5th November it’s not bonfire night here!

 

We took two exciting trips out with Ivy today, the first was to Carrefour to stock up on our weekly shop and pick up a few UK comforts for Ivy. Alas we were unable to find any salad cream so she has had to do without. We did wander round the Mall and look at the UK shops that are there. Unfortunately they all charge £20 more per item than in the UK so we don’t shop in them, even Claire’s accessories double their prices to sell in Egypt.

After shopping we sampled the wares and then left to see Coptic Cairo. As a special treat we took Ivy on the metro (we caught a taxi to the station). Then men’s carriage there was quite crowded and the women's’ carriage on the way back had some small (8-10 years old) boys selling tissues and perfumed candles in very loud voices. At one point it seemed to be a competition between them how loud they could be.

Coptic Cairo was quiet – not a lot of tourists there today so we were able to wander quite slowly. A couple of the Coptic churches and St. Georges church.   

Then onto the Coptic Museum. We had to put our cameras away there, but one of the tourist police let us take pictures in a courtyard (for a small fee). At least we know the system now and weren’t taken by surprise.

We arrived back in Road 9 ready for a sit down at ‘The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf’ . Unfortunately I knocked my Mango Cream all over the floor as I passed the remains of Ivy’s blue berry cheesecake to Geoff for finishing, but the waiter brought me another at no extra cost. We wandered down the road looking for a cartouche for Ivy but to no avail. Then home (via taxi)  to sit, recover and eat our dinner.

4th November Pyramids!

 

It’s what everyone comes to Egypt to do, so we did it (again). We left at 9:30 am and got back at around 2:30 pm after seeing enough pyramids for one day.The tourist touts made the visit to the Great Pyramid an unpleasant experience their crys have improved, they now offer their wares at :Asda Price’ or cheaper than chips, but I got a few good pictures. We also went to see the Step pyramid at Sakkara (older) which was much nicer. Better ruins, better views, a museum, fewer men with mementoes.  We will go back for a better look another time. 

Anyway LOTS of pictures.

3rd November–Ruth’s Birthday

 

Ivy arrived yesterday for a weeks holiday she came with airfix planes and paints for Geoff, maths books for me, some ENGLISH chocolate and Maddison’s birthday present. We bought her a kindle as books are expensive here and we seem to be travelling a bit at the moment. So much of Wednesday evening was spent downloading the free books and 3 Terry Pratchet books about the Wee Free Men. She has refused to let me use it so I may have to get one of my own.

Tonight was spent celebrating Ruth’s birthday with some of the home-group from church. Not everyone could make it with the Eid holiday starting today. We had a pot luck supper of tandori style chicken and some amazing rice from Pritti. Svetlana brought a wonderful pudding she learnt to make when she was 4 and Margret brought a carrot cake we stuck the candles in. Ruth had popped into Costa Coffee and brought a selection of cakes that were delicious. Brian and Liz joined us from Scotland and Tereza from Tunis.

   

21st October Still here

 

Despite recent events we are still here and unaffected by what is going on. We have had a quiet week but seem to be very busy as well. Geoff has been to the dentist to have more work done on his tooth, all that remains is one more trip on Tuesday to add a crown.

Maddy has gone to spend the weekend with her friend Louisa so Geoff and I are going to have a quiet evening in together. For various reasons I have not done any school work all day, instead I printed off some photos of Ascension and started my New Zealand scrap book. I shopped in the UK at Hobby Craft and various other outlets and brought the stuff back in the summer. Anyway this is the first page. I found the mirrored New Zealand shape in Timaru and journaled the label as my mentor taught me (on both sides). I hope she approves of the start I have made .

 

The pictures are awful, but you get the idea. (without flash, then with flash)

Photography Club

 

I have volunteered to help one of the Arabic teachers run the photography club at school . I was motivated by the fact every member of staff has to be involved in an extra curricular activity and I needed something I could tag along with. Anyway he takes them on trips with their cameras and our first trip was Sunday 9th to the Khan el Khalili. Because he knew the area we took pictures of the bazar and moved onto the historic buildings in the same area.

It was an interesting time and I found this tile pattern that I’ve forwarded to David Bailey'.

Maddy is 15

 

October 2nd was Maddison’s 15th birthday. We tried to get 15 candles into her life in strange and wonderful ways.

 

! didn’t quite manage it but we had a laugh! Her present is coming from the UK with her Nan when she comes to visit next month. Because there is so little here that Maddy wanted (a cars pencil case) we went away for the weekend to Ain Soukhna where she goes with her friends.

Geoff’s school have a special deal with Stella Di Mare, one of the hotels there in a walled compound. It has 2 other hotels in the same compound and a large number of private villas. The Stella Di Are was the golfing hotel of the three. The room came with robes for all 4 (Louisa came too) of us and a fruit basket, some nice toiletries and a balcony. The food was included breakfast and dinner and was an amazing buffet. Maddy had chocolate cereal with chocolate sauce one morning.

We didn’t take the golfing option but took tickets to the Spa at one of the partner hotels with a private beach.

we spent quite a bit of time in the hydro spa and then went to the beach 25 m away. Sun worshipping is boring! I can’t see why people do it. The Red Sea was beautifully clear and we could see ships waiting to travel up to the Suez Canal.

 

Geoff and I returned the following morning to the spa for an hour then we returned to Cairo rather burnt. I’d forgotten the pollution and dust saves you from burning in Cairo but at Soukhna the sea breezes blow all that away.

Mysterious Man named

 

The email about the pavement photo did indeed come from David Bailey, a tessellation fanatic in Grimsby of all places. (Hull, where we ‘live’, is just across the Humber from Grimsby). We have exchanged a number of emails now, the upshot of it all being I have tried to enlist the help of the students at school to find the tessellation in a number of locations and asked a tour guide to help out with the questions. David would like me to measure the tessellation as well. Thursday is a public holiday (Army Day) so I will try and get it done then. Eventually he will write a paper on it for one of the mathematical journals!

As part or her English homework Maddy had to design a web page . . . . . When I showed her a site for writing your own free web site on she has got a little carried away and has spent a lot of time working on something for her favourite game, Dragon Age’. Eventually she will publish it so everyone can see her master piece. At present she is out with Louisa enjoying a birthday lunch, a tour of the coffee shops on Road 9 and maybe a trip to the cinema as part of her weekend birthday celebrations that will continue until Monday!

Geoff also spent some time at Road 9 today, 90 minutes at the dentist! One of his teeth is cracked so last week he went and had the filling removed. Today he had the root removed and in 3 weeks time (when the dentist gets back) he will get the tooth rebuilt. All in all it is costing him £120, I am sure it would be much more in the UK and am grateful  we are here. If the work goes well I am considering check-ups for Maddison and myself as we haven’t been since before we left St. Helena.