*** Monday, 14Aug06 ***
Paul remarked this A.M. that British airlines were going to require travelers to put everything into luggage including their clothes and fly naked, using the boarding pass to cover their privates.

*** Thursday, 17Aug06 ***
http://www.trafficegypt.com/2006/docs/content.aspx?cat=49&dt=0
"Road Safety in Egypt
Egypt has some of the highest road accident rates in the world and road accident fatalities are the second major cause of avoidable death in Egypt after heart diseases.

"Traffic volumes on Egypt's roads have been growing steadily at an average rate of 3% every year for the last 20 years and today there are almost 3.4 million vehicles of various types - and in various states of poor repair - on Egypt's roads. With an increasing population and the recent personal tax cuts the vehicle growth rate - and in turn the accident rate - is expected to increase and although modern vehicles are far safer than the 10-30 year old vehicles often seen in Egypt, there has to be an increase in accident rates."

*** Monday, 21Aug06 ***
The weather has gradually changed from hot and dry to hotter and steamy. This morning you could not see across the Nile because there was a true fog. It burnt off by 10 A.M. but the moisture hung in the air and made being outside unpleasant.

Ahmed, the lifeguard.

I walked to the Nile Hilton. The lobby is bigger than the Semiramis and more spacious with shops at ground level. I walked around enjoying the experience and went into the Taverne Bar. I took a seat at the bar and watched several customers practice the Tango. Tim, a tallish, slim man of about 30 to 35 was seated at the bar and I noticed that he had a band tattooed on one wrist and two or three band tattooed on the other arm near the elbow. In a British accent he asked me if I followed Egyptian football. A long talk followed. He was adept at seeming to keep up his end of the conversation but really contributed very little while seeming to contribute a lot. I noticed but kept on talking. Just someone feigning to listen was all it took for me. He asked questions about the fall of the US dollar and other economic matters.

As it turned out, another guy, Mike, was seated just beyond Tim and was listening to the conversation -- if only because my voice was so loud. He joined the conversation and seemed to think Tim something of a fraud but Tim was very good at saying that he was not expressing his own opinions, just something he had read, etc.

It got to be 10:30 P.M. and I realized I had to get to bed so I even declined a free beer from a Brit who announced to us that his company required he travel by car even when a train was faster and because of that he was NOT on the trains that had collided that morning killing more than fifty people.

As I left, Tim asked me if I had a card -- which I gave him -- and apologized for not having one of his own.

*** Thursday, 24Aug06 ***
The weather had been so hot that when I got back to the hotel I rushed to the pool to enjoy a cold Sakhara and get the last of the sun. The pool gets warmer and warmer and is now not at all fun to be in.

I have been photographing the pool staff ever since I arrived. They are uniformly handsome guys with pleasant personalities but I felt obliged to sneak my pictures none-the-less. This week I decided to give Ahmed a nice picture I had of him.

I put his 8 by 10 size picture in a plastic sleeve and when he walked by me at the pool, I called him over and gave it to him. He was flabbergasted, completely blown away, just because I had given him a nice picture of himself. He thanked me profusely and I just said, No problem. He went and showed his picture to the other lifeguards and they were very impressed. One guy, Haythom, even asked me for a picture.

The next day I was at the pool and Ahmed came over to me and said, "Would you like another towel?" I said, Yes and he put a folded towel on my chaise and opened it to reveal three alabaster pyramids of different sizes. Now it was my turn to be amazed. I thanked him very much and he said how much he liked his photograph.

I gave the second guy, Haythom, his picture and he was deeply moved. He sat at his post and stared at it in a reverie. I wonder if these guys ever had their picture before?

They are nice guys and I am even learning their names -- not easy here since nothing is familiar. I used to photograph them surreptitiously but now I tell them the poses I want and they cooperate because they want pictures of themselves.

No less than two of them have given me Egyptiana (tourist junk) as a thank you. Regeb gave me a small Horus statue -- even before I took his picture. At this rate, I could end up with a ton of free crap before I leave.

Sherif sitting in a McDonalds with an image of a mountainous desert behind him.

I took pictures of three more life guards and had a good picture of one, a second Ahmed, but he was not at the pool today.

I couldn't control myself and showed Regeb, Ahmed No. 2's picture. He was so impressed he asked me for a copy and told me that Ahmed No. 2 was off for a week. These pictures have certainly put me on the map at the pool.

Tonight I walked up Talaat Harb nearly to the end and bought 22 half liter cans of Heineken. The young man and I counted them out as I put them in my backpack and it seemed to me that he had given me 21 instead of 22. I must have showed my impression some way because he asked me if I had 22 and I just said OK since I didn't think he would cheat me. He insisted we take the beer out of the bag and count it again it turned out that he had given me 21 so he gave me one more. An honest man.

It was silly of me to walk back to the hotel -- I should have taken a cab -- but I did and in Tahrir Square my bag zippers parted and a can fell out. I put the bag down carefully but three more cans fell out so now I was on a public sidewalk with cans of Heineken rolling on the pavement. I quickly got the cans back in the bag and realized that I would never be able to trust those zippers again.

After I parked the beer in the half-fridge I walked almost all the way back up Talaat Harb to the Metro Theatre. It had been described to me as one of those converted variety theaters that dated from the thirties and forties. I hadn't sat in a balcony in a theater in decades and wanted that old-time experience but when I got there I realized it had been converted into a four-theater miniplex that was so crowded I doubted I could even get a ticket so I walked back down Talaat Harb and decided to go to the Nile Hilton for a change of scenery. When I got there there was a wedding going on very much in the motif I had experienced in the Semiramis. Bagpipes, tambourine players, and that VERY loud horn. I escaped the festivities as quickly as I could.

*** Friday, 25Aug06 ***
I woke up just before 10 A.M. and got my act together. I decided to walk to Zamaleck to see if the Song of Silver jewelry store was open. I didn't expect it to be open but it was and I tried to buy three more Hands of Fatima. As it turned out they had only one so I had to by two "Eye"s.

The Drinkies was closed for the holy day so I took a cab back to the Semiramis and ate the Corniche Cafe breakfast. When I ordered it I made my now necessary statement that the cheese omelet have cheese in it and the waiter said, "I know, Mr. Kelley," but I didn't get the feel that he really believed that ALL cheese omelets should have cheese in them. No matter, at least I got what I needed.

I am beginning to count the days till I leave, October 1. It's just over a month now. I have been working hard all the time here but I have to be sure that I have completed my specific assignments.

That's my focus now.