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| Driving Through Hurghada in the Rain |
Well, the rain subsided, but the weather continued to be variable for a while. Anyway, Thursday came and I realised my friend Lena would be visiting from Sunday onwards, so there wasn’t much time left for me to finalise things. Since it was cloudy, I decided to go to El Kawser and buy the fake plants for my flat, plus do some food shopping before Lena arrived.
As we drove into Hurghada, I asked Esmat why there were queues for petrol, as I thought the days of having to queue had gone, and he explained that the weather had held up deliveries, so for the moment, it could be difficult to fill up with petrol until everyone had caught up with all the delays.
I asked Esmat to drop me off at Metro, as this was roughly in the middle of everywhere I wanted to go, but since he took me through the back streets this time and we passed the furniture shop where I wanted to go, I ended up asking to get out directly there.
When I entered the shop, I discovered that I’d been living in fantasy land as regards the price of what I wanted to buy. I’d seen some ordinary sized plants before for around 300 LE and for some inexplicable and completely illogical reason, I’d since got it into my head that if I bought a large fake tree, that too would be the same price. What was I thinking?!
Anyway, the result was that I got a complete shock when I realised the tree was three times the price of the smaller plant – I hadn’t even brought enough money with me, although fortunately the shop did accept debit cards. I tried to negotiate on price, but he would bring the cost down by only 10%. After deliberating, I decided I may as well go ahead and get it, and a smaller plant as well. I agreed with the shopkeeper that I could pick them up later, after I’d finished the rest of my shopping.
I’d been craving a KFC recently, so that was next on my list, which means I have now gone to two out of the three KFCs in Hurghada. I think this is quite restrained of me, actually!
Then I walked over to Metro to buy some groceries. It was a frustrating shopping trip and made me appreciate Spinneys, although I guess Spinneys is not always perfect either! First of all, I wanted to buy some cans of diet coke, but all they had in stock were special flavours (for a premium price). I refused to believe it, but I hunted high and low and couldn’t see any normal or diet coke on the shelves. After that, I went to find some spreadable butter, but that wasn’t in stock either, as far as I could see. Then I looked for an own-brand cornflakes, but they seemed to do only Kellogg’s (more expensive, of course). I also needed 100% pure guava juice, but again none was available (I made do with apple, carrot and orange, and cocktail). I saw a delivery van standing outside and I was very tempted to go up to it and see if any of the items I wanted was on the van, but in reality I would never be so daring!
I phone for Esmat to collect me and we went to pick up the tree. The road outside the shop was busy, so Esmat had to double-park while I went in to fetch the plants. I could see my two purchases all wrapped up and waiting for me, but nobody appeared to be in the store. I shouted “hello!” and then suddenly realised that the shopkeeper was kneeling on his prayer mat behind the counter. At this point, I was in an ethical dilemma – on the one hand, I had Esmat looking worriedly at me from outside as he was double-parked; on the other hand, I didn’t feel I could interrupt the shopkeeper’s moment of prayer. Was it OK for me just to take the items? I really wasn’t sure!
In the end, I decided to take the small plant over to the car as a start; on seeing me, Esmat came over and before I knew it, both men were helping me. The tree was a bit of a challenge and I began to wonder why I’d made such a crazy purchase and why I can never just do things like normal people do. In the end, it just about fitted into the car by putting the back seats down and having the pot resting over the gearbox. Consequently Esmat had to drive all the way back with the tree as an armrest and had to manoeuvre his arm awkwardly each time he had to change gear.
I should have given Esmat a tip really for the extra effort, but I am always faffing too much with finding the right money to be able to think about tips as well, so I will just have to try to give it to him next time, if I can organise myself properly (which is a bit of a big “if”!). This tipping business still doesn’t come naturally to me.
I spent quite a lot of the evening trying to work out where the tree should go. I had plenty of ideas. Somehow, it didn’t quite look right in the lounge. In the end, it went in my bedroom and I decided I could make my spare space there into a little Mediterranean courtyard, but I’ll see what Lena thinks when she sees it or whether she thinks it just looks odd. After all that effort, I’ve got to make it work, somehow!
I asked Esmat to drop me off at Metro, as this was roughly in the middle of everywhere I wanted to go, but since he took me through the back streets this time and we passed the furniture shop where I wanted to go, I ended up asking to get out directly there.
When I entered the shop, I discovered that I’d been living in fantasy land as regards the price of what I wanted to buy. I’d seen some ordinary sized plants before for around 300 LE and for some inexplicable and completely illogical reason, I’d since got it into my head that if I bought a large fake tree, that too would be the same price. What was I thinking?!
Anyway, the result was that I got a complete shock when I realised the tree was three times the price of the smaller plant – I hadn’t even brought enough money with me, although fortunately the shop did accept debit cards. I tried to negotiate on price, but he would bring the cost down by only 10%. After deliberating, I decided I may as well go ahead and get it, and a smaller plant as well. I agreed with the shopkeeper that I could pick them up later, after I’d finished the rest of my shopping.
I’d been craving a KFC recently, so that was next on my list, which means I have now gone to two out of the three KFCs in Hurghada. I think this is quite restrained of me, actually!
Then I walked over to Metro to buy some groceries. It was a frustrating shopping trip and made me appreciate Spinneys, although I guess Spinneys is not always perfect either! First of all, I wanted to buy some cans of diet coke, but all they had in stock were special flavours (for a premium price). I refused to believe it, but I hunted high and low and couldn’t see any normal or diet coke on the shelves. After that, I went to find some spreadable butter, but that wasn’t in stock either, as far as I could see. Then I looked for an own-brand cornflakes, but they seemed to do only Kellogg’s (more expensive, of course). I also needed 100% pure guava juice, but again none was available (I made do with apple, carrot and orange, and cocktail). I saw a delivery van standing outside and I was very tempted to go up to it and see if any of the items I wanted was on the van, but in reality I would never be so daring!
I phone for Esmat to collect me and we went to pick up the tree. The road outside the shop was busy, so Esmat had to double-park while I went in to fetch the plants. I could see my two purchases all wrapped up and waiting for me, but nobody appeared to be in the store. I shouted “hello!” and then suddenly realised that the shopkeeper was kneeling on his prayer mat behind the counter. At this point, I was in an ethical dilemma – on the one hand, I had Esmat looking worriedly at me from outside as he was double-parked; on the other hand, I didn’t feel I could interrupt the shopkeeper’s moment of prayer. Was it OK for me just to take the items? I really wasn’t sure!
In the end, I decided to take the small plant over to the car as a start; on seeing me, Esmat came over and before I knew it, both men were helping me. The tree was a bit of a challenge and I began to wonder why I’d made such a crazy purchase and why I can never just do things like normal people do. In the end, it just about fitted into the car by putting the back seats down and having the pot resting over the gearbox. Consequently Esmat had to drive all the way back with the tree as an armrest and had to manoeuvre his arm awkwardly each time he had to change gear.
I should have given Esmat a tip really for the extra effort, but I am always faffing too much with finding the right money to be able to think about tips as well, so I will just have to try to give it to him next time, if I can organise myself properly (which is a bit of a big “if”!). This tipping business still doesn’t come naturally to me.
I spent quite a lot of the evening trying to work out where the tree should go. I had plenty of ideas. Somehow, it didn’t quite look right in the lounge. In the end, it went in my bedroom and I decided I could make my spare space there into a little Mediterranean courtyard, but I’ll see what Lena thinks when she sees it or whether she thinks it just looks odd. After all that effort, I’ve got to make it work, somehow!
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