Reboot!

Reboot!

This is my new life. I am reinventing myself, block by block. Life is good. Breathing is exciting. The adventure begins!

I find myself in the Egyptian Museum. It was a struggle to figure out exactly how to get in, but I did it, all on my own! Everywhere I look are artefacts from the Old, Middle and New kingdoms of Egypt, the civilization that has centred on the Nile, Africa's greatest river, as it reaches the Mediterranean Sea. There are many people about even though it is very early but they breeze by, mostly interested in taking photos they will never look at again - an excellent reminder of how not to live in the present.

The artefacts are generally stunning, especially the New Kingdom ones, when funerary decoration becomes a pressing imperative. The treasure trove from the tomb of Tutankhamun is the high point. Everything glitters and shimmers three thousand years later. Any woman would be delighted to wear the jewellery! And of course, when you look at his death mask, you see the boy king still.

As I walked by the Nile in the afternoon heat, seeking a breeze, a car screeches to a halt close to me and a motorbike behind it. The passenger emerges and confronts the biker, both young males, testosterone coursing, and a violent struggle ensues, accompanied by much shouting. As the two literally try to tear each other apart, others intervene from all over trying to calm the violence but it takes the arrival of two police officers to quiet the antagonists.

Dark suited men suddenly appear from everywhere and usher all pedestrians back from the road. The road empties, a military helicopter circles continuously, hundreds of soldiers stand guard. There is a heightened sense of expectancy. The Pope passes, in a huge, protective cavalcade, on his way home. He did not stay long.