In Cairo and on line

I have arrived and am tired but fine. Our house is a mansion - like a well worn aristocrat in a slightly tired dress!

My stuff has arrived but can't be cleared until we have our diplomatic immunity sorted - and that takes time. It might be a few weeks yet.

I have decided which of many rooms is to be my studio and have started the process of organising shelves in a cupboard which stretches the length of the room and has only hanging space - and that so high that I have to stand on my toes to reach it. I think it was designed for someone with one hundred evening dresses.

We had dinner in a lovely local restaurant last night and it had eight different areas of tile patterns on the floor - this will be my crusade here I think, collecting these fabulous quilt blocks! I have a new digital camera and have been snapping away for the last four days.

I can't believe I managed without!

I must say, stepping out of Business Class on Emirates into the tube, shaking hands with the Chief of Protocol while everyone on the plane is held back, being whisked sideways back onto the tarmac, and taken in a blacked-out limo (ducking and weaving through landing jumbos),
to a room with awe-inspiring chandeliers and Louis Farouk furniture all around the walls, then being fed orange juice and baklava while someone else organises passports and luggage - well- perhaps I could get used to this!

And to keep the balance - we have one bedroom which has snakes breeding in the air con system. Not dangerous as they are a common garden snake as seen as good luck by many. However, there are people who don't like to be woken by them moving around the room, even if they do reduce the rats.