It was overcast and cold and gloomy this morning and would have been the perfect day to stay in with a cup of tea, but unfortunately I had things to do. Life happens in spite of weather.
As I was walking home, it started to sprinkle. No big deal really. I didn’t have an umbrella with me so I just pulled up the hood of my coat. Normally I wouldn’t have given in a second thought after that only things get complicated when it rains in Cairo.
Cairo is a dirty messy place. You’d think that some rain once in a while might help that. Freshen things up. The problem is that normally it doesn’t rain very hard, so instead of washing the dust away, it just gets everything wet and makes more of a mess. And the rain itself is dirty. I was once caught out in my black leather jacket. When I got inside again, my jacket was covered in dirt tracks. And this was from me dashing across an open space from a taxi to a building.
If you ever find yourself caught in the rain in Cairo, don’t stand under a tree for shelter because all of the dust that has accumulated in the leaves will come down on you. Then you’ll be dirty and wet.
A good hard rain takes care of the dust, however, there are no sewers in the streets here so when it rains hard, it floods. If it’s bad enough, trucks have to come to pump the water out.
The driving gets even worse when it rains. As you might imagine, drivers here don’t get much experience driving in the rain. Often their windshield wipers rot in between showers so they don’t work when they are needed. If you are a pedestrian as I am, walking becomes much more hazardous. There are few sidewalks. As I walk, in addition to keeping an eye out for traffic, I am also trying to avoid either walking in puddles or standing next to them when cars are passing. They could care less if they splash you. The cars are also weaving to avoid puddles – better to run over me than drive through water.
All in all, I’m glad to be back home again, damp and chilled but alive and in one piece.
