On Wednesday night, I played a predominantly-solo gig at the Boss Bar in Maadi. It was the first time I've done a night like this in a long time and to be honest I was rather nervous about the whole thing. I knew that I'd be able to play okay, but worried about whether I'd have enough material to fill the 2 hour slot. Fortunately my talented friends came and played some songs with me, which eased the nerves and took some pressure off me.
It was also the first time I had the Headrush pedal out for an extended period of time and I wasn't sure how it'd hold up! As it turns out, it held up brilliantly :-)
The set featured a range of different things from English folk to American bluegrass by way of funk, soul, dreamy ballads, pop, rock and a good dose of original songs.
I've not uploaded every song from the gig, but if you're so inclined I've put quite a lot of them online to give a taste of the evening. If the embedable playlist function works you should be able to watch them all in order below, and navigate between them with the side arrows on the video display or with the still frames at the bottom. There's 14 songs in total...
Friday, 29 May 2009
Tuesday, 26 May 2009
Tummy Trouble
I just thought I would blog about our most recent - and ongoing - bout of tummy trouble.
We went on for ages when we first started the blog about our tummy troubles and the various drugs we were perscribed to try and sort them out. Since then we have been generally OK, but every now and then have been ill from something or other. For me, being ill, means about 24 hours of tummy trouble, so I eat sensibly and then it sorts itself out. We have found no rule, rhyme or reason to when and where we get ill. We, or people we know, have been ill once at most restaurants in Maadi, and even from cooking at home! Most times it goes away after a day, but a few times we have had to take other drugs when it has gone on for longer. We self-perscribe Antinel which is actually an antiseptic, rather than an antibiotic, and so clears the stomach out.
I had to take a five-day course of Antinel after we got back from Dahab and was hoping that with only two months left in Egypt I'd be able to make it home without needing to do so again - however this weekend was different!
On Friday I was really really ill - I couldn't stray very far from the bathroom at all, but thought that it could be a 24-hour thing again, so we went out for dinner and the opera as planned. I was wrong about it lasting just 24 hours and after spending the whole of the interval in the bathroom by the Second Act I think I was really quite dehydrated and had a terrible headache, aching bones and the shivers! I was close to saying I wanted to go home, but I had a sip of flat coke before the Third Act and felt much better. I headed to bed straight away and was sipping rehydrating solution all night. The next day I started on a new drug that the pharmacist gave me, Streptoquin, and stuck to Pocari Sweat, bread and couscous all day.
We think it must have been the fruit juice from the Khan El Khalili restaurant that I'd had the night before. We normally stay off fruit juices in places we don't know, but we thought this would be OK as the restaurant is very Western.
So that night (Saturday), mum and I had very plain couscous to eat but Scotty had our left-overs from La Rosa which we had on mum's first night (Thursday) - as it wasn't fair for him to be on plain food too. This was our error though! As the next day Scotty got really ill! So there must have been something in the pasta sauce that caused it. Poor Scotty was so ill that he went to the clinic at school and was told to "sit down, no lie down" while waiting to be seen and then was quickly sent home to rest. He, like me, got dehydrated and had the headache and achey joints. They stuck him straight away on a week course of Flagyl and Antinel.
So all in all - not a great eating expereince this week!! Much as we enjoy living here, this is one thing that I really wouldn't miss!!!
We went on for ages when we first started the blog about our tummy troubles and the various drugs we were perscribed to try and sort them out. Since then we have been generally OK, but every now and then have been ill from something or other. For me, being ill, means about 24 hours of tummy trouble, so I eat sensibly and then it sorts itself out. We have found no rule, rhyme or reason to when and where we get ill. We, or people we know, have been ill once at most restaurants in Maadi, and even from cooking at home! Most times it goes away after a day, but a few times we have had to take other drugs when it has gone on for longer. We self-perscribe Antinel which is actually an antiseptic, rather than an antibiotic, and so clears the stomach out.
I had to take a five-day course of Antinel after we got back from Dahab and was hoping that with only two months left in Egypt I'd be able to make it home without needing to do so again - however this weekend was different!
On Friday I was really really ill - I couldn't stray very far from the bathroom at all, but thought that it could be a 24-hour thing again, so we went out for dinner and the opera as planned. I was wrong about it lasting just 24 hours and after spending the whole of the interval in the bathroom by the Second Act I think I was really quite dehydrated and had a terrible headache, aching bones and the shivers! I was close to saying I wanted to go home, but I had a sip of flat coke before the Third Act and felt much better. I headed to bed straight away and was sipping rehydrating solution all night. The next day I started on a new drug that the pharmacist gave me, Streptoquin, and stuck to Pocari Sweat, bread and couscous all day.
We think it must have been the fruit juice from the Khan El Khalili restaurant that I'd had the night before. We normally stay off fruit juices in places we don't know, but we thought this would be OK as the restaurant is very Western.
So that night (Saturday), mum and I had very plain couscous to eat but Scotty had our left-overs from La Rosa which we had on mum's first night (Thursday) - as it wasn't fair for him to be on plain food too. This was our error though! As the next day Scotty got really ill! So there must have been something in the pasta sauce that caused it. Poor Scotty was so ill that he went to the clinic at school and was told to "sit down, no lie down" while waiting to be seen and then was quickly sent home to rest. He, like me, got dehydrated and had the headache and achey joints. They stuck him straight away on a week course of Flagyl and Antinel.
