Your Egypt

Harrison · Joined: 28 Jul 2004 Posts: 901

Poor Mr. C is nearly demented. He dropped me off at work this morning and said he was going to get some petrol - 92 grade - and some black bin bags.

Went to the garage - yes they had 92 but no electricity so the pumps didn't work!

He should have given up then and gone back home.

Went to Metro opposite my work - no black bin bags but was offered plastic tablecloths in a packet.

Went to Abu Ashara - again no black bin bags but again offered plastic tablecloths.

Okay what do we do - just wrap our rubbish in a tablecloth and tie it up with string?

It can be funny living here sometimes - basic things we take for granted can seem like climbing Ben Nevis on a bad day!

moll · Joined: 03 Feb 2005 Posts: 7705

I think it's things like that, that would drive me crazy about living in Egypt.....going for something basic and not finding it :?

I had a little Egypt moment today, went to a shop (not some back street shop, it was Laura Ashley) where it was closed because they were having a delivery of furniture :cyclopsani: and I thought, blimey this could be Egypt, just shut the shop on a whim...

So I told a little lie :oops: the woman at the door was telling everybody it was shut, so I said Oh that's great, I've driven for two hours to get here :oops: this was a slight exaggeration, I'd only driven for an hour but it just seemed a bit much to close the shop completely because they were getting a delivery..........so she asked me what I was looking for and I told her and she let me in, but she kept talking on about Health and Safety, like I couldn't see a bloody great sofa in front of me :roll:

Anyway, that's my little ramble for tonight......

saffron · Joined: 26 Apr 2005 Posts: 2881 Location: Orange, Calf. USA

moll wrote: I think it's things like that, that would drive me crazy about living in Egypt.....going for something basic and not finding it :?

I had a little Egypt moment today, went to a shop (not some back street shop, it was Laura Ashley) where it was closed because they were having a delivery of furniture :cyclopsani: and I thought, blimey this could be Egypt, just shut the shop on a whim...

So I told a little lie :oops: the woman at the door was telling everybody it was shut, so I said Oh that's great, I've driven for two hours to get here :oops: this was a slight exaggeration, I'd only driven for an hour but it just seemed a bit much to close the shop completely because they were getting a delivery..........so she asked me what I was looking for and I told her and she let me in, but she kept talking on about Health and Safety, like I couldn't see a bloody great sofa in front of me :roll:

Anyway, that's my little ramble for tonight......
I love Laura Ashley.

Harrison · Joined: 28 Jul 2004 Posts: 901

I am soooooo pleased for you Moll being able to shop at Laura Ashley - NOT. Just rub it in, I only wanted something very basic like a bloody black plastic bin bag and here you are moaning because you couldn't get into Laura Ashley - my heart bleeds for you.

Just joking re the above by the way before anyone else takes me seriously. Good for you, I would have been irate if I had driven for an hour to find they had closed the shop! Did you get something nice? Go on tell me - I don't mind feeling jealous. :lol:

By the way, my other problem re my Assistant is solved. She is now back on Reception - more suited to her abilities. It does mean though that I am on my own yet again running 3 accounts, personal telephone calls and the Purchase Orders for the entire company. Hey ho I am getting too old for this.

moll · Joined: 03 Feb 2005 Posts: 7705

Well, Harrison.........just for once, I knew exactly what I was looking for and I wasn't just wandering around thinking I'd know it when I saw it..

I was looking for a small, two seater, cream coloured sofabed.....we need a new sofa and we thought we might as well make it a sofabed while we were at it, I think that's the only reason she let me in (probably if I'd said I was looking for a couple of mugs, she'd have told me to get lost)

They DID have a nice one, but it was almost white and since I'm a bit accident prone I didn't think that would be a great idea :cry:

Glad the situation with your assistant has been resolved :thumleft: I'm also going back to a new classroom assistant, the last one I had was a really nice woman, but God she was hopeless :roll: Our boss likes to rotate them, so next time I'm getting one who's ultra-efficient, in fact she might be the one who has a problem with ME......

Harrison · Joined: 28 Jul 2004 Posts: 901

Oh god I can only dream of having light coloured things since coming here. Everything has to be a practical material i.e. washable and in darker colours to try and hide some of the dirt.

Before you jump in, no we are not dirty, but as you very well know we do get a lost of dust/sand etc. Oh to be totally impractical and get white or light beige curtains!

Well I am will be on my own for quite some time I think, I don't mean this in a derogatory manner, but most English women who come over here to live come to marry an Egyptian man and have a divorce settlement, therefore don't need to work the hours which I do and for an Egyptian salary.

I know exactly what you mean about being a nice person but hopeless, that was the problem with my assistant. I really liked her as a person, but despite going over and over again the things and procedures which have to be followed, she either couldn't or wouldn't grasp it.

I must tell you what the Destination Manager said though: It is because you are European and have more energy! Now not to put too fine a point on it as I replied, I am more than double this girls age, in fact I am older than her mother so where the hell does energy come in to things? It is a matter of taking pride in your work and actually having a work ethic which is sadly lacking here.

Right that is my grump finished.

As I said in another thread, poor Mr. C isn't very well so am finishing at 1.00 today. Better get my head down and do some work.

moll · Joined: 03 Feb 2005 Posts: 7705

Harrison wrote: Oh god I can only dream of having light coloured things since coming here. Everything has to be a practical material i.e. washable and in darker colours to try and hide some of the dirt.

Before you jump in, no we are not dirty, but as you very well know we do get a lost of dust/sand etc. Oh to be totally impractical and get white or light beige curtains!

Well I am will be on my own for quite some time I think, I don't mean this in a derogatory manner, but most English women who come over here to live come to marry an Egyptian man and have a divorce settlement, therefore don't need to work the hours which I do and for an Egyptian salary.

