Fine Tuning

I woke up early this morning, catching the sunrise and the EgyptAir flight heading North to Cairo. I think I jumped out of bed so early because I was not in my own bed but that of the guestroom; my own being covered in clothes because the closet had to emptied. Today our new wardrobes would be installed . . . well, almost.


Somewhat ironically, I saw a group of men measuring their fields this afternoon. A similar scene appears in pharaonic tombs. I'm not sure what legalities were being confirmed among my neighbours but in the case of the pharaohs, the government tax inspector was determining how much of the crop would be due to the king based on the size of the land and the depth of the flood (i.e., a good year or not).


So what happened in modern Egypt? This is a question that is often asked. The cupboards are well built. They're big. They're beautiful. But it's almost impossible to hang clothes on the far side, which is narrower due to a building support beam. The carpenter did a great job building the wardrobe to fit around the horizontal and vertical beams, but he didn't stop to consider that a hanger could not fit behind a closed door. "Malesh. Hang your clothes on an angle," I'm told. "Nooooo," I say shaking my head. "We will move the hanging clothes to the left side and the shelves to the right." Oh.


Then there was the issue of the paint job. Two weeks ago when I met the painter, we negotiated the price based on a minimum of 2 coats on the interior and 3 on the exterior. I was not happy with the sloppy job on the interior and the exterior had coloured marks from the potato chip boxes that they used to 'protect' the panels in the delivery truck. "Get the painter here now," I said. Result: his brother showed up 4 hours later . . . without paint, without brushes and, of course, without a paint tray. Thankfully, even in the little hamlet near me there is a Sipes paint store so he went off to buy paint. I provided the brushes and bucket.

At the end of a long day, I can report that construction is 75% complete. Painting is 40% complete. So, on average, that's a passing grade. Bokra, insha'Allah, all will be done. 100%. Insha'Allah.