29th August Fly By

It is 23.57 and we are watching Pirates of the Caribbean while we wait for Saturday’s episode of Dr. Who to stream. Now the painter has finished the hallway Geoff has spent his time hanging his planes.

The drawing pins were not of the best quality so there was a small accident along the way, but the blood was soon washed away and the hole covered in sticky plaster.

It’s been a busy week for Geoff, with him being a real new member of staff this year and not just a supply teacher, he has been able to attend some of the induction activities for the new staff. He has been to 2 Iftar meals (this is the first meal after sunset when the Muslims break their fast during Ramadan) and a Feluca  (sail boat) ride on the Nile followed by a BBQ at the BCA on Port Said Road. He didn’t stop for the BBQ but came home and shared a pizza with me instead.

Maddison’s friend Luisa is back so Maddy went and slept there last night and is going with them to Ahn Sukna tomorrow, this is an Egyptian resort by the Red Sea where she has been before.

The washing machine has been replaced today so I will try it tomorrow later today and see what happens. 

A week in Cairo – 24th August

A lot of computer work has gone on this week. Geoff is working his way up through the cars on Need for Speed and Maddy is busy with Dragon Age while I work through all the school stuff that needs doing. We all sit in the lounge with our headphones in doing our own thing! Every so often I get bored so we have been to Carrefour twice now, once the day after we got back to put some food in the cupboards and then again a few days later to pick up some more food and some much needed coat hangers ! All my summer purchases have been languishing on the sofa in the bedroom but are now hanging nicely in the wardrobe. When I feel brave I will try to match stuff together so I can just grab clothes in the morning and not have to think about it. The coat hangers have also meant we can iron, that was fun.

We have also signed another year lease on the flat with the landlord, while he was here we pointed out a spot of painting that needs doing and he has arranged for the painter to come round and look at it on Thursday morning. No time was stated so we will have to get out of bed at a reasonable time for a change. At the moment we don’t usually see 9 am! We also mentioned the washing machine which has leaked ever since we moved in. Only Geoff can close the door with any chance of not creating a swimming pool in the kitchen. Two maintenance men took a look at it this morning and walked away shaking their heads, what exactly this means I’m not quite sure but we are waiting in just in-case they come back with a new machine.   

17th August Back in Cairo

Well we left the UK a little later than advertised, about 50 mins in the end and made up some of it with a tail wind. We arrived at Cairo airport terminal 3 at 4:30pm local time (3:30pm UK time) and made it back to the flat by 6pm. The TV is on, the bags are unpacked but I need some coat hangers and to spill into the spare wardrobe after a very successful summer shopping in a number of international locations!

Ivy took Maddy shopping and added this to her wardrobe – please note the lack of black.

Views from the aeroplane.

The dust from the sand makes this picture blurred.

15th August Stanborough Park

We have been here almost 2 weeks now and the only fish we have seen were the tiny ones from the garden centre in Garforth, so after lunch we grabbed some bread and headed to Stanborough lakes. There is a water activity centre, small streams to catch small fish in with a net, ducks, swans and we even saw 3 herons.

Even Maddison came with us for this trip, most of the time she stays at Ivy’s while we cruise round the shops.

 

We went to feed the big fish (carp) over at the water activity centre.

As we wandered back to the car I took pictures of things we don’t see in Cairo!

Tomorrow we pack and then head back to Cairo, so probably not as many blogs to follow . . .

13th August Bowling

We slept in this morning until 11 am! But were ready for a family outing to Hollywood bowl in Stevenage in the afternoon. Tina, Mia, Abby and Jake turned up at 1:30pm and we had an entertaining discussion about where the bowling was and how to get there, in the end Geoff googled it and we left in convoy.

We split into two teams on lanes 3 and 4 which Ivy had booked the day before. Bob, Jake, Geoff and I played on lane 4 and the others played on lane 3. Geoff won both of over games and Tina won the games on the other lane. It was good fun. Then we went to the Stevenage Asda as it’s bigger than the Hatfield one where Ivy works. Maddy got new trousers, a T-shirt, posh top, some hair bands  and a hat!

 

Then it was back to Ivy’s to watch 3 episodes of Primeval on dvd before we all retired for the night.

12th August London

Up and out this morning, we were at the station by 9:45am and a very efficient railway employee found us the cheapest way to travel round London for the day (£10.60 each for all 6 travel zones). We didn’t travel all the way to King’s Cross but got off at Finsbury Park to get on the London underground Piccadilly Line to travel to South Kensington. Here we went to the Natural History Museum (it is a family traditional to visit the dinosaurs).

For the first time there was a 20 minute queue to wait in before we got in.

the architecture is amazing as well as the exhibits.

From here we walked to the science museum, Maddy accompanied us on the promise of buttons to press!

 

As we wandered around the museums we collected memorabilia and fridge magnets (Ivy’s fridge is covered with a history of our lives over the past few years).

We came out needing refreshment and fortunately there was an ice cream van outside (£1.50 each) on the way to the V&A which is less than 100m from the science museum. Maddy wanted to visit the V&A to see the Victorian fashions but unfortunately the fashion gallery was closed so all we got to see was a gallery of sculptures.

So we headed to Leicester Square to find some food. As we came out of the tube this was the first theatre we saw. (Dr. Who fans will understand!).

  

Walking to Trafalgar Square we found a Tesco express for food and a Waterstones where Geoff found some more Star Wars books to take back with us. We sat on the fountains to enjoy our picnic, getting sprayed as the wind blew.

There has been clock set up in Trafalgar Square to count down to the 2012 Olympics.

By now the tube was getting quite crowded so we headed back to Hatfield via Finsbury Park for TV and dinner.

11th August McDonalds

The highlight of today was a trip to McDonalds with Tina’s girls (Maddison’s cousins) Abby and Mia for dinner/supper. The girls had come round to spend time with their Nanny and them we popped out for food. Geoff and I didn’t have anything but everyone else tucked in. I was impressed when one of the girls had milk with her meal. Geoff had to help Maddy out with the coke as it didn’t taste right.

The decor wasn’t traditional McD’s, swirls of paint rather than Ronald and garish yellows. Geoff’s brother Michael had worked here for some years before he went off to China. All fed we went back to Ivy’s to watch TV. It’s nice not to have Arabic adverts in-between the programs.

10th August Royal Air Force Museum

We left Leeds for the South at 10:30 this morning and travelled down the M1 for a change, usually we travel on the A1. The traffic was ok until junction 26/27 when we slowed down quite a lot. We got to the museum at about 2 ish and had a good wander round. Geoff checked the colours of the planes to see what colour he should be painting the new models he has bought.

Once we’d wandered round we headed for Hatfield 11 miles away and KFC for a late lunch and then on to Ivy’s.