Picking Up the Pillow Covers

We made a third trip to the pillow cover factory in the Bab Zuwayla area to pick up the eight new covers.  It was easy to spot the familiar woman says who controls the parking.  She was happy to see us again and we no longer have to pay in advance.
 

She directed Roshdy into another tight spot and we left the car in neutral in case it had to be moved.


On our previous trip, Linda had picked eight different fabrics for our eight pillows.


Linda noticed a number of chains hanging from the ceiling and a rather vicious looking spear-like piece of iron in the back room.  We wondered if this was some form of Medieval torture device.


After all, the stories about Bab Zuwayla during the Mamluk time get pretty bloody.

It was the site of executions, and it was here for example, that Sultan Salim the Grim hung the last of the Mamluk sultans.

Salim the Grim?  Now, there's a nickname.

But no, those chains and things were just part of a balance beam scale used to weigh the incoming bales of cotton.  Roshdy's daughter Noora hopped on the scale to demonstrate.


I was interested in the front office.  Over the desk there was an above average collection of religious pictures including a very old black and white shot of the green-dome mosque built above the tomb of Mohammed in Medina.  Higher on the wall is another photo of the dome.
 

A television in the office plays constant video of pilgrims circling the Kaaba in Mecca.  This video with accompanying music is not uncommon in shops and restaurant in Cairo.  As the holy month of Ramadan approaches, expect to find more businesses joining in with a display like this.  Note the month and year of 9/1441 on the Islamic calendar.

The protective plastic covering is usually left on things like televisions to protect from damage in Cairo's pervasive dusty atmosphere.  This is true even of in-home televisions.

Linda looked over the eight new pillow covers and pronounced the work satisfactory.  Later, at home we combined them with the previous test cover and posed them for a group photo. If you compare these covers to the ones chosen in the store, I think you'll agree we didn't get exactly what we chose but it's not worth a couple more trips to the vendor to change any.  These will do fine on our porch.



We look forward to using the fully stuffed pillows on our Bloomington porch next month.