Well good morning, Harrison! I'm up far too early this morning, bloody bin men :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

I know what you mean, when we had our flat in Luxor it was a never ending battle to keep the dust/sand down, I can only imagine what a cream coloured sofa would end up looking like.......

Don't you think it would get really boring, not working and just sitting around all day not doing much? I LOVE the school holidays, 6 or 7 weeks of just messing about, it's great 8) but towards the end of it I start getting a bit bored, can't think what to do with myself...

I know when I retire I'll have to make the effort to do things, like maybe join a club or go to a class or something....I can't spend the rest of my life shopping and watching TV :oops: for the moment, this is just kind of like 'time out' but I don't think I could live that kind of ex-pat life.

Anyway, hope Mr C is feeling better soon...

RoughShod · Joined: 02 Sep 2004 Posts: 2140 Location: South Africa

In SA anything black does not seem to conform to rules of work ethic. If a pump is broken down, its because it has been entrusted to a black empowerment equity(bee...apartheid in reverse) group. There is no sense in pride in a job well done but rather a sense of getting paid the maximum for the minimum of work.

My business has been flooded by BEE specialists who have been put onto me by companies doing business with me to get my BEE scorecard rating in a place that will make other companies doing business with me to look good in the eyes of the ruling blacks.

I just laugh them off, I am a white man doing and proud of the finished product...business because I believe in what I do...I am not interested in pleasing a black man or a coloured man or an indian because of(and btw a chinese man is now regarded as a black man?)colour of skin. I do it as a service that is required as a service to those who need it ..regardless the colour of their skin.

I wonder when this stupid BEE country will get over its fears of inadequacy and start to practice normal marketing principles based on economics instead of colour

moll · Joined: 03 Feb 2005 Posts: 7705

You know........I looked on here more than an hour ago, and I was about to have a rant because it's soooo bloody DEAD, 76 people had looked at a topic called Black Bin Bags????? (no offence, Harrison......but it's not exactly the most attention grabbing title :P ) and only 3 people had posted, so what does it say about how sad this board is that 76 people are so flippin' bored, they'll read about black bin bags but not bother posting, I was about to have a tantrum.......

Then I decided I couldn't be bothered :smt015 and I watched Celebrity Masterchef instead, I'm going to post about that now 8)

Anyway, if you want to talk about skin colour, Roughshod...why don't you start a new topic?

RoughShod · Joined: 02 Sep 2004 Posts: 2140 Location: South Africa

How can you be sure they all watching this thread Moll?

Why don't you start a new topic yourself?

I don't really know,but I am here just for people to affirm they see me. And I like to see them

And that is all there is to it...I like to see them.

Harrison · Joined: 28 Jul 2004 Posts: 901

Well I am offended Moll, I thought my Black Bin Bags saga was quite funny!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I know what you mean though, there are times I scroll down the list of topics and see that there has been nothing posted for ages.
Roughshod - There is the same thing here, the way of thinking seems to be well it was okay for my grandfather's grandfather, so it is okay for me.

Example: When painting a wall, it makes sense to take the paint pot, paint tray etc as close to the wall as possible. Not here - the paint bucket is left in the middle of the floor, the paint roller - on a long handle is dipped into the paint and then carried across to the wall. I am sure you can imagine the mess.

Once when living in Luxor we decided to use 'professionals' - okay we had only been there 1 month - we put down plastic sheets on the floor to protect our tiles - came back to find the plastic sheets neatly folded outside the door and the tiles absolutely covered in paint. When asked why, the answer given was : We didn't want to dirty the sheets!!!!!!!!!

moll · Joined: 03 Feb 2005 Posts: 7705

Harrison wrote: Well I am offended Moll, I thought my Black Bin Bags saga was quite funny!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm sorry, Harrison :oops: :(

I was just venting my frustration at the fact that there seemed to be quite a lot of people reading, but nobody's bothering to say anything......

My frustration with this board goes in cycles, sometimes it bothers me and sometimes it doesn't, can't make my mind up :?

Harrison · Joined: 28 Jul 2004 Posts: 901

Oh Moll there is no need to apologise. I was joking and forget that people don't understand my twisted sense of humour on forums.

Okay the saga of the petrol is continuing. Mr. C went back for the 92 grade and none left!

I have a confession to make, I absolutely pigged out on chocolates last night. :oops: There is a Russian shop in the Touristic Centre - really a tourist tat place - which sells boxes of strawberry, mango, cherry covered chos. I bought two boxes of strawberry and sat and at 3/4 of a box. Oh god I felt ill afterwards but just couldn't stop stuffing my face. Mr. C, quite rightly, had no sympathy and less than politely told me to stop moaning.

moll · Joined: 03 Feb 2005 Posts: 7705

Harrison wrote:

I have a confession to make, I absolutely pigged out on chocolates last night

But Harrison.........this does not make you a bad person :smt056

I'm working my way through the boxes I got from kids and parents at the end of term, and I think it would be really quite ungrateful of me not to do that............I only do it out of good manners really :smt051

:---)

Harrison · Joined: 28 Jul 2004 Posts: 901

Of course it would be terribly bad mannered of you not to show your appreciation Moll. :)

Now that the kids are on their summer break, what are you going to be doing with yourself.

My second daughter is off to Anguilla tomorrow with my grandson to see his Dad. She will be over there for a month. Lucky her!

I was checking out the air fares to the UK from Egypt but they are extortionate. The problem is I have to fly schedule, this applies to anyone who has been here more than 3 months. They did relax that rule last year but it is back in place now.

Another way of getting extra money from the ex pats.

What's happened to Hedgehog? She seems to be awol.