Dead Kittens

I was walking home from the postoffice this afternoon and enjoying the sunshine and a slightly cooler nip in the air, and then I saw this dead kittne on the pavement. There was a time when I would have sat down on the kerb and cried at the sight of this little thing, but fortunately I've developed a tougher skin over the years. But it's still sad to see the half-starved horses being beaten on the streets, and to find dead little cats on the pavement. It's just one other element of life here that makes the days a bit tougher.

Of course, there is also a great deal of animal pain and suffering in British and American societies, but it is kept hidden from public view in large factory farms and abattoirs. This is why I'm a vegetarian... But public and open animal cruelty is generally regarded as unacceptable and something that would generate disapproval. Are British and US societies hypocritical with regard to their treatment of animals? Of course. But I still appreciate the fact that beating a dog or an emaciated horse is not regarded as acceptable behaviour.

Balancing Acts around Cairo

I'm continually impressed at the balancing acts I see people perform on the streets here. I didn't manage to photograph the guy with bread on his head actually biking - he biked past me and then the Danish Embassy security guard stopped him.

Egyptian Museum of Modern Art

I spent a lovely Saturday afternoon in the Opera House complex in Zamalek. I finally found some solitude and peace!! I even managed to eat a sandwich sitting on the steps of the Museum of Modern Art without getting harassed. And there was classical music playing over the sound system..... ahhhhhhhh......
There were some interesting pieces in the museum. I took photographs of the ones that really caught my eye. More of the photographs are posted on my flickr account and on my other blog, http://spiritualsustenance.blogspot.com/

On this blog, I've decided to post a picture entitled something like "crowding" or "over-population". It was in the section where modern artists had been asked to capture elements of life in Cairo. There were, of course, more classically 'beautiful' images, but this painting reflects the chaos and crowds in the street here and the reason why I'm finding it so difficult to get any kind of real peace...

Daily Torture to the Ears... Calls to Prayer

Back in 2005, Muhammad Ahmad told the BBC that: "Rather than being a joy, to listen to the call to prayer is a daily torture to the ears." I could deeply sympathise with the description of the morning prayers given by Ahmad, a Cairo resident. My apartment is directly opposite a mosque and the morning call to prayer manages to rip into my sleep even with ear plugs firmly implanted (yes, yes, I know such firm implanation can't be good for the ears... but severe lack of sleep will also have bad effects...).

The BBC describes beautifully how:
"Just before dawn, Cairo resident Muhammad Ahmad is jolted out of his peaceful sleep by a thunderous azan, or call to prayer, roaring out from huge speakers attached to a very modest mosque two streets away.
A few moments later a second, even louder muezzin's voice joins in - not in time or in tune with the first call to prayer - summoning him to do his duty, this time at the local prayer hall just around the corner.
Over the next few minutes, at least half a dozen other voices of varying tunefulness join in - distorting the sound of the azans and making them sound like a military order.
Being invited to rise and pray is one thing, but discordant bellowing is quite another. ...

"Some of the mosques blast not just the roughly dozen sentences of the call itself," he wrote, "but all of the verses and actual prayers intoned by the local imam."
When all the local mosques do the same thing competing with one another in volume, what should be an announcement lasting at most two minutes goes on for 45 minutes, keeping the entire neighbourhood in a state of high alert.
"I'm not an irreligious man," he explains.
"But there were no loudspeakers at the time of the Prophet. Now, rather than being a joy, to listen to the call to prayer is a daily torture to the ears."

The main point of the article is to describe the controversy that arose in 2005 when the Ministry of Religious Endowments attempted to unify the call for prayer and have it broadcast from one spot. The opposition was allegedly huge, with citizens claiming that America had backed this idea (to silence radical muezzins in individual mosques), or that the Egyptian government was attempting to get its own message across by destroying the range of calls given by different muezzins.

So, 2 years later, nothing is resolved. And many people living in Cairo (yes, that would include me!) are left to suffer through a microphoned cacophony of tuneless prayers.

Maybe the apartment is pretty, but the outside? Ugly as hell

My apartment is lovely on the inside, but that doesn't mean that the walls in the corridor outside aren't dirty and crumbling, and that the lift doesn't look like it's about to snap off its wire! Every single lift in the buildings here (apart from the posh hotels) are nasty looking death-traps with doors that only half close and a faint smell of piss. The stairwells aren't much better, though I usually opt for these above the lifts (at least I can get off the stairs in a powercut!). In addition, every 'courtyard' in the centre of the buildings basically doubles up as a rubbish tip/ cat paradise. These photographs were taken from the 'courtyard' in the offices of AMERA, the refugee non-profit where I am doing some work. The building itself has a beautiful marble staircase and is located in the prestigious embassy district in Garden City. The British Embassy is directly opposite. But, as usual, there is a rubbish dump right in the middle of the building (and this is an exact replica of the 'courtyard' in my apartment complex). The keen-sighted blog readers can try to spot all the cats!

