To think it's been six months and five days since I arrived again. It hardly seems possible. Lots has happened, plenty been learned, and - I feel - a fair amount achieved. As my writing has dried up of late, I'm sure I have plenty to fill you in on. Alas, now is not the time. It's almost 3am, and Cairo airport is pleasingly quiet.
Perhaps all the flying I've been doing in the last 2 years has left me jaded, but the prospect of 10 hours in airports or on planes overnight has really lost the appeal it once held in my childhood. I used to love those all-night flights to Florida, when I could pick a film and beat a curly haired, bespectacled Dominic at Top Trumps. Now it's genuinely hampering my ability to be excited to be going home. I'm sure that will change when I finally board my plane in Amsterdam, in about 6 hours time.
Well, good night and farewell Egypt! More from the UK as it happens.tx
This update is being written from Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport – an oddly designed bike wheel shaped place with a landing runway so far from the terminal I could swear we were in France – which, yet again, has no free WiFi access. Astonishing. The journey thus far has been pleasant enough and I had enjoyed a long morning with my family before I set off buying last minute essentials such as swimming shorts and Earl Grey and eating croissants. They (my family not the croissants) came in particularly handyy when I belatedly discovered that my baggage allowance was not the meagre 20 kilos I’d previously bemoaned, but rather a generous 2 piece deal each of which could weigh up to a hefty 23 kilos. At this point I hoisted my darling brother into the loft to dig out a hard case for a guitar which (Inshallah) will still be in one piece on arrival in Cairo and will not cut the solitary, unplayed figure I described in my previous missal.
Worryingly, all the news this morning on the Twitosphere was of a swine flu outbreak at the AUC which had led to the short term cancellation of all classes but I couldn’t get hold of Andrea to find out more details. After a difficult first few days back with lost luggage and an excruciatingly long flight I think pig flu might be one straw too many on the back of a proverbial camel. It seems the tactic of burying pigs alive in their thousands hasn’t paid off then. Who knew? Interestingly, the guy sat opposite me is wearing one of those ominous looking face masks that became “de mode” at the height of the outbreak. I say he’s wearing it, he’s posing in it – round his neck as an attention seeking salute to swine flu. I’m just guessing, but I don’t think they are particularly effective unless they actually cover your mouth and nose. Maybe he got his info from the same source as the Egyptian government.
More later from Cairo when I arrive and secure some internet, for now here’s what I’m listening to and here’s what I’m reading.
With just three days until I leave, the time has come for me to pack up my belongings and my memories from my student life here in Manchester. Trying to fit a life into 20kg of suitcase is outrageously tricky and there's something very surreal about sorting things in order of importance, usefulness and weight. As you pack you have to remain almost as an outsider looking in on your life, objective, ruthlessly discarding the important and irreplaceable for the practical. Would that I could take my guitar or my wall hanging or my books! Leaving my books saddens me immensely, it seems such a waste that they sit lonely in a box until my return - but the odd sense of possession I feel towards they doesn't allow me to give them away. I've read them all, and may never read some of them again, but there are too many memories and thoughts and ideas tied up in the pages, too personal. Into the box it is then...
Whilst the tragedy of the boxed books and a guitar unplayed marks a definite closing of a chapter, I'm so pleased that my next journey will be in Cairo. Seeing Andrea there on Skype, hearing the Egyptian accents and the Cairo traffic makes me jealous I'm not there already. A few days will fly by, and I'll be a part of the chaos again - I can't wait. Welcome back to Tom in Egypt - I hope you enjoy the adventure.
Labels: Cairo, moving out, travel
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