Zurich - Bohemian Rhapsody

Not Quite Bohemian Rhapsody

Although I was busy with my tax return when I came back, I still felt the need for a little break and I was in the mood to go to the cinema, which is something I can’t really do in Egypt.

To my delight, I realized that Bohemian Rhapsody was still playing. It had come out just as I was leaving Zurich in October last year and was a bit annoyed that I’d probably miss it, but 19 weeks later and it was still showing. I had to go and see it before it disappeared.

I wouldn’t normally spend an entire blog reporting on a film, but I grew up with Queen and was always a fan, so they feel like part of my life. I even went to see them live in the 1970s, I think it was in Croydon (not a massive venue in London) which, looking back on it, is itself quite extraordinary given how massive Queen became.

It was a no-brainer that I would like the film because with their music it just couldn’t fail in my eyes. Even when there’s a Queen night on the X Factor, I’m still struck, even now, at the diversity of their music.

The film jogged a lot of memories for me; I was astonished that it was Capital Radio that first played Bohemian Rhapsody. That was always “my” radio station as I grew up and I most remember it for introducing me to Kate Bush. They played Wuthering Heights non-stop when it first came out (so it felt). I didn’t like it on first hearing, but it grew on me and I ended up being an ardent fan of Kate Bush as well. It strikes me that Capital Radio was very forward-looking when I look back (err, that’s rather strange wording, but never mind!).

I liked the way the film played out the tension between Freddie Mercury’s confidence and vulnerability, although it never really examined the hole in FM’s life that tortured him in his lonesome hours or why he wanted to deny his cultural background (unless it just passed me by, which is possible!), so there was a certain lack of depth. However, this was a film and not a documentary, I guess.

Afterwards, I read that the film has been described as homophobic, but I didn’t really interpret it that way (critics seem to think it depicts FM having been led astray into homosexuality, but there were hints at it earlier in the film, so I really don’t think that was the message). I was surprised that on the one hand, he seemed easily manipulated, and then on the other hand, he was so stubborn over what the music should be and his own talent (the group wasn’t going to be talked into what they didn’t want to do musically).

There’s something uplifting and satisfying about seeing the life of someone who feels they are meant to do something (ie, music, in this case) and seeing them follow it doggedly. There was a strong message about the importance of music to FM and to Queen. Of course, you don’t know how much of what actually happened is fictionalized in the film, but for all of FM’s brazen confidence about his music, I was impressed in the film how he was also portrayed as not being overbearing in the group and to accepting the others’ compositions and work with no acrimony (that seemed to be between the others in the group). And that good music would overcome any argument. The music always came first. It's made me realise that I no longer listen to music nearly enough.

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Zurich - Back Again

This is Not Sahl Hasheesh!

Well, it’s the yearly shock to the system as I return from temperatures in the mid 20s to temperatures below 10 degrees centigrade. I’m a bit late with the blog this week because my first job on returning is always to get my Swiss tax return done and once I get started, I need to finish….

The weather really wasn’t that bad on the first few days I was back. I’m usually not too bothered by colder temperatures at first because there’s a certain novelty value to it after five months away, but it was still too cold to sit outside. Nevertheless, I could see some blue sky, so it was fine (the snow came a week later).

As usual, it’s different things that strike me on returning each time, so on this occasion I was somehow struck by how large Zurich is. I remember that this is how I felt on moving from Horsham to Zurich when I first came over to Switzerland. Most people feel (even complain!) Zurich is small, but those must be city people; once I’m used to Zurich, it feels manageable, which I like, but there’s plenty to do here, so I don’t really ever get the impression that it’s small.

Maybe it’s something to do with travelling in on the train to meet up with someone that made it feel large this time; after all, anything that requires a train journey isn’t such a small distance. But I think it’s also the large buildings that I passed on the train, the many shops as I got into the main station, and the plethora of public transport that all help to add to that impression.

