Last day for me. Amal leaves very early to go to Rehab and from there on a charity mission out to an “informal housing” area. (60% of  Cairo’s population lives in informal housing, according to a book I am reading, City of Sand by Maria Golia). I really wanted to go, but we were worried about me missing my plane, stuck out in the middle of nowhere.

So, I also decided to find ordinary Cairo (as opposed to City Stars and Rehab). I decided to copy our walk strategy by going on the subway to a stop I’d never been to before. Taking the subway from Attaba Square towards Shubra, I got out after 5 stops or so at El Khalafawi, and exited at Mohammed El Khalafawi Boulevard. This seems to be an ordinary middle class neighbourhood, or maybe lower middle. I walked straight north, then turned right at a cinema or nightclub called Romio, went past a school, and kept turning right. In the end, after an hour of walking along a street full of shops and cafes in a residential neighbourhood, I recognized I was lost and took a taxi back to Attaba.

Along the way, a pattern established itself very quickly in terms of screens. First, there were satellite dishes on the top of every single residential building. Second, there were TV sets in cafes and also in quite a lot of shops. Every time I took a photo of a TV set in a sheesha place, the guys beckoned me to come and join them. I got a lot of “welcome to Egypt” cries from younger men. I don’t think foreigners are often seen in this neighbourhood. There are no roman lettering road name signs, so I have no idea really where I was.

That’s it, basically. The sets are a mix of new flat screen and what I think of as “regular” TVs, but should probably start calling “old-fashioned” TVs. Quite a few of them were not turned on. (I guess it was early in the day in Egyptian terms.) In addition, there was often the sound of what to my ear sounded like sermons or readings from the Koran (think Charles Hirschkind’s book). The TV sets seemed to be playing that sometimes, but also soaps and sport. But I was walking, and did not spend long enough to gather what was on the screens in the cafes where only the men hang out, and whether it is different from the shops where there are both genders, etc. etc. I would also be interested to notice when (if ever) people in the cafes actually look at the screens.

Tonight there is an England v. Egypt soccer game on at 10 p.m. We have heard that sometimes there are screens put out in public places on these special occasions. I think Amal is going to go out and take a look and then report back. I am very curious.

More non-functioning screens in the brand-new airport terminal on the way out. Only one or two, but once again, evidence of no budget/no people who can fix them?

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