Silent Vigil

Yesterday was the second anniversary of the death of Khaled Said, a young man in Alexandria who was beaten to death by the police in that city. A lot of people have tried to analyse why his death so shook the people of Egypt and I suspect that much of it had to do with the fact that he was very largely and Egyptian Everyman, someone who in various ways was much like many other young people here. After his death in 2010 protests were organised in which people wearing black or dark colours would simply stand about four or five metres apart and they wouldn't speak to each other or to passers by. The spacing was important because in 2010 protests were illegal and broken up, but if each person was not in contact with his/her neighbour, it couldn't be called a "group". Yesterday along the bridges of Cairo and the corniches that run beside the river and the sea, people gathered again in the same way to mark the anniversary of his death.

The photo is thanks to Zeinobia, who talks about the events of the day in her blog.

Why Cairenes Summer in Alexandria

Summers in Cairo are Hot. Average temperatures run in the high 30's C/high 90's to low 100's F from June to August and in the city it's pretty brutal. Alexandria with its sea breezes is at least 10 degrees C cooler than Cairo albeit rather more humid. Since Mohamed Ali rebuilt Alexandria in the 1800's the government and whoever else could manage it has moved to Alexandria for the summer. The advent of air conditioning meant that most governmental offices no longer close up in Cairo during the summer but as many people as possible go to the North Coast for at least a bit of a break. And then of course, there is the fish,