Parallel World

The journey into downtown Cairo was not the calamitous experience I expected, partly because it was Friday, a day off for Egyptians. Thank God for that! To be reprieved from Cairo motorists is a blessing. It was good to see Groppi’s café. I read a letter there in 1983 having cycled to the Source of the White Nile and back. It told me news of my mother’s death, expected. I stood there, 25 years later and looked blankly at the same table and chair where I sat. How the waterwheels of life trundle on… ... Read more ›

Just arrived in Cairo. The traffic is the worst I have ever encountered. Across country, fine, but in Cairo they are mental. It’s dusk and four lanes of traffic descend at very fast speed into the city. I see from the corner of my eye a blue car with an arm stuck out indicating he was going right, and he did… in a long, fast sweeping arc of a movement and at 80mph, as if I wasn’t there.

He was going and I had to get out of the way… ... Read more ›