While we were in Dahab (and on our return) we found that the internet has been incredibly slow. It turns out the cable that connects us to the rest of the world has been broken. Again. This is the third time in as many years!
This time it's off the coast of Marseilles, so at least Alexandrian fishermen aren't to blame!
Apparently we should be back to full speed by the start of next week.
Thursday, 29 April 2010
Monday, 26 April 2010
SS Thistlegorm
Since first learning to dive, we've wanted to visit SS Thistlegorm. Used by the British military as a cargo ship in WW2, she was sunk on 6th October 1941 by two Heinkel He-111 bombers on a mission from their base in Crete. The wreck site holds a strange fascination: a massive ship, a bomb site, intact cargo. 9 sailors died when the ship went down and, although their remains are no longer there, it casts a large shadow over the 'fun' of diving. This site is a snapshot of history, and I really didn't know how I would react (emotionally) at seeing it for the first time.
We did two dives on the Thistlegorm. The first was a swim around the outside of the ship and the second involved us entering holds 1 and 2 to see their cargo. In the choppy waters with strong current we were pleased to have a strong mooring line that we could use to pull ourselves down to the wreck. And the sight that greeted us at first putting our head underwater was astounding: there it was! This mass of metal, bow and stern clearly visible but with an enormous hole blasted straight through the middle and the surrounding deck bent and twisted, covered with the tangled remains of cargo.
We did two dives on the Thistlegorm. The first was a swim around the outside of the ship and the second involved us entering holds 1 and 2 to see their cargo. In the choppy waters with strong current we were pleased to have a strong mooring line that we could use to pull ourselves down to the wreck. And the sight that greeted us at first putting our head underwater was astounding: there it was! This mass of metal, bow and stern clearly visible but with an enormous hole blasted straight through the middle and the surrounding deck bent and twisted, covered with the tangled remains of cargo.
Video 1 - External
As it turned out the reaction I had to diving the Thistlegorm resulted in nothing more than increased air consumption, although this itself meant our dives were shorter than perhaps we would have liked. This isn't to say I didn't feel any emotional reaction to being among this wreck. I found the holds strangely homely: although less scrupulous divers have evidently taken souvenirs from some of the cargo, the neat arrangement of supplies looked like it was an underwater museum.
Video 2 - Internal
Friday, 23 April 2010
Felukulele gig
We had a small Felukulele gig last night.... Small in terms of Felukulele numbers, rather than audience, as actually it was the largest audience we have played to yet!
One of our members had been asked by a contact at her church if we would play their Spring Concert as a lot of the members had seen the YouTube video and knew she was a member. After a quick canvass by email we decided to go for it, but knew our numbers would be low as it was scheduled to be the Thursday at the start of the week-long break between Term 2 and Term 3, so a lot of people would be travelling.
We settled on our numbers being; Hey Jude, Winner Takes It All, and ending with our top hit old Bazaar in Cairo. This was decided before finding out that the theme of the event was "celebrate the family" and maybe our first two choices weren't entirely in keeping, but hey ho!
The concert was at a Villa in Maadi as was a family affair. We were made very welcome and even had signs on our reserved seats saying "Reserved for Felukulele International Winners". This was also our billing in the programme!
We were a troop of four that night, owing to two people unable to play at the last minute - one because of the flight chaos and the other due to food poisoning - but our playing and singing went down well, with a nice applause.
After the concert everyone was invited into the garden of the Villa where a table of homemade cookies had been laid on. While we tried to sample one of each kind, we soon found ourselves full of chocolate-y goodness! Whilst socialising in the garden a number of people from the audience came up to us to say they had enjoyed our pieces and ask about the band. On our way home we heard a call from the other side of the street "Hey! You're the ukulele players! That was cool!" It was members of the high school choir who had sung some amazing pieces at the concert too. Being noticed in the street - does that make us officially famous now?
One of our members had been asked by a contact at her church if we would play their Spring Concert as a lot of the members had seen the YouTube video and knew she was a member. After a quick canvass by email we decided to go for it, but knew our numbers would be low as it was scheduled to be the Thursday at the start of the week-long break between Term 2 and Term 3, so a lot of people would be travelling.
We settled on our numbers being; Hey Jude, Winner Takes It All, and ending with our top hit old Bazaar in Cairo. This was decided before finding out that the theme of the event was "celebrate the family" and maybe our first two choices weren't entirely in keeping, but hey ho!
The concert was at a Villa in Maadi as was a family affair. We were made very welcome and even had signs on our reserved seats saying "Reserved for Felukulele International Winners". This was also our billing in the programme!
