The Real Thing

This is not a poster shot but the view from the plane as I came into land in Cairo thirty minutes ago.   I got the arrival time mixed up and have had to enter the lottery of finding a driver from the masses calling out for business as I stepped out into 35C temperatures.   You become instantly aware that you are wearing socks and that the undershirt and jersey accessories that seemed so right in the chill of a damp Barcelona morning scream now to be ripped off.  

There are several points to check like price-currency, is the guy you're talking to actually the driver, what state is the car in and does it have AC that works at more than a dribble.   All this done with many others crowding round ready to jump in should any of the above prove a sticking point.

The other challenge is to keep a hold of your trolley bag as the driver and miscellaneous porters try to wrest it from your grip.

I'm in the very hot front seat of my selected driver/vehicle combo as I write this.   The acclaimed air conditioning is very much bottom of the class - so near to the dunce's corner that my driver has had to stop to fill up his drinking water bottle from a canister on the wall beside the road to maintain his body-water ratio.

Let's see how mine is maintained during the rest of the journey.