Egypt - 13 October 2010 (3)

An Evening in Cairo

The maid was cleaning our room when I got in.  Caroline had complained that the floor was dirty, especially the bit behind the television, so the maid was washing the floor.  Wet floors and sandy sandals do not mix and, by the time Caroline came in, the floor was dirty again.  I dived into a cold shower to cool off and then donned my tankini and headed up to the roof.  It was finally time for a swim.

As usual, it took a long time to fully immerse myself in the cold pool, but once in, it was nice.  Kim was also in the pool, but not really exerting himself.  He spent most of the time standing against the side and drinking his usual beer.  I did a few lengths and floated for a while and then came out for a citronade.

Quite a few of us sat on the roof until the sun went down and the call to prayer was announced.  I went back to the room until our 19.00 briefing.  The bad news was that Ruth had been sick and did not feel at all well, so she left us to go to the restaurant on our own.  The good news is that she had organised for our driver to take us there for E£5 each.  According to Ruth, the restaurant was quite close, but we seemed to drive a very long way to get there.

My Friend, Squawky

Mahmoud came in to eat with us, but, like all our guides and drivers, did not sit with us.  Once again, they started bringing out all the stuff for a set meal, which caused problems when I said that I did not want it.  Anne started to tut again, which finally made me explode.  In the end, I only had hummus and a mango juice.  I spent the rest of the evening chatting to a new friend, Squawky, the African Grey Parrot.  He was fantastic and seemed to understand me.  He came to the side of his cage for a tickle and, when I told him to go lower so I could reach him more easily, he obligingly moved to the bottom of his cage.  I spent ages tickling him behind his ears.  He obviously enjoyed it.  I was glad that someone liked me.  Squawky could talk a bit, but mostly he liked doing suggestive whistles, which is how I realised he was there.

The journey back seemed a bit quicker and, once back in the hotel, Vic, Heuly, Barry, Caroline and I  went for a coffee.  By this time some people were running out of Egyptian pounds, but Vic and I had enough to be able to act as bankers.  I enjoyed an Arabic coffee.