Also, for some reason, I was particularly struck by how dark my bedroom is at night. I wake in the middle of the night and I struggle at first to see anything other than black. In Sahl Hasheesh, the fountain by my bedroom is lit up at night, so some of that light filters through my curtains. It doesn’t bother me at all (there’s something reassuring about having some light), but now that it’s not there and I just have darkness, it feels quite strange.

On my first night back in Zurich, when I woke during the night and gazed into the darkness, I just couldn’t figure out where the door was in my bedroom. I couldn’t even work out where I had the lights by my bed. I stretched over to put one of them on and I couldn’t work out why the bedside table was so high. I finally found the switch but I still hadn’t plugged the light back in to the wall, so it didn’t work. I tried the other side and then, with the light working, I saw that I didn’t have a table on the side I’d originally tried, just some drawers on which my lamp was stood. The door turned out to be the opposite side of the room from where I thought. How can you forget such things in just 5 months? Or even just a few hours, since I’d seen the room when I went to bed.

I was also surprised that the sound of the planes in the morning was really not that bad; I think it’s maybe only bad during the summer when I have the window open (and then it’s deafening but I get used to it and can even sleep through it – not sure if this is good for me from an evolutionary perspective, though).

It took me a few days to get back to cooking for myself again; for some reason, I felt strangely reluctant to make any meals at all, and also irritated that no matter how often I shopped, there was always at least one ingredient missing that I needed. After a few days, I was getting really fed up with going to the Coop. I’d done too good a job of winding down my storage cupboards before I left last time. On the other hand, I found myself delighting in every morsel of food I ate – the pumpkin soup, the panatone, the salmon in pastry, the cornflakes, the chocolate... Each time I had anything, I’d be struck at how delicious it was. I’ve not had that before on returning, but it was a delight!

El Andalous - Rodent Prevention

Kitten on My Balcony - Feeding on Rodents?

I still occasionally hear mice or rats running about above my kitchen and bathroom. They can’t enter my flat (phew), but on occasion I will hear them squeak and sometimes it sounds as if they are having a bit of a fight. Generally, though, it’s just the noise of their feet scuttling across that I hear. The preferred way of catching them seems to be the use of sticky mats that are laid out on the floor and then if  a rodent comes along, it gets stuck on the glue and can't escape.

When I heard the sound of feet scampering around above my kitchen at night, I called our rat prevention guy a few days running, but although I called him, I knew the rodents weren't being caught.  If they are caught, I usually hear the sticky mat as it's being thrust about as the rodent struggles to get free from it. Alternatively, the trapped rodent may just keep on squeaking intermittently as it's lying flat on the sticky surface, particularly if I start cooking and it can smell the enticing smells (poor thing!). Either way, it’s not very nice. Anyway, I didn't hear any squeals or the thumps of the sticky mat being dragged along the floor, so I gave up calling him every day. Why waste his time and mine?

Anyway, that’s an example of my lack of assertiveness. I told Stephen that I’d given up asking the pest prevention guy to check because I didn’t see what else they could do since they had the sticky mats everywhere but nothing was being caught. They’d said there were no holes for the rodents to get through (although obviously they are getting in from somewhere) or that, if there were holes, they were impossible to block because of the electrical wiring. The rat guy had also claimed it was impossible for the rodents to get above my bathroom (although I could hear them).

So, one day, Stephen came round with the rat guy and told the rat guy that he was useless and that he should lose his job if he can’t actually catch the rodents. This is all true, of course, but I felt embarrassed at seeing the guy being shouted at. It was what was needed though.

The next day the rat guy came round and checked. He asked me not to speak to Stephen again if I had rodents. I explained that it was true that something needed to be done because the rodents weren’t being caught and I was able to hear them above my kitchen every evening. Clearly stressed, Shizu (the rat guy) told me that he might lose his job and that we needed to keep my rat problem a secret between him and me. I again said that the problem nevertheless needed to be solved.

