Having a blast!

There's so much more I should have been blogging, but frankly I've been so busy having a damn good time that I haven't fitted it in. Maybe retrospectively.

Wadi Digla was a drive of exploration, up the wide, parched river bed, the wadi gradually narrowing until we had to get out and walk, scrambling through the winding gorge, whose floor and sides had been sculpted beautifully by the flowing water. We climbed right out at the top and looked down at the speck of a car we'd left. There was a stark, barren beauty to the place. There were also about a million plastic bags which I imagine have been blown many miles to reach the gorge where they hang in the poor scraggly bushes that really have a hard enough life without that to deal with. And out here, overcome by its rugged good looks against the inhospitable background, Kate consummated her love for her car.

We've been to the touristy souks of Khal el Kalili, visited the peaceful old mosques of the Citadel and looked out over smog-bound Cairo, and we've been on a mad mission to find a cafe called Groppi's where my mother remembers having ice-cream in 1964. On the way there we stumbled upon the tiniest of backstreet bakeries where dozens of people were queuing outside a hole in the wall for the bread that rolled out of the conveyor oven. Seeing our interest, the owner invited us in for an impromptu tour; in one small room, through the floury air, we saw the bread being kneaded, shaped and taken for its quick roll through the oven, while chewing on our delicious fresh free sample. These unexpected moments are always such highlights and suited the crazy mission we were on that day. Incidentally, we found Groppi's too. Everything about it was pretty awful except the ice-cream which was fabulous. Good tip, Mum. Unfortunately we failed in our other mission: to track down mosque-shaped alarm clocks that wake you up with a call to prayer.

We've had some great Egyptian food, especially in a lovely courtyard restaurant in Maadi; beers and mezze and stuffed pigeons and all sorts of experimental choices, all of them good. The bread here is definitely highly-ranked in my world-wide favourite breads list. Which I must compile soon.

And every day has finished with an afternoon with the kids, in the garden or pool or biking around the estate, and evenings on the veranda with Kate and Rick. I sit up late when everyone has gone to bed and gaze out at the darkness and smile. I can't quite believe how lucky I am to have such lovely friends and to be here with them now.

I'm having the time of my life.