The flight with Thomson had 205 seats taken, 30 free, which was a very good result for them. Tail wind so arrived a few minutes early.
The other 3 flights from UK were all running, so about 900 guests from the UK in all - almost normal for a Wednesday.
My driver, Tayaeb Hassan, picked me up from the airport. A group of musicians were playing near the hotel coaches, but private limousines park much further away from the Arrivals hall. We drove to the West Bank via the bridge, which no longer has a large picture of Mubarak on it. That was one of the first things to go.
As it was still light, we detoured past the Ramesseum Rest House (a.k.a. Coca-Cola Temple) for a couple of Stellas. The place has been almost deserted for a month but of course they kept open in case a customer called by. Only the younger generation of the adb al-Rassoul family were there, but they were very pleased to see me. I'll see father and grandfather later in the week.
This picture is from the hotel website. I'll replace it with one of my own later.
I ate much too much, but our bill, for 2 salads, one hot starter, 2 main courses with chips, one desert, 2 beers and a water pipe was £E118. About £12 at the current conversion rate. They had about 20 customers, mostly from excavations teams, and speaking English and German.
The picture, above, is also from the hotel website. I'll replace it with one of my own later.
Then back to the Sheherazade, where I sat in the garden with yet another Stella, and joined the Warwick "writing" course for the weekly chat. There was no lighting at my table so I was typing in the dark. I think Angela sounded rather jealous!