So, despite my initial embarrassment, I have to say that Stephen’s approach worked (thank you, Stephen!). The next day, Shizu went into the area above my bathroom. I have no idea how he got there, but I believe he did go there, because he said the area went right through to the air conditioning in my bedroom. This seems plausible, since when the rats were in my flat when I first arrived in El Andalous over five years ago (see those blogs if you haven't read them), I thought I saw a tail dangling down from my air conditioning unit. In retrospect, though, I do wonder if at that stage I was hallucinating with fear and sheer exhaustion through lack of sleep. Anyway, Shizu said he put some concrete over the areas in that bit above my bathroom where the rodents might be coming in.

He put some more sticky mats down in the area above my kitchen to trap any rodents that may still enter in and then the next day brought some concrete with him to try to block any holes in the area above my kitchen. He even brought his own ladder instead of using mine. Once he had stuck his head through the opening into the area above my kitchen and looked with a torch, he managed to find a hole (with a gasp of surprise) and blocked it. At this point I gave him a baksheesh (tip) for the first time to reward him for possibly actually making a difference. So, hopefully Stephen’s bad cop and my nice cop routine will send the right message.

The rodent noises stopped for a few nights but then I heard one enter from a different direction. I called him again, and he moved all the sticky mats so that they covered that entire area where I now thought they were coming in and then said that if he caught one, he would come back with some concrete and try to block where they were coming from. Unfortunately, I had to go into town the day he was going to come with the concrete and then the next day was my final day, so I’m not sure if he’s actually done that. I’ll no doubt find out when I’m next back in Egypt.

Anyway, this is a good example of what it’s like trying to get things done over here – you get multiple excuses and no action and really, to get stuff done, you need to act very angry. Egyptians are quite loud when they speak to each other and often sound as if they are having arguments, so I think this is possibly the only communication style that is respected by many.

Hurghada - First Visit to Souq

Souq in Hurghada

It’s amazing that I’ve been here for over 5 years and have never visited the large souq in Dahar. Apparently, tours even take tourists there. It’s a fruit and vegetable souq really, although there are fish and meat stalls as well.

Horst and Hilda go maybe once a month, so they kindly invited me to join them. They have their own taxi driver who they know and trust and he also does the shopping for them, afterwards they all go out for a meal. It was lovely to be part of this for a day.

I don’t generally go to the souq because, although the fruit and vegetables are extremely cheap, the taxi fare makes it not worthwhile and it’s more cost effective to pay the double- triple- or more price in the supermarket for the few veggies that I buy than to fork out for the cost of a taxi. However, I had always meant to do it once as a day out, so I was delighted to be invited.

The souq is huge. At least in winter it is under cover (not sure if it is under cover also in the summer – an excuse to go again some time to see, I guess). Some stalls have huge pumpkins hanging up, fruit and vegetables are piled high and some I couldn’t identify. There are also fresh herbs. The prices are displayed but in Arabic, of course. I didn’t buy anything since I don’t really eat that much fruit and veg, but if I went again, I think I have enough Arabic to be able to cope (famous last words). There’s no bartering, as far as I can tell.

There are also meat stalls of two different variations. One type has meat hanging up on hooks in the open air and you buy it directly (you can also see butchers’ shops like this in town); the other type has the animals (rabbits, pigeons, chickens) in cages and you order as appropriate. I saw one person asking for a chicken, saw the market owner grab one by its neck; it squawked in alarm, setting off all the others in their cages, too. It was pretty gruesome and I didn’t look to see what happened next. I don’t know if some buy them to breed at home and/or if they are killed on the spot for fresh meat. I eat meat but I don’t really want to be faced with the actuality of what I’m doing.

Of course, with Hurghada being situated on the Red Sea, fish is a large commodity over here. There were fish stalls, too, with lots of pretty fish now dead, laid out in boxes of ice for you to select I felt quite sad for my fish friends, but if you eat fish, it’s really very fresh.

