Kingdom of Love and Hate

Cairo, I have come to discover, is not a city for measured responses. This is a place which incites utter joy and beauty AND utter rage, usually at the same time!!! Regarding the latter, let me update you on Crane Canaveral!

Since October last year when a huge hole the size of a large bomb blast appeared just to the left of our apartment’s front door,  I have been living next to a building site. At first, apart from having the road cut off, it did not bother us one bit. They dug the hole, built a wooden frame inside it, took it apart, covered it and installed a watch man over it. He started to build a shack, which soon became a shed lined with duvets. He made friends and his pals came to smoke shishas with him and altogether, they made tea on his little stove. It all looked quite poetic; almost like a dying tribe of Maadi Bedouins having moved in! The New Year soon brought with it the Revolution, but the watchman and his pals stayed on. To look at the trio, it was hard to believe the country was in any state of turmoil or uncertainty or indeed in a state of revolution! However, once we came back after the evacuation, the serious orange metal army had arrived!! The loyal band of brothers remained amongst the satanic cranes, dwarfed but nevertheless not insignificant. Unfortunately, as the bad boy machinery started their thunderous assault, the shed disappeared as did the guardians of the crater. For nearly four weeks, from sunlight until late into the night, six days a week, the loud drumming drone of the generator signalled digging. We discovered it was to be some well project, but no one really knew what it was about or more importantly for us, when it was about to end. We suffered the days of noise discomfort chanting the maxim in our heads, ‘it will be over’....Sure enough, the huge digger came to a halt one day and the hole got covered over. We almost sighed with relief. But, the orange army of equipment did not move. Suddenly one day, on the other side of the railway tracks, opposite our crater, another was being dug! Was the process going to be repeated?! Indeed it was! On our side, jackhammers removed the compacted earth and dug up the concrete, powered by mini generators. Wire frames were put in place and then filled with concrete again. Whilst the noisy digging supported by the noisier generator has been in full swing on the far side opposite our road, another crane has been digging up the earth exposing water! This has now being going on for over three weeks. At times, there is a false sensation that the noise levels have gone down. This is only the ears growing numb to it all! Added to this, the noisy freight train passes at certain intervals, honking at full hilt. I am beginning to think most Egyptian workmen are deaf. They wear no protective head gear and work entire days with his noise right next to their ears! As Sandy was telling me, there is rarely the same gang of workers. They get rounded up in the mornings, get given their tools on site, work and leave. It’s not like there is a foreman we can approach each day to ask questions! Our tolerance levels have worn thin and we did start to look at places elsewhere. We love the apartment itself, our neighbours are wonderful and ideally we don’t want to move. When Landlord Captain O came to collect two months’ rent a few days ago, the generator was still on and we explained our displeasure at the whole process. He sympathised but felt he could no more give us an answer than anyone else. We then had to mention to him the very strong possibility that if on our return, the whole thing was still going on, we would need to ship out! He looked quite alarmed at this. He did not entertain a conversation about it and promised us double glazed windows on the spot! He mentioned nothing about increasing rent and left promising he would try and find out as much as he can about the project! Half an hour later, he calls husband. Apparently, the generator and the orange army were due to be removed in two weeks time and the road on our side returned to normal!!!??? The road building which is also going on was due to finish by the end of August.  Where he got any of this information is beyond us!  Maybe he cornered the Lord Lucan Bowab after he saw us?? Husband and I looked at each other bemused. We were not convinced! We have only three more weeks here before we leave for the summer so we shall suffer what we must until that point. If on our return, the fiasco continues, we are away...within the month if at all possible!!! The muezzin at the mosque is one thing, the freight train is another but all combined with the infernal generator sound is sheer purgatory! This aspect of Cairo living, I hate, hate, hate!

TG Services, the local heroes I had come to depend upon have now been seriously demoted in my estimations! For a while now, the shower pressure and temperature have been playing up to infuriating degrees! Within a week, I had what husband called Legions of Genius plumbers coming to look at the problem. Their verdict, we needed a special pump for the apartment. The cost of this was to be a princely sum of 5500 LE (approx £550!) Landlord Captain Osama, understandably, was not so sure! He wanted a second opinion, so arranged for the Bowab to send another plumber to check the water pressure. Sure enough, there was no problem. However, the non English speaking plumber took some time to work out the problem I had been describing for weeks. My patience waned to dangerous degrees and my frustration must have come across! I told Captain O, ‘I am now seriously upset because no one seems to be listening to what I am saying!’ Almost with alarming alacrity, Captain O spoke to the plumber and within five minutes, my words were being echoed regarding the problem! In the end, it was a matter of changing the pipe size going from the boiler to the hot tap! It all took two hours, but at least the shower temperature and pressure have some consistency and can be adjusted! I have yet to telephone TG services to say I will not be paying you for such bad advice! That conversation, I am looking forward to....

