Taking Care of the Routine Stuff

The doorbell rang at about 6, this evening.  It was a man with a calculator in hand and a small stack of papers.  He wanted money.  191.73 Egyptian Pounds to be exact.  It turns out that this was the electric meter reader.

Here, the meter reader takes the reading, calculates the balance due and rings your bell to collect payment in cash.  How else could it be done?  I gave him a 200 pound note; he gave be 5 pounds change (no one ever has small change here) and we were now current for the current.

This morning, Linda discovered that our shower drain was backing up.  Our close friend who handles problems for us promised a specialist either today or tomorrow.  He called about 10:30 tonight to ask if we were still up.  The plumber and our friend's bawab showed up at about 11 pm.  The plumber set his plastic bag of tools down on the dining room table, took out a screwdriver and went to work.

Besides clearing the drain, they squeegeed the shower floor and bathroom floor.  Floors here are always made of tile so that you can throw water on them and use a squeegee to push the water to a conveniently located drain, usually in a kitchen or bathroom.  You vacuum, we squeegee.   I'll let you know the cost later.