Corinne’s busy doing Cambodian work so I thought I’d add an update.

January is currently turning out a little chilly. With night-time temperatures lower than those in the UK, the blanket and quilt are out and the small electric oil-filled radiator is earning its keep in the lounge. The sea remains beautiful and inviting but after dipping a toe, that’s how it shall stay for at least another few weeks. Higher temperatures are promised for the weekend, so we live in hope of emerging from our cocoon.

There’s building works at the apartment block.  The apartment on the opposite corner of the ground floor is being “remodelled”.  There’s a lot of banging going on.

Yesterday we caught up with Marianne, a good Norwegian friend of ours who had tagged herself as being in Shahrazad on Facebook, so we wandered next door to see her and Äse for a drink and chat. It was lovely to see her looking so well.

Apart from the obligatory shopping trips, we haven’t been out much.  Lunchtime takeaway from the falafel shop has been about the only external interaction with the world.  Our local vendors were happy to see us return, especially as there are very few tourists around at the moment and they had assumed that we’d disappeared with the rest of the foreigners.  For our vegetable shop, we are his only foreign customers as he’s right in the middle of an Egyptian neighbourhood and there are no bus routes going that way.  We always cause a stir when we visit and the other shopkeepers and locals nearby have come to know us.

That’s about it for now.