So all in all - not a great eating expereince this week!! Much as we enjoy living here, this is one thing that I really wouldn't miss!!!
Saturday, 23 May 2009
How to visit Mokattam / Zebaleen / St Samaan
St Samaan is the amazing church that has been carved into the rock of the Mokattam Hills on the edge of Cairo.
The Association for the Protection of the Environment (A.P.E.) is an important community project in Mokattam which works with the people in "garbage city" to empower women, protect and develop children, introduce health support services and manufactuing recycling. There is a paper recycling scheme and rag recycling. In the shop you can buy all sorts of hand-made paper products, embroidery pictures and cards, then rag rugs, rag bags, cushion covers, quilts and lots more. It's really worthwhile making a visit and buying some lovely presents for people that do make a difference.
The Association for the Protection of the Environment (A.P.E.) is an important community project in Mokattam which works with the people in "garbage city" to empower women, protect and develop children, introduce health support services and manufactuing recycling. There is a paper recycling scheme and rag recycling. In the shop you can buy all sorts of hand-made paper products, embroidery pictures and cards, then rag rugs, rag bags, cushion covers, quilts and lots more. It's really worthwhile making a visit and buying some lovely presents for people that do make a difference.
How to get there!!
On the left is the booklet from St Samaan and the right is the A.P.E leaflet and logo. Could be useful to show to people when asking for directions once you are in Mokattam.
The map (thank you, Christine for starting this off!) shows that you use the Ring Road and take the right turn just at the Citadel after the overpass. This is actually sign-posted to Mokattam. Then take an immediate left into Mokattam (once you have taken this left it looks like there might be three roads to chose from, but only one of them is tarmac - take this one).
To get to St Samaan you need to take a right hand turn up a steep tarmac road. This turn is passed the one "main" cross roads and is opposite a MobilNil shop. Just follow the road and you find the church.
To get to the APE project and shop keep along the main road until you get to a T-junction. Take a right and follow this road around and take a left at the next T-junction. The gates are then on your left and have the logo on them. The workshops and the shops are in the first building on your left.
Up to date phone numbers for A.P.E!!
2-02-234-12723
2-02-234-38556
2-01-57 88328
most recent website (but out of date numbers) http://www.ape.org.eg/
The Church of Saint Samaan
Today we hired a driver to take us into the Mokattam hills behind the Citadel to the settlement where the Zabaleen (rubbish collectors) live and work. Alice has been before, but it was the first time that Annette (who is visiting us at the moment) and myself had been. We spent some time at the APE Project where we bought some bits and bobs, but really the main reason to go was to see the spectacular church of Saint Samaan, quarried out of the limestone mountain.
Tuesday, 12 May 2009
UKNova Radio - 10th May 2009
This week on the radio we were generally ramblign about things, with an eclectic selection of tracks. But - despite having no guests - it still seemed quite interesting. Or at least we thought it was!
Download podcast here.
Alternatively, stay on this website and listen to the show in the MP3 player below:
Download podcast here.
Alternatively, stay on this website and listen to the show in the MP3 player below:
Monday, 11 May 2009
Jammie Dodgers
A couple of months ago I delved into my last packet of Jammie Dodgers - caringly imported by our lovely friends and family. I won't say much more about my experience here, instead leaving it to the letter I sent them...
Today I got a reply, written with a good-natured sense of humour. Hooray! Although there's lots of good lines in here, my favourite is probably, "Tops have been used instead of bottoms".
Today I got a reply, written with a good-natured sense of humour. Hooray! Although there's lots of good lines in here, my favourite is probably, "Tops have been used instead of bottoms".
Friday, 8 May 2009
Postcards
As we were walking around Aswan at Christmas, we noticed a large number of what can only be described as "terrible" postcards. These are cards that are either decades out of date, feature bland focal points, or are generally uninspiring considering they're designed to be bought.
However, as if to undermine the truly shocking nature of these cards - and the fact they really should be left to rot in the sun - we have started to buy them. It's taken us a while to get round to scanning and uploading them, but for your enjoyment here's our first batch!
Taba: Where dreams are made of concrete!
+Road+Network.jpg)
Philae: even older than the postcard
Nuweiba: dock here and wish you hadn't bothered
Esna Lock: Boats! Water! Concrete!
Dahab: The best bins in Egypt
Dahab: to be fair, this one is quite nice and shows the Lighthouse reef where we did our PADI Open Water
However, as if to undermine the truly shocking nature of these cards - and the fact they really should be left to rot in the sun - we have started to buy them. It's taken us a while to get round to scanning and uploading them, but for your enjoyment here's our first batch!
Taba: Where dreams are made of concrete!+Road+Network.jpg)
Ruwi: The pride of the Omani transport network
Philae: even older than the postcard
Nuweiba: dock here and wish you hadn't bothered
Esna Lock: Boats! Water! Concrete!
Dahab: The best bins in Egypt
Dahab: to be fair, this one is quite nice and shows the Lighthouse reef where we did our PADI Open Water
The Cairo TV Tower: transmitting shows that are as uninspiring as the architecture
The Cairo Tower: you guessed it - more concrete!
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