Woe is me … poor, poor pitiful me!!

It’s just not fair to have a place’s reputation affected by how the observer feels at the time of the “observing” – a comment I made just over a month ago when my quality of life improved dramatically with the arrival in Egypt of the love of my life. But now the table has been turned. As I write this, my darling Cathy is on her way back to Australia. So this makes my world dull and glum and much of the colour of Cairo has disappeared for me.

My remaining 2½ weeks here will, I expect, be largely now only of a work purpose. Before Cathy arrived I, pretty much, elected not to be a tourist and my enjoyment of my temporary “home town” rested mostly in the thrill of discovery. While I was with her (and we were blest with a number of bonus days when I could not be at work due to the holidays) we had a ball. Now I am without Cathy and I feel much more comfortable with Cairo so the spirit of adventure has waned. The next few weeks will seem mundane. While Cathy had Maryann with her while I was working, Cathy’s pleasure was much greater. So all of this highlights the sort of “home is where the heart is” argument and, for me is a timely reminder that the people in our lives are the very essence of our lives.

I had been very concerned that Cathy would be “bored” or frustrated by the days when she was alone here without either Maryann or me (I think 11 days in all). But Cathy is fairly irrepressible and although she spent a few days mostly reading and relaxing in the hotel room, she continued to “attack” Cairo – heading for new places on her own in subway trains and taxis, and revisiting the previously visited, discovering even more interest in them.

Perhaps demonstrative of her adventurous spirit and her gregarious nature, last week Cathy made a new friend in Cairo and they spent a couple of days together as Cathy showed her the ropes. Her friend had just arrived from Melbourne to spend some time with her husband who is working here for an even longer stint than me and they met in a dress shop. It is truly a small world when such things can happen. This chance event gave Cathy a boost for her last few days here and we two couples even managed a night out together at a Zamalek Italian restaurant.



My days of pleasant dinners with my bride in Cairo are over now and I have to face nights alone in my room where one is drawn to pathetic therapeutic activities like taking photos of one’s feet while watching CNN. But there will be a procession of work colleagues visiting Cairo in the next couple of weeks so I expect that I will have some company at most meals. Just as well perhaps as I doubt my resolve to dine alone in our now familiar dining rooms.

I truly am counting down the days now – with but 15 working days remaining and yet much to do, I have to make every work day a winner and this requires some careful juggling of the remaining hours I have here. And there are just two weekends left, likely to be spent working on my laptop and maybe re-visiting a couple of sites here that have particularly impressed me and pretty much lend themselves to a re-visit alone.

All this bodes for some fairly dull material for the blog so maybe we will see abridged versions in future.

Meanwhile, my thoughts are clearly with my darling wife as she negotiates the 27 hour journey from Cairo airport to Brisbane airport – a journey across half a world, a great gulf of tradition and culture, and across the seasons. I will be spiritually sharing every moment of her trip with her.