Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Do not give up on a day

I blogged earlier in the day on http://birdinginegypt.blogspot.com/2010/04/heat-and-more-heat.ht
as the day progressed late afternoon a breeze came up and cooled the temperature down somewhat. and I could see it was going to be a time to sit down by the Nile to get a shot of the sunset. got a little more than what I expected as always.
I think this is the Honey Buzzard pernis apivorus, I thought first it was a kite but after watching them ( 3) none made a fan with the tail. not even when fishing I took over 30 shots in the space of 1/2 hour. they were such a joy just to watch especially against the breeze most of the good shots where as if they were hanging in the sky.































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one of the Kestrels are still here


















Mr T with his big lens. what an odd place for a mirror I hear you say egypt sky watch. has the answer to that Question.













The Nile was so calm again today, if you have been following my life living in Egypt I have a photo of a large fish
that was taken in the weekly market.
these are the guys who caught the fish , no big uns today they said.










This shot will be put on the myegypt.co.uk website on Nile pollution. as will a few other oil slick shots I had today









Now these are tourist police who are supposed to be looking after the safety of TOURISTS. but none come down this end of the promenade now since they have taken all the boats away and pilled them in rows of 10 . because the whole of the prom is going to be dug out and lowered by 10ft,
can not see the sense in all this but this country has so much money they have to spend, spend, spend no they have not won the lottery,
much better than that they have other nations just pouring money into this oh so poor country, they have so many police all they can do is fight amongst themselves. here is me wondering whether I should tempt going out at 50 c in a pair of shorts and tee shirt. these guys are having a scrap in woolen winter uniform the white summer uni only comes out in the beginning of May, and I mean these pricks where in serious mood fisticuffs where in play as I moved over to tell them to behave they dispersed. good job they did or I would never have seen the mirrored glass by the wall facing the Nile,










The end of another day and its a good job I did not give up on the heat of the day, its quite easy to do that when I am stuck on the computer in an air conditioned room.
This next shot was taken with a circular polarisor filter attached to the lens, first shot was away from the sun then another into the sun giving it this black and white look, rather like it myself.
Its very rare I modify or alter my photos I can quite easily with photoshop 7. but I find photography is at its best when all thats done is a cut or size alteration for blogging,







Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Luxor market part 2

I love going to the locals market that is held every Tuesday it starts at first light about 5.30, today I overslept and went to market at 9.00 .the market is maybe 1000 yards from my flat taking the back alley not a place the normal visitor goes through I go this route as there is no hassle just the odd good morning and welcome to luxor from the locals who have not seen the stranger in town, once getting out of the ally I am on the main street that carries traffic traveling from the city centre. Luxor is a city where all travel by local mini bus (Sheroots) so even if locals have cars they prefer to get about by bus mainly because of parking, if you can find a space, that a taxi or motorbike is not using. once I have crossed the road dodging all the buses. I have a short walk to the railway level crossing I had to go over the railway foot bridge as the barrier is down over the railway line crossing.
most locals would prefer to stand in the traffic jam at the crossing than walk a few more yards over the foot bridge and come to think of it I have never seen another person use this bridge? From the bridge there is a good view of the market and the station.



















The locals train travels from Cairo to Aswan and takes 24 hours sometimes, because it stops at every station en-route, this one train was 30 carriages,
the train runs on the hour every hour. tourist trains run twice a day 9.30 Am to Aswan and 10.30 Pm to Cairo known as the sleeping train only these two trains have 1st &2nd class compartments and 4 sleeper carriages. and are pretty expensive to travel on I can fly egyptair cheaper than the sleeper. that takes 12/14 hours to get to Cairo by plane 45 mins, plus 1 hour boarding wait time.























Nuts and a nut seller, one of the things the Egyptians like is nuts and eat them by the ton.

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Turkeys of all size and age are on the market today.












Muskovy and aylsbury ducks and ducklings












these two ladies just having a weekly banter













Fresh fruit and veg always on sale here summer and winter




















Water melons Not my favorite fruit always turn my tummy, could be because of the water they are fed. these are not as big as what they usually are














Peppers and chilly peppers. obragine cucumbers




















carrots











fresh buffalo cheese
















fresh butter













and a bag to carry it on your head home . the other thing I did notice today was all the hand made date palm hand made brushes one pile near the lady and one in the front.
















Nile fish so I was told must have been caught quite local as its eyes where still glazed mine must have been too by the focus on the shot.
are maybe I was to in awe of the size of this Nile fish


















and two smaller ones with some tiny nile fish this is what the locals prefer me too.
they are also the fish the herons and Pied kingfishers eat, see http://egyptswildlife2.blogspot.com/










Geese and moskovy








































Chickens these are point of lay hens. if they do not lay they will be fattened up for the pot.





















luxor weekly market

second series on the luxor market will be uploading more photos
100 yards from my home there is the railway the main line from Aswan to Cairo and the first photo is from the line over looking the new Luxor by pass road. first I thought there was a funeral seeing a mass of black garments,

Today its market day in Luxor city here all the farmers wife's from the east bank come to sell whatever'
so no more comments enjoy the scene at 8.00 on a Tuesday morning and held every Tuesday.


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goslings
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pigeons
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salted spiced fish
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Aylsbury ducks
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Muskovey duck/ goose
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Aylsbury ducks




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Garlic by the ton

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that's it and I am heading out to see whats around the next corner I love the market and did my buying first thing this morning - camera , but I did buy an orange from this guy they looked so nice and fresh and it was.
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About Me

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I am retired . i came to Egypt after many years doing voluntery work here I refurbished the clinic in Daraw worked there for 6 months and fell in live with Egypt, I then came back to egypt on a holliday and stayed, I was about to retire for health reasons and egypt was the country with a low humidity for my authric condition, I met avery nice taxi driver , and because he was poor and I needed a home here I tried to help him and his family. he on the other hand was a swindler and before long after he swindled me out of my life savings, I found ot he wAS a drug addict with an addiction to opium,an alcoholic , a blackmarketeer in pharaonic items, and since taking him to court he has added a few more things to his credit, he bribes he pays for protection some call it mafia I call it thugery, a forger and a blackmailler. this once nice little man has dcided to be all changed and turned to islam and now he has a nice business can pay me back in instalments totaling the equivellant of 3000 sterling per year, thats 1000 less than i would get in a savings account and three thousand less if H borrowed the money from A bank,