Day 5 Luxor (Top 10 tired jokes told to tourists)

Walked the four kilometres into Luxor, and popped into Gaddis for a Book on Egyptian birds. I’m tired of failing to recognise the raptors and Nile birds I’m seeing through my bins. By chance we bumped into Judith and Colin, old friends from Brighton, who had just disembarked from a Nile Cruise. Then an afternoon birdwatching; seven kites picked off either fish or floating material from the Nile, bee-eaters nip on and off their perches for insects, swifts are on the wing all day long and a beautiful, brown buzzard flew in for a look around. Huge flocks of glossy ibis, with their curved beaks out front and long legs trailing behind fly up and down the Nile in V formation, especially at sunset.

What would Egypt have looked like in Pharonic times? Same birds, crocodiles along eth entire length of the Nile and hippos, even Lions and other cats in the desert, but no camels. No cotton, no tomatoes but more beer. A Nile with inundations, but a narrower arable strip, as the modern canals would not have existed, nor machine pumped water. Lots of scantily dressed people but fewer and fewer still of any real age. No electricity, therefore real darkness.

Into town for an excellent Pizza at Pizza Roma, owned by an Italian woman, and serving excellent wine (Sherezade) garlic bread, pizzas, pastas and home-made cake. The off for a drink with Judith and Colin, complete with chat to Sammy, the gay waiter, who arranged a cheap balloon trip for us all a couple of years back. Colin had a serious case of the flu on board and spent two days staring out of his window, sometimes almost hallucinating, as the Nile bank swept by.

Top 10tired jokes told to tourists

You like my Ferrarri?

Asda Price

Welcome to Alaska

How many camels for your daughter?

A tip for the horse?

I sell rubbish, but it’s very good rubbish

Enjoy the snow

Bloody Egyptians

I do you good price

No hassle, no hassle, really no hassle