Friday papers

Reading the paper, drinking strawberry juice. I'm lucky enough to live near Left Bank, a popular cafe in Cairo. Frequented by expats who want something a little more familiar than local, and well-heeled locals.

Friday is the main weekend day here in Cairo, and so it gets busy. Jazz music plays, waiters sometimes stroll, sometimes rush, and they seem to now take notice of me when I go alone. Maybe due to a not so long ago grumble about poor service...

The food is nice, mainly European style, with the typically good Egyptian array of cakes and pastries. And a wine or a beer or a cocktail is possible, not that common in Egypt.

It's on the Nile. Do I really get to see it so often? I'll wonder about that in the future. It's a bit surreal.

And as I leave after having been oblivious to some of Cairo's challenges and 'restrictions' I realise it's probably prayer time; the big weekly session that the men all attend, even if they haven't been all week. Will I. be able to get into the lift lobby as they pray there too?

The answer was yes, I'd timed it well as the prayers were finishing. The sounds of jazz and cafe clatter were replaced by the muezzin and praying..

Just another day of juxtaposition that so characterises Cairo.