Outsiide the souq, there were some pop-up stalls with women selling various types of cheese; apparently there’s one type that is sold warm and is delicious, but since I don’t eat cheese, this didn’t really interest me. It didn’t smell, so I was OK! There was a whole load of buses, which I took a photograph of; the ladies selling on the stalls outside shouted out to me not to take the photo – they didn’t want to be in the photograph (I guess this is a religious thing where it’s perceived as stealing your soul). I moved forward and focused on the buses. It’s just so chaotic when the buses are all squeezed together and facing in slightly different directions as each tries to manoeuvre.

Anyway, it’s an interesting experience, so do take a look if you are ever in Hurghada!

El Andalous - Jellyfish Season

Jellyfish Season

Fish seem to be seasonal to a certain extent; there seem to be times when I see turtles, crabs, rays and times when I don’t. But there’s one season, and it must be now, that the jellyfish arrive en masse.

Fortunately, the ones that hang around Sahl Hasheesh don’t sting. There are two distinct types, one is round, smooth and blue-colored and the other is white/transparent and oblong-shaped with a bit of raised ribbing.

I can remember previous years where you’d see them washing up on the beach by the dozens and probably hundreds over the week. Apparently someone initially thought that they were discarded silicon boob inserts!

However, this is the first year I can remember where they’ve actually hindered my swimming. The water is currently really warm for February (in my opinion) after a bit of a heat wave last week when I was ill. Hilda said the sea was 23 degrees a couple of weeks ago and I'd say it's maybe 24 degrees now (she thinks it's colder now, but she hasn't actually gone in). At night, my bedroom temperature rose from 23 to 25 degrees at night, so at least in my little corner it's got warmer. I’m not splashing myself before I get in at the moment and I can snorkel about afterwards without thinking that I need to get out of the water soon if I I’m not to be too cold on exiting. So, maybe the change in temperature's something to do with the sudden onslaught of jellyfish.

Anyway, I went swimming on Thursday and my hands kept on thrusting into a jellyfish, or when I’d push back in my stroke, I’d feel my hand brushing a jellyfish aside, or one would brush against my cheek, or maybe my arm. Sometimes, my fingers thrust inside the jellyfish as I reached forwards and that was the worst. I couldn't stop myself from screeching through the sheer shock of it.

There were hundreds of them all around me. It was impossible to swim without touching them and I swear that they tried to approach me. At least if you have a shoal of fish, the fish are amazingly good at parting and letting you through. The jellyfish, they just seem to aim straight for my face and it almost seems deliberate. Surely not!

If you touch them on the surface, they feel surprisingly jelly-like and quite solid (just like the frozen jelly you eat if you touched it, but not cold). Although it doesn’t hurt, it’s not exactly conducive to swimming (you can’t swim through jelly after all, and if you touch it, you are immediately no longer pulling through the water). It’s a shock and it’s frustrating.

If your fingers somehow dig into its middle (which is what I’m assuming happens when I’m not getting that solid jelly sensation but – I don’t know – a wetter sensation, maybe?), it feels more like soap. If I rub my fingers together afterwards, they feel kind of slippery (but somehow not slimy in the way that soap isn’t slimy). However, in my head, I’ve got something’s innards round my fingers, so conceptually the thought is pretty disgusting and that’s what makes me squeal as much as anything. 

The fish, particularly the butterflyfish, seem to enjoy this season and when I go snorkeling I can see them in crowds diving at a jellyfish and taking bites at them. It's a hive of activity beneath the surface.

Incidentally, even though I was squealing quite loudly as I swam, absolutely nobody paid any attention to me. I’m not sure if this is a good thing (at least I didn’t have the embarrassment of someone trying to save me) or a bad thing (what if I had been in danger?), but maybe they could tell my squeals were just squeals of disgust.

At times, I’d look in the water and there would be hundreds of them all around me – there was no avoiding them and I just had to continue to swim (and continue to bump into them) and this was for a fairly large stretch of my swim. There was no other way back.

