Lincoln and Trip Advisor and the Etap.) We got Ahmed (the caleche man) the other night to take the four of us along to Karnak, to introduce them to my new favourite dish. There were some irritating children playing football next to where the caleche was parked, so, instead of strangling them, I asked Ahmed to take us around to where the Sphinxes are to be found nestling in peoples front gardens, to find somewhere quiet where we wouldn't be disturbed whilst we tucked into our scrumptious repast.
We enjoyed seeing the Sphinxes and the new diggings etc, and the two new mosques on the back road to Karnak Temple, but didn't find any peace and quiet until we commandeered a lay-by near the Military Club on the Corniche! This was at least a half hour later, and I was a bit apprehensive about how hot the Hawawshi would still be. I needn't have worried, it was still quite hot to handle, and just a comfortable temperature to eat. Our two friends both loved it! (And this time, it was MY treat for a change. Those of you who were beginning to wonder if I EVER pay, take note.)

Kev and Jean (our current guests) leave for home tomorrow, then we have three whole weeks (due to the revolution scaring people off?) before our next ("Geordie") guests arrive. One of them is a regular visitor to Luxor, but a first timer in our apartment. I hope they are suitably impressed, or they'll be sent back to the "Coaly Tyne" forthwith!!!!!

Bye for now.

Luxor Visitor Numbers?

We had a visit from one of our more famous Luxor friends today. She also rents out accommodation here on the East Bank, and has a blog (or is it two?) and hob-nobs with ambassadors and the like, quite an up-market girl if the truth be told, and (like so many of our friends here) is usually good fun to be with. However, on this visit she was concerned, as we all are here, about the lack of tourists and the dearth of accommodation enquiries. (They've just about dried up for everyone it seems.)
Last week, Freda and I were talking to the chairman of Steigenberger at their beautiful Nile Palace Hotel, and he was telling us that hotel bookings throughout Egypt are running at between 25 and 28% of capacity! Is this what the revolutionaries envisaged, I wonder?
Of course, people who were planning to visit Egypt this summer are now having second thoughts, mostly because of the safety doubts which have been massively helped along by selective and misleading reporting by worldwide television news programmes, and by foreign governments "taking in water" and issuing travel "advisories" against coming here, which are also linked to adverse reporting. It's like being back in the middle of the revolution itself! Misinformation abounds!

I cannot pretend that nothing here has changed, it would be less than honest to protest that everything is the same as it was before the revolution. Although I am not aware of it personally, I believe that Luxor (and probably other areas as well) is experiencing more criminal activity than before. Apparently, the other day, a man was shot dead in a robbery at a local petrol station. Now, while I don't want to trivialise such a serious and despicable crime, this wouldn't even make the national news if it had occurred in England! The crime situation here reminds me of a holiday we once had in Haverigg in Cumbria; the local newspaper front page headline read "Bike Stolen In Millom!" We had a laugh about it then, and still do on occasion. But the point of relating this little tale to you is to emphasize the difference in the actual (and perceived) level of criminality between Egypt and the countries from which our tourists come from.

MI5's security "Threat Level" for Great Britain is currently at "Severe", the next level is "Critical" and is the highest threat level we have; where terrorist attack is genuinely thought to be "Imminent", none of Mr Bliar's "45 minute Weapons of Mass Destruction" scaremongering in this case!
The following was lifted from the travel advice of a large English speaking country today:
"On 22 January 2010, UK authorities raised the threat level for the United Kingdom overall from 'Substantial' to ‘Severe’, meaning that a terrorist attack is assessed as ‘highly likely’. ............... in the United Kingdom should be aware of media reports that in January 2011 security arrangements were increased at major transport hubs in the United Kingdom."
If you add these warnings to the well documented, appallingly high level, of "ordinary" crime in the UK, then all British subjects should decamp to Egypt, for their own safety, immediately!