We were a troop of four that night, owing to two people unable to play at the last minute - one because of the flight chaos and the other due to food poisoning - but our playing and singing went down well, with a nice applause.
After the concert everyone was invited into the garden of the Villa where a table of homemade cookies had been laid on. While we tried to sample one of each kind, we soon found ourselves full of chocolate-y goodness! Whilst socialising in the garden a number of people from the audience came up to us to say they had enjoyed our pieces and ask about the band. On our way home we heard a call from the other side of the street "Hey! You're the ukulele players! That was cool!" It was members of the high school choir who had sung some amazing pieces at the concert too. Being noticed in the street - does that make us officially famous now?
Bonus Visitors
It can't have escaped many people's notice that a volcano is erupting and spewing tonnes of ash in Iceland at the moment. Whilst I would have loved everyone in the world to be interested in geographical phenomena purely because geography is cool, I understand that the reason everyone can now pronounce Eyjafjallajoekull is because it grounded nearly all European flights for five days!!!
We'd seen on the news during the at work on Thursday last week that it was erupting, but it was later that evening that we got a phone call from an ex-colleague of Scott's saying he thought his flight had been cancelled! Matt and Becky had come to Egypt for a tour on a 2 week break over Easter. We'd managed to find time in their tour schedule to meet up for lunch on their middle weekend (2 weeks ago now) in Islamic Cairo, but had then said good-bye at the Egyptian Museum. So this phone call from them, one day before their flight was due to leave, was at first a surprise, but the realisation soon dawned on us all - they were coming to stay!
EgyptAir were under no obligation to offer accommodation or food, so they got a taxi after they'd checked out of the tour hotel and shacked up with us. Because the flight was cancelled, EgyptAir offered to rebook on the next available flight...which was on the 26th. When we told Matt this over the phone, he said "Oh.....What's the date today?" "15th" "Oh, shit!"
It's kind of been like having room mates, rather than visitors, as they'd already done all the Cairo sites and actually needed to spend most of the day time working on setting cover for their classes! But we've explored to the BCA a few nights and showed them the wonders of Otlob, so they're getting to see another side of Cairo life - life for us!
We'd seen on the news during the at work on Thursday last week that it was erupting, but it was later that evening that we got a phone call from an ex-colleague of Scott's saying he thought his flight had been cancelled! Matt and Becky had come to Egypt for a tour on a 2 week break over Easter. We'd managed to find time in their tour schedule to meet up for lunch on their middle weekend (2 weeks ago now) in Islamic Cairo, but had then said good-bye at the Egyptian Museum. So this phone call from them, one day before their flight was due to leave, was at first a surprise, but the realisation soon dawned on us all - they were coming to stay!
EgyptAir were under no obligation to offer accommodation or food, so they got a taxi after they'd checked out of the tour hotel and shacked up with us. Because the flight was cancelled, EgyptAir offered to rebook on the next available flight...which was on the 26th. When we told Matt this over the phone, he said "Oh.....What's the date today?" "15th" "Oh, shit!"
It's kind of been like having room mates, rather than visitors, as they'd already done all the Cairo sites and actually needed to spend most of the day time working on setting cover for their classes! But we've explored to the BCA a few nights and showed them the wonders of Otlob, so they're getting to see another side of Cairo life - life for us!
Saturday, 10 April 2010
Dahab Diving - Easter 2010
For the Easter weekend we managed to get away to Dahab for a few days. Mum and Graham were visiting, too, so it gave us a chance to show them how different Sinai is to 'mainland' Egypt. Other people from work were also in Dahab for the break, including Brad who was completing his Advanced Open Water certification. We joined him on his dive at the Islands:
Mum had been really keen to try diving, so after a number of emails backwards and forwards we felt we were ready for her to go down on a taster dive. Mohammed at Diver's House was absolutely brilliant on her first time diving, and the video we took of the half-hour or so we were underwater at the Lighthouse is below.
Mum had been really keen to try diving, so after a number of emails backwards and forwards we felt we were ready for her to go down on a taster dive. Mohammed at Diver's House was absolutely brilliant on her first time diving, and the video we took of the half-hour or so we were underwater at the Lighthouse is below.
Wednesday, 24 March 2010
Sunday, 21 March 2010
Skype blocked for mobile users
Skype has been blocked for people who access the internet using USB 'dongles'. According to a government spokesman, people who access the internet through an ADSL phoneline (which includes us) will still be able to use Skype. However, he said the government couldn't guarantee that they won't ban Skype on ADSL connections in the future. Damn.
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