Back in Cairo...

I've not been back 24hrs yet….. It feels like I never left! I forgot how hot it is here. Just existing, never mind achieving anything is an accomplishment in these temperatures! I felt proud of myself because I managed to get to the exchange place and also to the supermarket- wow- small goals!!! Mind you- have spent the whole evening cooking- chopping vegetables while you are sitting on a balcony watching the sunset just doesn't seem like a chore!!! Hopefully a couple of days resting after my manic home visit last week will shift this cold- Cairo colds are officially worse than Scottish ones- this is 2 and half weeks now of sniffles and aches- bah humbug!

2 out of the 3 local money exchange offices were shut- wonder if this is a Ramadan effect or not…… oh and just along the street from me a whole huge section of the pavement has been sectioned off with tenting style material….. There are pictures of a mosque all along it, and just at the entrance there is a photo of a man's face on an A4 poster. They were obviously setting up to serve Iftar, with big industrial sized pans at the ready and tables all laid . On the area of grass just beside it a small gathering of men were all sitting trying to look like they weren't waiting for the food to start…………… Who the man in the picture is, I don't know, its reminds me of the funeral tents where people go to sit and remember and pray for the person who has just died… but perhaps that was the man who had sponsored that particular tent or food for that day. I don't know- but I'll ask around!!!

As for the traffic……. It did seem to get distinctly busier in the hours approaching sunset, and 10 minutes after the sun had set there wasn't a single car on the street outside my house! Walking home just as the sun was getting low in the sky I could see deliveries being made, of canteens of food, to all the policemen sitting on watch outside the embassies/banks etc. They were organizing them, sharing them out and guarding them as if they were little pots of gold.


I want to dance…….. I'm desperate to dance. Maybe because I want what I can't have- i.e. 'no performing in Ramadan'- so that’s exactly what I want to do! I can't remember ever dancing around my flat quite as much as I have done this evening. However, nothing gives me that excitement and satisfaction that I get from performance adrenaline. 2 weeks of dancing 4 nights per week at Morocco Walima has increased the levels of adrenaline in my body and I have withdrawal symptoms already!

Off to boogie about some more…………………!