If you are considering a trip (of a lifetime) to Luxor, then check out your governments travel warnings, here's the UK's regarding Luxor:

"Between 25 January and 11 February there were major political demonstrations in Cairo and other locations across Egypt, including Suez, North Sinai, Rafah, the Delta region and some areas of Upper Egypt, including Luxor"

and:

"There is a nationwide curfew in place from 02:00 to 05:00 local time. Timings are occasionally adjusted and you are advised to listen to media announcements or seek advice from your tour operator or hotel management. The curfew is not being enforced in the Red Sea Resort area or in Luxor."

Yes, that's it! They then go on to say:

"1,346,724 British Nationals visited Egypt in 2009 (Source: Egyptian Ministry of Tourism). Most visits are trouble-free. See General - Consular Assistance Statistics. The majority of consular cases occur in Cairo and Sharm el-Sheikh."

Another feather in Luxor's cap? And don't forget to check up on the "Threat Level" in your own country, it's maybe time you went somewhere sunnier and safer for a little get-away-from-it-all holiday, eh?????

At last: The A/C Cover!!!!!

Here we are again!

I did threaten to show you the pics from the fitting of, and hiding of, the new "Hole in the Wall" A/C unit for our bedroom, well here they are, with running commentary.

That's not quite true, actually. The trauma of watching the vandals fitting it was too much for me, and consequently, instead of clicking away with the old Brownie, I was trying to keep sane while not killing the men who were attacking my home! So, the first picture is of the machine being measured with my ever present measure: a 12inch (30 cm) shoe!


For the next one, we jump directly to the unit actually fitted in the wall.


It is rather ugly, wouldn't you agree? So, the mashrabiya it is, then. We wondered if an ordinary lattice would be less expensive than the fancy Islamic one? Yes it was, but only by 10 le per two square metre sheet. Nuff said! Here they both are on display in the little Christian shop in Cleopatra (or Kelopatra) Street.


I knew that the spare wood from the old fitted wardrobe would come in useful one day, and so it did in making a frame for the Islamic pattern lattice to mount onto. But first there had to be a way of securing it to the wall? This was overcome by using more bits of what would otherwise be waste from the wardrobe. The plywood from the shelves!
Problem No 1: It's only very thin 3 ply! Solution: Make it thicker 6 ply by glueing it together!
Problem No 2: How do I manage to keep it pressed together while the glue hardens? Solution: Take the granite top off the bathroom cabinet and use it as a uniform plate press!

It's difficult containing oneself, when you're so imaginative, you know! Freda knew that she would come across problems like this when she chose me for her life's partner. Wise woman, that one.


That task being completed, it was time to turn to the Islamic Lattice. Originally, I thought this was some kind of sheet material like MDF or something similar. But no, it is a proper lattice with half lap joints at every junction. Anyway, it lay on the roof terrace floor, waiting to have itself ravaged by an electric jig saw!


Along with the aforementioned bits of waste wood, some more glue and a few panel pins, I eventually got it to this stage:


After snapping, and making a right dog's breakfast of, the lovely (but very fragile) right-angle molding I had bought to cover the corners with, and then a great deal of trying to make decent 45 degree cuts in beading etc., I managed to cobble together something which almost met with Freda's approval.


I was toying with the idea of leaving it in its natural colours, but, having all my taste in my mouth, I was overruled for a change. It would be painted white, in order to blend in with the wall. Have you ever tried painting something that's full of holes? It's an absolute nightmare! Of course my brushes are "quality", from Poundland! Before too long, the inch brush would have been more suited to cleaning toilets, the 1 inch measurement was now about four and a half! Plus, the paint was drying as quickly it was going on. It was then that I remembered a small roller which I had hidden away somewhere. It only took me about five days to locate it, in the big dikkeh on the roof terrace. Now I would be "knocking doors out of windows"! The roller just squeezed into the star shaped holes in the lattice, and with a bit of a waggle about as it came back out; all the side surfaces were covered. I was like a bairn with a new toy!

Here's the result, all we need now is another tin of paint to go over the patched-up wall. What do you think?

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.