Did I even mention I had moved to Cairo from Port Fouad??? I don't remember and am too lazy to read the archives--hehe. Anyway I took up residence here on July 1 and it's been interesting. To say the least. I rent a furnished flat which I think was set up more to accommodate students than a family. Until this week, we didn't have natural gas. I used an oombooba (extremely large, heavy and dangerous propane gas tank). About a month ago the landlord started the process of having natural gas lines put in. Let's talk about making a mountain out of a molehill. What should have been a one day process took about 10 days...breaking walls to install pipes one day, the meter another, a hole in the wall to allow fresh air in, then an antique and previously very used hot water heater installed, next an exhaust pipe for the water heater, ad nauseum. Of course at each step the kitchen--and most of the rest of the house--was covered in layers of dust and dirt. I cleaned my kitchen here more times in the last month than I cleaned in a year anywhere else! Finally 2 days ago the "engineer" (I get a kick out of that word--it can basically apply to anyone here) came for a final inspection and to install the final lines and start the gas flowing! NOT! He came and did everything BUT he thankfully rejected the dang nasty old water heater my cheap landlord tried to pass off. Talk about an asphyxiation waiting to happen! Thank GOD the engineer rejected it. So 2 days ago I had gas for my stove but still no hot water. With the change in weather of late, let's talk about freezing your butt off when facing a cold shower at Fajr time. Not fun! Finally the landlord broke down and bought a new heater, then actually paid the gas company guys a few extra pounds to come after hours and install the new "sakhan" and connect the gas to it. Houston we have lift-off! And I now have hot water in my sinks, shower, and washing machine. Ahhhh, my washing machine which is not fully automatic!!! That's another post. I'm off now to take a hot shower.
2 comments:
Mabrook! You did tell us. No f*ing coincidence that "oombooba" looks a lot like "boom" at first glance.
hahaha@ ad/uaedp! Yeah...the Egyptians put the BOOM in oombooba!
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