I did my full swim, but didn’t do my drills afterwards because I couldn’t face having to go through them again. The jellyfish haven’t started to beach yet, but I guess that will come soon enough. I’m hoping they will move on elsewhere, otherwise my swimming routine may get rather difficult.

El Andalous - Tut's Revenge

Fresh Meat at the Souq

I guess it’s quite an achievement that I’ve kept this blog for over 5 years and never written about an upset tummy – one thing that many associate with Egypt.

I like to think of myself as having a fairly robust stomach in general – I’m not so prone to getting stomach bugs. Maybe it’s because I eat chicken by the truckload and have become immune to any baddies that may lurk.

However, for some reason, I’ve had a run of bad luck since I’ve been back this time. I’ve had three bouts of stomach problems, but this last week was by far the worst. The other two were just minor 12-24 hour affairs and were forgotten as soon as they were done.

I originally thought my current bout was due to me using some out-of-date cream in my mildly creamy ginger and lemon vegetable dish that I did for myself on Monday evening, but it lasted so long, I’m now wondering whether it was an actual bug (virus) and nothing to do with food that I ate.

I guess you don’t really want to know the gory details, but it was unfortunate in that I woke up on Tuesday feeling lethargic and tired and not really in the mood to eat anything. In the afternoon, Horst and Hilde had invited me to go to the Souq with them and then onto a meal afterwards. I wasn’t really in the mood for it, but I’d already asked them to change the date for this once and it seemed impolite to ask them to change it again and I was really OK apart from feeling so weary.

Anyway, I went along (topic for another blog) and this may have been my downfall. We ended up at a restaurant and I still wasn’t remotely hungry. However, being British, I felt it would be impolite of me not to go along with it. I forced some pasta down me, but my stomach felt full and as if there was no room for the pasta to go. I left half of it and explained that I was full up, feeling a bit embarrassed that I probably seemed less than enthusiastic during the day and ungrateful during the meal when Horst and Hilde had made so much effort to treat me to a great day out.

I went to bed as soon as we got back (before 7pm) and by midnight I was awake and throwing up.

I must have slept at least 12 hours, sometimes more, each day for the next four days. I never actually wanted to get up and felt that I could just spend my life sleeping and never wake up.

I hate the BRAT (banana, rice, applesauce, toast) diet. I tried to eat, even though I wasn’t hungry, in order to regain some energy. One evening I had a plate of rice with some herbs, but it took me forever to eat. I like rice, but on its own, it’s just dull, even with herbs. It makes me realize why the Celebs complain on I’m A Celebrity… when they get relegated to just rice (and no herbs to help). I began to think I would never feel hungry again. There must be something more that you can eat when you have the runs, surely?

I took rehydration sachets in the hope they would get me up and running, but often they would just make me feel really sleepy afterwards and I’d end up crawling back into bed. I think they maybe made my system work a bit and this took the energy right back out of me.

At one point I had a slight craving for scrambled eggs; to my mind this didn’t seem like a good option (wouldn’t there be a risk of salmonella?), but when I looked it up it was one of the recommended foods when coming off the BRAT diet. I do wonder if I should have tried mixing in some whisked egg with my plate of rice as that may have been more palatable.

So, if you’ve got an upset tummy, I say follow what your stomach says. If you don’t feel like eating, don’t. If you can think of something that seems palatable to you, then it’s probably what your body needs. My body wasn’t saying yes to the thought of Maltesers (one of my favorite chocolates) and not even to the thought of chicken.

I read that boiled potato is also good on coming off the BRAT diet. I was feeling better on Saturday evening, albeit not massively hungry, which indicated to me that I still wasn’t 100%. However, on thinking about potatoes, I sensed that shepherd’s pie would go down well. It’s a bit like baby food, not that I can remember eating baby food, but it’s the soft texture of the mash (without too much butter or milk, of course, given my stomach) and the minced up beef softly mixing with it that was appealing. It felt like a soft toy for my stomach to embrace and care for.

