The Heart of the Matter, The Heart of Egypt

A happy morning shot of two westerners going to work at the start of the Cairo working week.   The pair smile despite the temperature passing through 46C on its way to a Cairene record of 48C which is forecast for today.

My extra shot is a screen grab from the BBC Word News front page yesterday evening showing a young man standing in exactly the same spot on 25th April protesting against his president's decision to cede sovereignty of two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia.  He raises his placard while in front of him tear gas canisters explode.

Many protesters were arrested that day in our local square and he may be one of fifty-one people sentenced yesterday to two years imprisonment for doing precisely what you see him doing in the picture, an act prohibited by a law introduced since the president came to power in July 2013.

The spot on which Dd and her colleague stand is far from being common-place asphalt; it is the heart of the matter, the heart of Egypt.