Little Things, The Holy See... It, Now You Don't

For all the good things Google Earth has, it does sometimes take away the magic. For over a year now, every time I walk past the embassy of the Vatican, I marvel at the total uselessness of it. From the street the embassy consists of an entrance gate and an exit gate, joined by a roundabout in the middle of which a flag-post stands. Occasionally sporting a huge yellow and white flag, occasionally empty. I've always thought this to be very suiting for the Vatican; a whole lot of pomp and prestige for virtually nothing as no buildings seem to be between the gates and the bank of the Nile. Flights of fantasy about buildings being underground or hidden on the riverbank flitted around briefly but were dismissed for the theory of total uselesness.

Although I've tried to take pictures of this situation, I've never been able to get away with it without the guards in front noticing.

Now with Google Earth it becomes saddingly clear that the building is to the south, hidden from the street view by another building.  Blast Google Earth, bursting bubbles like that. They should be banned.

Little Things, Furry Little Things

Living in Cairo means a different approach to lots of things. Here most houses have secondary staircases. Originally staff entrances and access to flats for the garbage collectors. Now the staircase at the back is where you deposit the garbage bags. In my case, living on the ground floor and living in a place with continuous plumbing problems (tho I'm by no means the only one) it means my house is (and as I heard this week, always was) a playground for mice and other animals.

One of my houseguest of the human kind, left a few bags with flower and cornflakes on the kitchen counter. Coming back from Aswan I discovered the mice had discovered the bags and already eagerly gnawed their way through the plastic. A large amount of cornflakes had disappeared under the microwave from where light crunchy sounds could be heard all day and especially all night long. 

A quick peek with a flashlight partially exposed two very small round mice irritated at being disturbed in their cornflakes fest. Alison (one of the house-guests for a week) didn't quite name them yet but already lost her heart to the little grey rodents with, as she observed, ginger patches on the chest.

A few days later one of them was discovered in the bathtub and let out using a towel as a ladder.

The bathtub, for some reason or other, held a huge attraction for the mice. In two days time two of the little round furry critters managed to get themselves trapped in there. Much to my pleasure. I haven't found anything resembling a humane mouse trap here; they have glue and pellets. I have a bathtub.

All I needed to do was gather them up in container, walk them down to the river and let them loose there. The biggest mousetrap I've ever seen and it cleans out really easy...

Little Things, Cairo Kitsch

Where else but in Cairo can you find a store that sells plaster casts for your garden (?) and find a mixture of styles that sets your hairs on end and curls up your toes; a wingéd Niké, a Roman Emperor, a golfer, the Chef from the animated movie "Ratatouille", a huge pink flamingo, some classic guy with a major migraine, another chef, crocodile with gaping maw, hideously ugly pots, panther and a camel 

Little Things, Rules for Traffic

Egypt is cracking down on traffic violators. New regulations say  that motor riders need helmets. Since Egyptian motorists haven't used helmets since the Greeks left the country (and I'm talking ancient Greeks here) and they have no places to actually buy the helmets, the national sense of improvising has been used. Now you see all manner of safety headwear on top of the new and extremely cheap (price as well as quality cheap) Chinese motorcycles. Hardhats are favourite although  now and then you can see a cooking pot, filled with cloth and tied down with strings from the handles on someone's head doing 40 km/h or more in Cairo traffic.

The other thing is the seatbelt. All drivers are required to wear them now. Half a year ago they consisted mainly of swaths of black cloth screwed against the doorframe or used belts without clasp that were quickly draped over shoulders when policemen were visible. 

Now they seem to have the real thing, properly fixed and actually fixed on both ends of the safety device. Sitting in the taxi of Ramadan, my favourite taxidriver, just flown in from Aswan and wondering about the speed of change in Cairo, I find out that it all seems to be well. As soon as Ramadan hits the brakes tho I discover the ruse has merely become more elaborate. the illusion of safety is larger but still only an illusion. The belt is not fixed to the braking system  so if there is a pile-up I will still fly through the front window but only after having my collarbone being broken by the belt. 

Litte Things, Poor Bastard Reprise

Just gleaned a bit of Intel on the statue to be executed. For all you conservators, this should give you a couple of jollies: the head is actually a cast from the original from the BM or the Louvre or any other major museum in the world. It had been fixed on the torso before the people responsible realized that the colour was way off and, here's the kicker, the material of which it was made deteriorates quite quickly in direct sunlight. I mean, Luxor is well known for it's cloudy skies and weak sun. It's not like it's in Africa or something.

Little Things, poor bastard

Just another little thing of notice on the Westbank. Makes you wonder what the poor bastard did to piss people off that bad that they're ready to execute him. Also makes you wonder if they realize he's actually stone

Little Things

In a huge city like Cairo and a weird country like Egypt, there are lots of little incidents, accidents and other -cents that make me smile, raise eybrows or just roll my eyes. This is one I saw yesterday on my way to Salima for a very nice prawn-rice-dhal meal. On the Brazil street there's a small kiosk that sells water, magazines and second hand books. Slightly off the kiosk two black clad army conscripts (most likely from the delta or the Red Sea coast) were leafing through a fashion magazine somehow obtained from the kiosk owner. Their excitement in going back and forward through the pages reminded me of 15 year olds sneaking a peek at the Playboys on station kiosks. 

Something similar but more much funny (the above was just recognisable) was cycling past a coffee house on the road from the ferry to the German House on the Westbank in Luxor. They have small teevees with a grainy, wobbly reception. Usually the TV is merely background noise amongst all the other background noises. In this case, everyone was glued to the tube. Shishas (the hooka water pipes) were left smoldering, tea and coffee was getting cold but on the screen, in one of the many music/video shows they have in the Near East, Madonna was performing her song from the last Pierce Brosnan Bond. You know, the one in which she is clad in leather, be it sparsely, and singing and dancing as Madonna does. I looked back at this spectacle and almost drove off the road....