Dear Members,
The Egyptian
chronicles ’s beautiful article evoked in me sad and happy memories.
In October 1951 I was invited by my girl friend, who was then working
at the British Embassy at Garden City,
to spend Christmas and the New Year in Egypt with her. She had an
apartment in Heliopolis.
A few weeks after my
arrival I was offered a job at the British Embassy. Luckily
there was an Embassy bus that went all the way to Heliopolis.
where I shared the apartment with my friend. Cairo, then, was for
me, coming from England, a balmy paradise.
“THE
DOLCE VITA” prevailing in Cairo in the early fifties
was second to none. Sunshine, Clubs, open air theatres, horseback riding
at the Pyramids and non-stop out door activities.
It was a dream life.
And then came January 1952
and the burning of Cairo so well
described in the
Egyptian Chronicles' article.
I will never forget that day when Cairo was on fire.. I was much
nearer to your home than you thought, because I was then assigned to the
Visa Section, at the British Consulate which was on
Gameh Sharkasstreet,
across the street from the Armenian Catholic Church and about ten
steps from Groppi,Soliman
Pasha.
We were on the bus going home when suddenly the mob came toward the bus.
Some of the staff members jumped off the bus and silly me I hid under the
chair. Luckily the driver was able to turn on to a side street and return
to the Embassy.
There we stayed for
three days. We had a social club in the premises and the only thing we
could find was a few crackers and tea bags.The British Embassy and
the residency were as they still are, but there was no Nile Corniche
then and the Embassy Garden reached the Nile. As for
the happy memories I shall let Kamal
my husband tell you all about it in future posts, In-sha'-Allah.
.
Kamal,
who is sitting beside me, says that “le monde est vraiment petit”.
Lizzy |