When all is said and done, the Egyptians on the whole have endeared themselves to us as individuals.  My driver Salah is so dear to me now. I look forward to seeing him drive up the road everyday and hear his throaty cheery ‘good morning miss’. He is always respectful and apologises even if he is a few minutes late! I have discovered he speaks more English than I thought. We do not have conversations, but it makes it easy for me to communicate with him. I have also finally met Muhammed Ali, who has been organising my drivers since last September. He turned up at my door last week as husband needed a courier for some documents. He is a dark stocky man, again very respectful in manner with grey eyes. I was actually delighted to meet him at last. Until then he had felt like some anonymous benefactor!

I was also fortunate enough to be invited to a brunch with a bunch of Egyptian ladies from school. Wonderful Sandy hosted at her beautiful home in Kattamaya Heights and I had the loveliest of afternoons in their company .They all work at the school, so their level of English is impeccable. They were amazingly considerate in speaking English for the most part and I enjoyed hearing about their days and families.  All were keen shoppers and looked fantastically well turned out. Two removed their head scarves and I was privileged enough to see them with their manes down! They all felt uncertain about what the new Egypt would bring, and in some cases were not optimistic. However, with citizens like them, Egypt in the end will not go far wrong. We feasted in Mediterranean style outdoors, copious amounts of food spread on a long table under a leafy trellis. I tasted ‘foul’ for the first time. It’s like Mexican refried beans, but tastes better. I learned to make cat’s ears with the flat bread to scoop up the ‘foul’. I also loved the large falafel dish I think called Tamaaya. However, my favourite has to be Fettir. Layers and layers of golden filo pastry cooked in the shape of a tart, to be eaten with dripping honey or molasses! That afternoon, sitting in the sun in the ample garden looking out over the golf course, I felt pleased to be in Egypt....

We have also enjoyed forays into Zamalek for meals and thoroughly enjoyed our walk around Garden City, all thanks to Sandy. Garden City certainly bears witness to former grandeur. Most of the majestic formal villas are incredibly well preserved albeit in need to some love and attention. With the climate being so dry, the wooden shutters have survived as has ornate ironwork. The Art Deco style is very much in evidence, with its easily recognizable sleekness. The Art Noveau-esque structures still bear their ornate carvings and fabulous detail. Cairo was certainly the Paris of North Africa going by this evidence and given the chance, being in this city from anywhere in the 1920’s to early 1950’s is somewhere I would have loved to have been. The Cairo of Olivia Manning and her wonderful tome ‘Fortunes of War’.

We have also enjoyed evenings with Sandy and her pals. Dodo (pronounced Doo-doo), Tata, Loulou, Ali to name but a few! They are all highly educated and Dodo and Tata very politically aware. They are revolutionaries if truth be told. They are determined someone good must come out of the recent turmoil, but are circumspect about prospects. 70% of the population are illiterate and can only think very short term. The parliamentary elections are in September and Presidential elections in November. By the end of 2011, what will the political landscape be in Egypt? We as those who cannot vote, can only wait and see. In the meantime, Dodo is attempting to make Cider having fallen in love with the drink on a recent business visit to the UK! He had just returned and when asked if he had discovered any fine ales, cited “Strongbow”. He was most surprised to be informed that this “ale” was, in fact, made from apples. Having been further advised that cider is technically not too difficult to produce and that the ingredients to that end are readily available in Egypt, some further Internet research on the specifics of cider production has convinced him to try a bit of home brew. Following the recent purchase of requisite materials, we wait with bated breath to see if he will survive his experiment.

More than anything, the trees in Maadi enchant me the most. The spring blooms were stunning then about a month ago, the Flame Trees started blooming. They are amazing trees. The leaves are fern-like and delicate, almost lime green in colour. The flowers are heavy and voluptuous, and hang like burnt orange overgrown grapes. They make me smile and are my daily dose of Divinity amidst the heat, dust and noise of the cityscape. Frederick Leighton’s painting ‘Flaming June’, with its languid air very much evokes the feeling of June of Cairo...minus the torturous din of Crane Canaveral!

I am indeed in the Kingdom of Love and Hate....