Saturday, October 31, 2009

The view from my bamboo hut

We have just arrived at Basata on the Red Sea after three days cut off from the outside world at Al Karm in the heart of the Sinai mountains. Will be putting our feet up for a while.

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Sunday, October 25, 2009

Hummingbird Hawk Moth

Found this little chap buzzing round the garden tonight - a huge moth with the amazing distinctive pattern on the wings. His right wing is a little moth-eaten though.  Check out his curled tongue in the first picture. He was flitting round all the flowers gathering nectar.

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Home made sushi

For Toby's birthday some kind soul gave him a do-it-yourself sushi kit. Everything you need for a sushi feast. And he decided to share it with me. For Single Dad Week (Felicity comes home tonight), just the two of us and some raw fish. All made from scratch.

We overdid the wasabi on our first Nigiri pieces and nearly had to call the paramedics. It was serious!

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Sunday, October 18, 2009

Cars of Cairo. 50's Mercedes

Any ideas on the model? 190? It's in beautiful condition all round. Spotted by Cafe Greco on Road 9.

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Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Shane Beales - recording strings.

A friend, worship leader, amazing songwriter and musician from Frontline church - home, really. Here's an insight into his work.

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Saturday, October 10, 2009

Went to desert, made a fire, cooked some steak.

Our Norwegian friends are staying with us this weekend. We knew each other very well the first time we lived in Cairo, in 1999 & 2000. So we took them to Wadi Digla of course. We explored a cave and had a great meal. Steak always tastes better cooked in the outdoors on a fire.

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Monday, October 05, 2009

The tale of the towed truck

Bonus points to anyone who can identify this heap I found parked under a bridge last night.

Anyway, to the tale. For once the boot was on the other foot and it was not my car being towed. I went to rescue a friend whose 4x4 had broken down at Carrefour. It's quite an experience towing a big heavy car through Maadi at night. The traffic is heavier in the evening and no-one wants to cut you any slack. We had drivers trying to force their way in between the two cars, pedestrians trying to cross between the two cars (one guy nearly got his legs taken off by the tow strap) and a cyclist who stopped himself at the last possible moment from doing the same thing. And please bear in mind this is quite a short tow strap. At one point it even broke because my friend had to jam on the brakes as another driver tried to force his way past just as I was accelerating to get out of the way of the same driver. Poor tow strap.

Still the package (4x4) was safely delivered to the mechanic in the end and we have another interesting experience added to our Cairo Chronicles.

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Saturday, October 03, 2009