It was really interesting coming back to Cairo on Saturday morning.\u00a0 Coming in from the airport in the very early morning, it was clear that the army had moved to key positions.\u00a0 I went out to do some shopping with the car and found blessedly light traffic and no ATMs open.\u00a0 On Sunday the ATMs were open for the morning only.\u00a0 By 1pm you could hear a pin drop outside and the birdsong could be heard.<\/p>\n
An hour before the election announcement, there was deep silence on the streets outside.\u00a0 Our usually bustling noisy roundabout (traffic circle) had no-one on it – even the taxis that wait there are gone.\u00a0 It was not tension, just a palpable waiting.<\/p>\n
There was tension waiting for the result, but within minutes\u00a0of Mursi being declared, the tension went from the streets. The winner had been allowed to win. \u00a0 Normalcy returned: toots, gear changes and people hanging out in the Medan gossiping.<\/p>\n
Around here, even if Mursi was not their cup of tea, there’s relief that process was followed and allowed to succeed.\u00a0 Interestingly the cleaner, who was vehemently for Shafiq yesterday, is today completely for Mursi \u2013 saying that Shafiq was from the army and no good.<\/p>\n
Egypt appears to have taken a step away from dictatorship \u2013 what to remains to be seen.\u00a0 The revolution has taken so many twists and turns, confounding the pundits, that it’s a brave person who foretells the future. \u00a0 It does seem though that a page has turned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It was really interesting coming back to Cairo on Saturday morning.\u00a0 Coming in from the airport in the very early morning, it was clear that the army had moved to key positions.\u00a0 I went out to do some shopping with … Continue reading