Thanks Gaz
DAY 11 - A
Today went much better than I expected. I had to find a home for the property tax form and had no clue where my local one was. In the middle of the night I had a brainwave - take it to the main office in the middle of Cairo - at the very worst if they would not accept it, then they would be able to tell me where I was supposed to deliver it!
Excellent decision. I had one of my most pleasant encounters with Egyptian bureaucracy ever.
It took me just an hour to get up in to the city and I was in the main office a grand total of 22 minutes only, a very helpful young man went through all the paperwork with me to make sure I had completed it correctly (he spoke almost no English though so there was some pantomime in places!) and came out with the requisite receipt.
I was back home about 3 hours after leaving.
Also, my tiredness seems to have finally disappeared overnight. I went to bed 2 am and woke up at 7am with no alarm, nothing, and was able to get straight up. I have had 2 hours sleep this afternoon but I figured I earned it.
The only thing I haven't done yet (and am not going to do) is piano. We have had 4 powercuts today and my piano is electronic (nb it is a piano not a 'keyboard') and needs power. By the time power was restored about 30 minutes ago, it is too late to do it.
Now, my next trick is how to cope with the next 3 days. With tomorrow being New Year's Eve and Friday being New Year's day, I have some social events to attend and some will probably manifest unexpectedly and at short notice and I don't want to be a party pooper and say 'I can't come out to play because I have to tick off the laundry' or whatever.
Having thought about it, I have decided that the best way to tackle it is to do 3 days ticks over the next 4 days - so giving myself in theory a whole day off, but actually being able to spread things out a little.
So, I will declare tomorrow December 30th as the official day off. (2nd of the 4 I am allowed by Jan 12th). In actual fact, I will do somethings tomorrow and mark them off against Friday so I can relax on Friday as well.
So, my next report will be on the evening of Sunday 3rd January and will cover days 12,13 and 14.
Wishing you all a Happy New Year wherever you are and whatever you are doing