28th September, 1943: Cairo - bewildering mass of humanity

With one view in mind, that of changing our English money into Egyptian money, we are up early. We realized when we had this money in our pockets, that it was easy to get a pass to Cairo. With our passes in our pockets, Lofty, Eddie & I were soon outside the camp waiting for a lift into town. Very soon, we were in an open lorry, bound for Cairo. The short distance from the Camp to Cairo as it had seemed from the air, became a long journey in gruelling heat. On either side the road nothing but sand could be seen. It was very surprising to find so much on the road - almost like being back in Britain, but motor cars were a minor percentage of the vehicles that drove along that good road.

Approaching the town, one has not to wait to see the buildings, one smells the city and the civilization - or does one? The smell of rank vegetation in the wet well irrigated land, and the sordid squallor of the poorer parts of town is not a pleasant one. It makes one think as we might say. Near the city, the pyramids which had looked so small, towered into the sky.

These gigantic man-built massive towers, if but gifted with the power of speech, could take us back to Ancient Egypt, the centre of world civilization for a monment. I expected to see Ancient Egypt, lost in thought and with no sense of time. I was not disappointed. Modern motor cars had only partly replaced the camel & donkeys. We passed a large camel caravan, all laden with merchandise. Donkeys were used; & when I saw a man in long flowing white robes riding one, was it not like living in the time of the Bible?

The lorry driver put us off over the bridge, from where we caught a tram into the city centre. Their trams are divided into two sections, first and second class.

A woman, heavily veiled in black, moved up for me to sit beside her. This rather astonished me - but I sat down and thanked her. We got off at the centre, & with the intention of doing some shopping, entered a large store, equivalent to our Lewis's in England. But during the afternoon heat, all leading shops close, & we only had a few minutes when that warning bell rang. We had to get out into the street again, having seen just enough to arouse in us a keen desire to buy a few of those things we saw which we had been for so long without.

Another airman, who had spent some time in Egypt, joined us & took us to the bazaar district. What a sight, long very narrow streets of stalls, hand carts and small shops. Clothes, carpets, ornaments, cheap junk and expensive antiques - all laid out for the customer's benefit, the whole scene making a Church jumble sale look paltry and small. These sellers were not content on waiting for a customer, each merchant shouted his ware to attract the attention of any likely buyer. The sellers in some stores outnumbered the customers. In the street donkey carts and hand carts, heavily laden with all kinds of goods for sale, were hooted at by impatient motor drivers. Bells of push bicycles were rang frantically & continuously & pedestrians had to make frantic efforts to get out of the way. The chaos and uproar is most startling, causing much confusion on everybody's part. Some of the older people, less vigorous, rested in the shade, others slept on the pavement. The food stalls, which for lack of paint or soap & water, looked like antiques, were loaded with undescribable kinds & mixtures of native food. Some of these stalls smelt quite pleasantly, while others definitely did not. I saw no food covered over to prevent flies getting at it, they were having a glorious time, fruit, cakes, sweetmeats and other food stuffs were theirs for the taking. The only danger these flies experienced was the occasional swish of a swat used by the owner of the stall. The swat was used in a half hearted fashion, & kept the flies away occasionally, but making them more eager to get on with the eating. I think the swat was used not because the food is cleaner when there are no flies, but because the owner though the flies had had enough free feeding, & had not started eating into the profits. The flies seemed of that opinion, but did not let this occasional, lazy attempt to kill them, deter them from their feast.

Women carrying water jars on their heads, men with skins full of water, shoe blacks, cobblers, tailors, quack doctors, soft drink sellers, - all plied their trade in these narrow busy streets. It was one bewildering mass of humanity trying to make a living - honestly & by brow-beating others. If this is civilization, civilzation is chaotic and mad.

We returned again to the town & soon realized that for the things that we wanted we had to pay fabulous prices. Some of the shops had fixed prices, but the little trader could always be beaten down in his price. In the main streets "Wog" shoe blacks were a nuisance. Unless one wanted one's shoes clean, they became almost vicious, and poured liquid blacking upon one's shoes. This meant that those shoes needed cleaning for which they usually charged five piestres (6d). These were the type, I imagined, that might follow a person at night with a sharp long naked knife. I had no reason to believe such of them, but their attitude and the strong rumours that went around gave me an uneasy feeling.

We had a grand lunch at the "Spitfire" grill - chicken the best value for money I had in Cairo that day.

We went to a cinema show, the cinema a large modern place and a pleasant surprise. The roof opened and the stars above could be seen. Of for an English shower, what a hell of a panic there would be to get away from the rain. If this happened in Britain I expect quite a number would quite casually open up their umbrellas - until another behind would shout "Put the b- thing away, I paid to see the picture not to see what your umbrella looks like when it is open"

We had another meal at the "Spitfire" and made our way to the Y.M.C.A. where one could get refreshments & we spent the last half hour of our stay at Cairo, trying to satisfy an unsatiable thirst.

Once on our way, we were soon in the desert air again, cool, refreshing and clean. The noise and unpleasant smells of the city were left behind. That was my first visit to Cairo, & my impressions are almost undefinable. It is certainly a marvellous city of a bewildering mass of humanity, a chaotic centre of small shops & traders, a town where the fabulously rich & poor are found in the same streets. My mind was in a whirl.