Category Archives: Uncategorized

Egypt turns a page?

Posted on 25th June 2012 by Hilary

It was really interesting coming back to Cairo on Saturday morning.  Coming in from the airport in the very early morning, it was clear that the army had moved to key positions.  I went out to do some shopping with … Continue reading →

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Kurdish Nowruz

Posted on 21st March 2012 by Hilary

Yesterday evening at 6 o’clock, the hills and mountains surrounding Erbil, and outside the Main Gate of the Citadel itself, went on fire. It is the eve of Nowruz when Kurds everywhere light bonfires and dance. Today the city is … Continue reading →

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Erbil souk

Posted on 20th January 2012 by Hilary

Nestling below the citadel with many entrances, the central souk or kayseri in Erbil betrays little of its old lineage except in the winding pattern of its covered lanes and wide meeting points. Judging from the dress of men and … Continue reading →

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Kurdistan – the other Iraq: day three

Posted on 24th November 2011 by Hilary

Today started with the simple need to search for carpets for the austere echoey office of tables and chairs marooned in a sea of floor. It turned out to be not so simple. Small shop units sell wide room size … Continue reading →

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Kurdistan – the other Iraq: Day two

Posted on 23rd November 2011 by Hilary

Somewhat surprising this morning, the Kurdish bodyguard and driver greeted me in English with an excellent Portsmouth accent! His family had fled the violence in Kirkuk to the safety of the Kurdish enclave, but he and his brother went to … Continue reading →

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Libya 2011 is not Iraq 2003

Posted on 23rd August 2011 by Hilary

Iraq 2003 is not the template of Libya 2011. Apart from both being headed by two remarkably nasty dictators, there is almost no similarity between the ‘liberation’ of Iraq and the current liberation of Libya. The defining difference is that … Continue reading →

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Mango Season

Posted on 22nd July 2011 by Hilary

The competition in the garden escalated unexpectedly this morning.  I had thought that the race was between the guards, the part time gardener, us, the bats, and the ants. I was not surprised that the part-time gardener was more attentive … Continue reading →

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Death on Cairo’s streets

Posted on 20th July 2011 by Hilary

Last night, Adil, the eight-year-old son of Mustafa, the gardener who tends many of the gardens in this neighborhood, was killed by a truck whilst playing in the street outside his home. A quiet serious child with a lovely smile; … Continue reading →

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Road Security, Sinai

Posted on 17th May 2011 by Hilary

We drove from Cairo to St Catherine’s in The Sinai a few days ago and experienced a bit of why the emergency laws are so hated – police checkpoints checked and rechecked our documents and car documents at every town … Continue reading →

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A Libyan perspective

Posted on 26th April 2011 by Hilary

The revolution is not over in Egypt,  and all the objectives are not yet realised and may well not be, but Egyptians are rightly proud of the way that the 25th January revolution was conducted. A foreign news reporter friend … Continue reading →

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