From Cairo with love - 1

15 mars 2010

From Cairo with love - 1

Good evening to all,

First of all, I am not dead. I’ve just gotten back from my client’s premises to my scruffy hotel. So, a few words on how things are here.

First of all, before you finish reading this email, click on this link & watch.

http://origin.theonion.com/video/tired-of-traffic-a-new-dot-report-urges-drivers-ho,14144/

Now, this might surprise you, but Egyptians are remarkably avant-garde about traffic management, and have implemented this system on a national scale, it seems. They also seem to draw the full extent of possibilities from their four-lane expressways. Which is to say lining up 8 cars in one row. Cars here have an average mileage of 700 000, produce the pollution of 7 european trucks, and kill 1.7 citizens per day.

Their transportation system is also cleverly arranged. We sissy Frenchmen have to lock down entire aisles for public transport, and set up expensive bus stops. In Cairo, they save precious minutes by not having any bus stops : when you get close to your destination, you throw yourself out of the moving vehicle, into moving traffic, and dodge&jump your way to safety. Or survival. And their interpersonal non-verbal communication are to be praised : jerking your fingers sideways together means “please, kind gentlemen in the two cars headed straight at me at 65 mph, I’ve put on a little weight lately and I would need you to move an inch or two further apart, lest I lose my hip.” All of that with one gesture. All we know how to do is flip the bird… So, 1.7 deadly casualties on average everyday is in fact a rather low figure, considering. Must be said that are excluded from those statistics, side-view mirror related mishaps : the nicked elbows, thrashed handbags, and plinked out children. With all of this, they have freed themselves from the plague we Parisians know every day : rush hour. There is no peak in their road infrastructure saturation: it’s packed full 24/7.

I’ve gotten a peek of the pyramids, off in the distance but, mostly, I’ve sweated, gotten lost in downtown Cairo, and breathed one entire sandbucket.

See y’all soon for new adventures,

James Harrington