El Andalous - Maintenance Fees

El Andalous - Paradise?

Each year we have to pay maintenance fees – these cover things like upkeep of the building, the three swimming pools, the gardens, any structural or basic painting work in your flat, electricity for common areas, etc.

Each year we also have to negotiate the fee (this is Egypt!) so that the management company doesn’t suddenly increase the charges. Indeed, we always push for a reduction since our fees are higher than those at most other places. It follows a fairly predictable pattern – as the time to pay approaches, the owners get more and more discontent about what’s not been done over the last year and the managing company becomes more and more unavailable.

Another predictable behavior is that all of a sudden, some of the basic things that we’ve asked for – such as cleaning corridors with water rather than just with a dry cloth – suddenly get done. This year, they decided to put in new lights in the reception area and outside, put new plants in the garden, repaint the corridor walls where they’d got dirty, etc. This activity always stops once people have paid their fees.

There’s always new scandal or rumours or misinformation flying about at this time of year, too. Truth is a very fluid thing over here. Last year, we heard that the company had handed over the management to the brother of the company’s head instead. This year, we heard that actually (allegedly), the management has been handed over to a partner who owns part of the complex with whom the two brothers are warring. Our current understanding is that whoever you give your maintenance to (you can pay directly at El Andalous or you can pay by bank transfer to the managing company), that person gets to keep most of it. It’s not too clear how much of it actually gets spent on maintenance. We ask for accounts, but they are never provided. If they were provided, we doubt they’d be very accurate.

Don’t get me wrong – the very basic items are done – we have functioning pools, a tended garden, electricity in our corridors, workmen on site to assist if we need plumbing or electronic services, etc. However, the staff is largely untrained and they do not understand European standards. 

I complained that the area outside my flat was messy with rubbish on the ground and that the lawn mower had been left outside for a week. Someone immediately came to rake the leaves away underneath my balcony, but left all the rubbish on the ground, and the lawn mower was still left where it was. The next day, I had to walk the manager round to tell him what needed doing. I pointed out every bit of rubbish. This was duly cleaned away, but they still managed to miss a plastic bag by the fountain, which would be obvious to any European eye. But over here, the untrained staff regards our lifestyle as luxurious (which it is) and they don’t understand the detail.

We’ve decided to take a more hard-line approach this year (which is what the Russians wanted to do, but the Brits previously preferred just to be awfully polite). We’ve refused to pay until some of our demands are met and now, miraculously, a meeting with the management company is suddenly possible.

However, despite all this, I think a number of people here are still happy. I passed one of the Russians in the corridor and said hello. I asked if he’d had a good day and he replied that it was paradise here. I agree. It’s a funny kind of paradise (because it’s by no means perfect), but it’s still a paradise of sorts.

El Andalous - Windy Season

Dust Gathering as I Type!

At some point between winter and summer, there’s the windy season in Hurghada. I think it’s usually in March. However, we’ve been having quite a bit of wind here, recently.

Coming from Europe, it actually feels quite strange. At night, if it’s gusty, I can hear the palm trees swaying outside. But, since I’m from Europe, my first thought when I’m lying in bed and listening to it is that the rustling of the palms is rain. It sounds just like the incessant insidious rain that you get in Europe. I leap out of bed and look outside the window to take a look at it (since rain is a rare occurrence over here, and I feel obliged to watch it) and then realize that of course, it’s silly of me to think it’s raining, it’s only the trees. I wonder whether when Egyptians come over to Europe, they hear rain at night and think it’s the palm trees?

I am basically living in the desert, so when it’s windy, it’s also very dusty. The mountains rising up across the bay become invisible (despite the blue sky, which also seems odd). Sometimes the sky clouds over, sometimes the clouds are even a bit dark, and then the wind starts to get stronger. It’s hard to kick the habit of thinking that this is a sure sign of rain. But this is Egypt. Generally, it doesn’t rain. It’s just cloudy and windy.

The sense that it’s going to rain is also heightened by the fact that sometimes the sound of the wind can become a bit like a “boom”; at one point I thought it was thunder, but it was just the wind rumbling and reverberating round the complex. Ignoring your expectations built up over years of past experience of approaching storms and rain is quite difficult.

And the dust means it’s impossible to keep my balcony clean. Within a couple of hours, everything is covered and there’s no point in cleaning because it’s just going to get dusty again straight away. You don’t really notice the dust in the air (or at least, I don’t), so it’s not unpleasant to sit outside; also my balcony is fairly protected (although the dust still settles). But I do start to feel as if I look like I’ve been too lazy to clean for weeks on end, whereas in reality all that dust has just arrived in the last hour or so.

It’s not entirely possible to escape the wind even when you’re inside. The wind whistles through the corridors and your door can slam shut if you’re not careful as you come in. In the summer, a breeze coming through the flat is very pleasant if you leave your door open, but at this time of year, when the wind is so strong, it’s like something out of a horror film (although, thankfully, without the horror, just the sound track!).

El Andalous - Forgetfulness

El Andalous - Order on the Outside

I’m actually running out of things to say in my blog, but maybe it’s connected to the fact that I’m going through a rather forgetful phase and I just can’t remember things to report back on. New mothers talk about “baby brain”, but wait until the menopause, is all I can say!