It went down well and a few hours later I was even feeling hungry. That’s what I was waiting for as an indicator that I was indeed getting better! My stomach was saying it was back in business and open to offers.

On Sunday, I woke up and felt fine. My legs were no longer wobbly, my brain fog had cleared and I would even have tried going swimming had it not been so windy outside (I need a gentle first swim in case I’m not as strong as I think). I hope that’s it now for the next 5 years!

El Andalous - Dangers of Swimming

Stung Whilst Swimming!

The water is definitely getting colder. Over the last week, before I plunge in, I splash myself with water first and I’m always wondering beforehand if I really want to swim. On the way back, though, the water feels warm, so it can’t be that bad yet.

I’m still wearing my swimming buoy for safety / visibility and it’s bringing me quite a bit of attention. One new owner started asking me if I’d seen the girl who swims out to sea every day with the orange thing tied to her waist (he was sounding impressed, rather than horrified, which was a relief), so I explained that it was me before he said too much. Another person approached me and asked me where I had bought the swimming buoy and he thought it was an excellent idea. A Russian woman managed to mimic to me the question as to what it was I had tied to me as I swam. I tried to mimic back that it was to make me visible. She gave an expression of understanding, but I’m not too sure what she actually understood! One day a boat approached me to see what was floating in the sea, which kind of negated the purpose of the swimming buoy, which I see as to keep the boats away from me.

When I first arrived here (more than 5 years ago now!), I was worried about the dangerous fish. At the time, I think I had it in my head that they would attack me; I now no longer think this, but I do worry that I may not see them and accidentally swim into them.

By day, the lion fish are usually fairly placid and hiding under coral. They are brown and white striped fish with long feathery tentacles which, if they touch you, can put you into hospital; beautiful to look at but almost lethal. It’s perfectly safe to swim up to them (carefully, of course); the risk is that they decide to rest on the sea bottom near where you are going to walk back onto the beach. If you don’t look where you step, you could be in trouble.

The same holds for stone fish and scorpion fish, which look like stones on the sea bed (or sitting on top of a coral and disguising itself as part of that coral). They won’t come and attack you, but if you step on one, it has the potential to be fatal. Ajaz’s wife did this as she was paddling and ended up in hospital.

It’s easy to get scared, but basically you just need to keep your eyes open and watch where you’re going. Don’t get too caught up in a conversation and forget to look where you’re putting your feet!

Another phenomenon that I’ve experienced is a slight stinging sensation as I’ve swum. I’ve often wondered what it is, since I can’t see anything swimming away in the water when it happens. At one point, I thought maybe it was the needlefish bumping into me by accident with their needle-like snouts. Other people have suggested that maybe the stinging sensation comes from bits of coral floating in the sea (some coral also sting, but I don’t touch them, so I don't think that this can’t be it).

Anyway, this week I was swimming and had a painful sting and it actually showed up on my arm (see photo). I’ve since searched the internet and I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s caused by stinging plankton. It’s not visible and is not usually in enough quantity to really sting, but I was obviously unfortunate on this occasion. Apparently, some people always wear a rash vest to avoid being stung. I was a bit nervous the next time I went out, but it hasn’t happened again since.

Recently, a baby lion fish has been swimming about in the shallower waters and it hasn’t developed any sense of caution yet. So it came up behind me, quite close, just as I was floating and watching some other fish. It gave me quite a start, but it was unperturbed by my presence.

One time when I was snorkeling, a small fish swam with purpose towards to me and I could see its intention to bite, but I couldn’t quite believe it would dare attack big old me. Surely it was just pretending! However, it did nip me (I'm not sure if thought I was food or if it was warning me away). The bite wasn’t enough to even make a mark, but I certainly felt it (and wouldn’t necessarily want to repeat it).

Anyway, the coral and fish (and boats!) need to be treated with respect!