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One of the pleasures of the weekend is to settle with the newspaper travel supplements and think about planning a holiday break.
One of the nicest holidays I’ve had is a Nile cruise, and a number of them were on offer yesterday. The prices were at their lowest, doubtless because of the heat in Egypt at this time of year and, because of this, any thought of doing another one except in winter was quickly discarded.
The advertisements made me think of trips to Egypt, of the Nile, the pyramids and the many ancient temples. There were thoughts also of souks throbbing with merchants and people and also of hubble-bubble pipes and strong coffee taken in cool cafés where one had the chance to chatter with the locals. And there were wondrous occasions when I stood on the side of a ship watching the wide expanse of the desert pass by as we processed slowly through the Suez Canal.
I once had to join a ship in the Canal and was driven by car to where I would board the ship. Before I left, my boss called me in and wished me good luck. I asked why did I need good luck.
‘The last time I went that way,’ he said, ‘it was the middle of the night and I couldn’t see a bally thing. Even the road in those days seemed but a blur in the car’s headlights. At one point the driver stopped the car and took his false teeth out and put them in the glove compartment. ‘Why did you do that?’ I asked. ‘It’s just in case I fell asleep and we crashed,’ he said. ‘I don’t want to choke!’’
So, taking his advice, I watched the road very carefully but, since we did the drive in daylight, there were thankfully no problems.
.
One of the pleasures of the weekend is to settle with the newspaper travel supplements and think about planning a holiday break.
One of the nicest holidays I’ve had is a Nile cruise, and a number of them were on offer yesterday. The prices were at their lowest, doubtless because of the heat in Egypt at this time of year and, because of this, any thought of doing another one except in winter was quickly discarded.
The advertisements made me think of trips to Egypt, of the Nile, the pyramids and the many ancient temples. There were thoughts also of souks throbbing with merchants and people and also of hubble-bubble pipes and strong coffee taken in cool cafés where one had the chance to chatter with the locals. And there were wondrous occasions when I stood on the side of a ship watching the wide expanse of the desert pass by as we processed slowly through the Suez Canal.
I once had to join a ship in the Canal and was driven by car to where I would board the ship. Before I left, my boss called me in and wished me good luck. I asked why did I need good luck.
‘The last time I went that way,’ he said, ‘it was the middle of the night and I couldn’t see a bally thing. Even the road in those days seemed but a blur in the car’s headlights. At one point the driver stopped the car and took his false teeth out and put them in the glove compartment. ‘Why did you do that?’ I asked. ‘It’s just in case I fell asleep and we crashed,’ he said. ‘I don’t want to choke!’’
So, taking his advice, I watched the road very carefully but, since we did the drive in daylight, there were thankfully no problems.
.
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