The main thing I forgot was my yearly maintenance money in Egypt. I’d taken the money out in Switzerland, but when it came to pay it, I couldn’t remember where it was. My memory, for what it’s worth, was that I’d taken it all on the cruise with me, having picked it up en route at my flat in Switzerland. The idea was that if I already had it with me on the cruise, I wouldn’t forget to take it back with me to Egypt.

Then I remember thinking during my holiday that I should hide the money somewhere safe. That’s always fatal. I could recall all the places where I thought I’d hidden it and also the reasons why I thought each place might not be a good hiding place after all. But I couldn’t remember which one I’d chosen in the end. I also had a memory of splitting the money in two, so that if I lost half, I’d still have the other half.

I got back to Egypt and could find only half the money. Well “find” is a bit kind – it turned up unexpectedly, but at least I got it. But it was only half. This left me with the dilemma as to where on earth I’d put the other half. I looked and looked, but to no avail. Had someone found the hiding place while I was on vacation and the money had been stolen? I couldn’t quite believe it, but I couldn’t think of any other explanation.

I remember my sister-in-law telling me, when clearing out my parents’ home after their death, that old people often stash money in peculiar places. I don’t regard myself as old, but I think when I die, someone is going to clear out my place and wonder what on earth was going on.

Anyway, some weeks later, the other half of the money turned up in my flat in a hiding place that I remembered after the fact and was totally unrelated to my cruise. This was good, but it also meant that my memory of dividing the money in two halves during my holiday was completely wrong. I’d obviously, for some reason that’s now obscure to me, decided to bring over the money to Egypt in two halves. Still all’s well that ends well.

I keep on “losing” things and then finding them again. I’ve always been a bit like this, but it’s happening too regularly just now. Recently, I “lost” my bed socks, my nail scissors, my cardigan, and all my socks. It’s not even worth mentioning my keys, which are supposed to be hung up when I come in, but I always forget to do this and then don’t know where they are. My flat isn’t even that big, so I don’t know how it’s so difficult to find things.

One genuine loss was my Suunto Ambit watch that I use to measure my swimming speed. I’m really disappointed about that as it was quite expensive and I haven’t plucked up the courage to buy a new one just yet (maybe it’ll turn up, but I’m losing hope). I think I left it on the beach after taking off my wetsuit from snorkeling.

I went to Paradise Gardens, the apartment complex that owns the beach, but they didn’t have it. It’s pretty empty there, so I was a bit of a novelty for them. The manager kept on calling me “princess” and the security guard told me twice how beautiful I was. This would happen only in Egypt! Still, it’s some compensation for having lost my watch, although I’d prefer to have my watch than the compliments, to be honest.

El Andalous - Senzo Night

Bus to Senzo Inauguration!

I think of Mondays over here as “KFC night”. One of the many things we successfully fought for some years ago when complaining about our high maintenance fees was to have a free bus once (originally twice) a week to go to the local shopping mall (where Spinneys, the ‘hypermarket’, is based). The idea was really for us to do our weekly food shop; consequently, they tried to stop it when BestWay opened up locally, but we managed to get the bus kept on in the end.

They (our management, I guess) seem rather reluctant to keep it going because it’s often cancelled with the excuse that the bus has broken down. I used to think that this was just an excuse, but on one occasion the bus did break down just as we arrived, so now I’m not entirely sure. It also gets cancelled if there are less than 7 people. Since the bus only holds 12 people, it’s quite a big ask, and if we have a full bus, there’s never any room for everyone’s shopping. But that’s the rule they’ve decided to enforce. I still interpret it as a basic reluctance to do it for us; it’s not exactly service with a smile (maybe that’s unfair, the guy at reception always smiles when I ask on Sunday to reserve my place).

The bus is surprisingly punctual for Egypt – they really don’t like it if you’re even a minute late to come back (it leaves at 7pm and returns at 9pm). It also used to leave punctually at 7pm, but over time this sometimes delays now to 7.30pm. In the beginning, there used to be large arguments and phone calls back to the manager with people demanding we leave 30 minutes later if we arrive 30 minutes late, but to give credit where it’s due, these days we just ask and the driver agrees.

However, I shouldn’t really complain as it’s great when it’s all working properly. I use it mostly to have my weekly KFC, buy my 5-for-4 special offer on Twix, and have a coffee. Sometimes I need to renew my internet or buy other things, of course. It also gets me out of Sahl Hasheesh and I enjoy wandering around and seeing what new shops have opened. There’s supposed to be a new gym opening that’s attached to Senzo mall. Large billboards outside announce that it’s finally arrived in May 2017, but actually it’s still being built. That’s so Egypt!

You need to remember where the bus parks when you get out, because it’s fairly nondescript. It’s a white minibus and there are tons of these in Egypt; the local buses are like this, and there also seem to be quite a lot on the roads just owned by private people too. There are always three or four of these buses in the car park when we arrive. One week I tried to get on the wrong bus to go back – one of the Russian owners, who I didn’t recognize, grabbed my arm and tried to show me the correct bus, but originally I thought he was someone trying to accost me. It was all a bit embarrassing. That’s what happens when you forget to do the simplest of things!

Anyway, if you’re reading this on a Monday night, I’m probably at the KFC!