Midan Tahrir

This "Times Square" of Cairo is called Midan Tahrir. I walk through this downtown square most evenings and attempt to navigate the crazy traffic and frantic crowds. I love watching the families who are gathered around the statue (can't work out who the turbaned dude is...), peacefully picnicking while hundreds of cars pump out fumes fit for a chain-smoker. I also think it's interesting to see the minarets and palm-tree lined (crumbling) promenades next to the flashing Sanyo/ Coca-Cola signs.

Cairo Shopfronts III: Post-Office and Brooms

There isn't much to say about these photos: I loved the image of all the back-lit brooms in the hardware shop and I liked the dude on the phone outside the post-office, complete with his headgear.

Cairo Shopfronts II

Here are a couple more shopfronts that caught my eye this evening. The shop on the far RHS appears to sell underwear. The window display changes frequently and I'm continually amazed what appears on these models. Sometimes the female figures (like the girl model in this picture) are veiled. Sometimes the underwear is modest and unsexy. But most times there is a strange blend of hijabs/veils, and lingerie suitable for the most racey XX movies. What exactly is the woman wearing in this photograph?? I love the fact that she has a modest scarf draped over her shoulders and long sleeves covering her arms, but also has gaping holes all down her breasts and thighs! I guess we never know what women are wearing under their niqabs!

I also liked the photo of the flower shop with all the plastic flowers out on display. There are some beautiful fresh-flower displays in some of the houses and offices in Cairo. But more frequently, people have grand displays of plastic flowers -- if gold gilt and any other extra embellishment can also be incorporated, then all the better!

Brightly-lit Nile

Ok...ok... I know I've already added a few photos that look exactly like this. But, at the moment, I'm still entranced when I walk home over the Nile and see the disco boats lined up, the permanent restaurant boats all lit up and the skyscrapers towering in the distance. I can't capture all the noise, energy and craziness that comes with this image. And I can't describe the hot and dusty wind that was tangling my hair as I took this shot. But I hope you can imagine some of what I feel every evening when I look down at the dark Nile surging below me, hear the latest Arabic pop tunes floating up from the disco boats and attempt to avoid any stray hand belonging to the men crowding the pavements.

Maybe this place should be called Caitro? Cats, cats, cats

I've never seen so many cats in one city-- usually because where there are large populations of stray animals, most of those strays are dogs so that the cat population is kept under control -- or at least more hidden from view. Here, the felines rule. And they aren't just little skinny cats. They are true street cats: part cat, part tiger, with massive heads and thick necks. They are everywhere.... lurking under the parked cars, sitting in the middle of the pavement, up in every little nook and cranny of a building.
Given the central role that these cats play in my daily life, I decided that I should include regular random shots of cats on the street. So here is my first photo of a couple of cats on the wall directly opposite the office where I work.

Bumper to Bumper: The obstacle course of Cairo's pavements

As I've mentioned in a previous posting, the cars here in Cairo are often parked bumper to bumper. I took a photo today of the cars that are parked outside my office so you can see why so many people end up walking on the road: you just can't access the pavement! The doormen (called bawabs) who sit outside most buildings here push the parked cars together -- either by pushing down hard on the back bumper so that the car 'bounces' forward, or by letting off the handbreak (if the door isn't locked!) and rolling it forward. This leads to great space efficiency on the parking front. But it also means that you have to be very thin, or agile enough to climb over the cars, if you want to get through to the other side. I'm going to start practicing my stunt forward rolls over the car bonnets...

Egyptian Shopfronts. Part I: Hijabs and stilletoes

I decided to take photos of my favourite shop-fronts on my walk home this evening. I ended up taking about 10 photos (they're all up on my facebook account), so I will post them over a few days. The pictures as a group capture some of the crazy juxtapositions and quirks of Cairo: hijabs (veils) next to a shop with high-heeled diamente boots; open-air unrefrigerated meat; red dates; nasty local alcohol; back-lit dangling brooms...

I hope it will help you imagine a little better my long walk home at night. I'm never bored!

Disco Boats... got to love them!

Most people who have never spent time in Cairo probably imagine the Nile as a mysterious body of water that flows silently and steadily through the heart of the capital. Think again. I’m afraid bull-rushes and fellucas (sail boats) aren’t the predominant sight on the Cairo section of the Nile. Instead, the big rage is the “disco boat.” As you can see from the photograph, the ‘disco boat’ is basically a floating pile of fairy lights with loud speakers strapped to the sides. All manner of terrible Arabic music blasts from these boats, adding to the constant noise that bombards me on my walk home. My mum is visiting me in February. I bet she can’t wait to join me for some floating disco moves…