Halcyon Days In Egypt

In some ways I think of  Egypt as my third home.  Now we must hope for a peaceful and positive outcome to the recent harrowing days of protest.

Many visitors to Cairo are at first overwhelmed with the noise, the dust, the traffic.  But behind this powerful veneer lies a splendid, functioning, medieval city. This photo captures some key elements of Cairo ..... a mosque in the foreground, felukkas on the Nile and the Pyramids of Giza faintly seen though the red, dusty air.

The River and the Delta form such a tiny percentage of the total area of Egypt; most is arid desert. In the distance, you can see the sharp delineation between sand and the fertile agricultural land.

It is a grand people-watching location, mainly folks just going about their business. The knife grinder, the yam seller, the potter with his kilns and the fellahin.

The children ........

A man having a quite smoke ....... and inevitably the less fortunate .....

Of course friends were essential components of my life.  Both Egyptian (Salah Zafaan and me)

and those special expatriate friends who were almost in loco parentis to me as a single young man.

And I suppose we should not forget that, after all, our business reason for being there was to find oil, in partnership with our Egyptian colleagues.

Egypt:  I think about you nearly every day in these troubling times.