Ramadan traffic is nuts

My office window overlooks a busy street here in Maadi. It's Ramadan at the moment which means that from about 1pm the traffic hots up. Everyone is trying to get home early in time to prepare and eat the evening meal (Iftar) to break the day's fasting. No-one has eaten or drunk anything since dawn. Most of those who smoke have also abstained from nicotine since dawn. As you can imagine, people get a little tense and impatient. This state of mind does not help their driving, to put it mildly.

A lady has just overtaken a long queue of traffic on the wrong side of the road, with her hand on the horn the whole way past. Who knows if anyone else was coming the other way? How does she know they would back down before her in today's game of chicken?

Me, I like to wait for the Iftar call to prayer at about 5:30pm and cycle home on the deserted streets when all you can hear is the chink of cutlery on crockery.