Headlights optional...

As you already know if you’ve been reading this blog, I do a lot of walking on the streets of Cairo. Much of this walking happens at night, on my way home from work / the gym/ some social gathering. For those of you who haven’t spent much time in poorer countries, don’t think street lights and nice pavements. Think impassable pavements (pot-holes/ piles of rubbish with cats/ parked cars), total darkness, non-stop hectic traffic, lots of men sitting on their arses, double or treble layers of parked cars at the side of the road etc etc. Most of the time, I’m at the edge of the street, alternately pushing myself up against parked cars to avoid the traffic, and walking further into the street to avoid the men…

Other little quirks that make the walk that little bit more interesting include the fact that:
1) Headlights are optional. Sometimes, if I have my ipod on, I won’t know a car is behind me until the very last minute. At that point, the driver tends to flash his (99.9% of the time it’s a ‘he’) headlights and then I have to attempt to duck between parked cars. Generally, the gap between the parked cars is so small that I have to plaster myself up against the car instead… (and try not to look at all sexual while doing it!). So headlights become a type of lighthouse beacon rather than a permanent fixture of night-time driving…
2) Over 50% of oncoming drivers seem to like to do an extra swerve towards me and away from whatever it is they’re avoiding (other pedestrian/ a random piece of furniture in the road/ a car that’s stopped for the hell of it/ a donkey). Sometimes I can almost feel the car brush up against me and I catch my breath in momentary fear. Is this another way for attention-starved men to feel manly???