The portable fan had obvious application today, as it was very warm. The candle shaped like the bust of an Egyptian pharaoh, possibly Khufu (commissioner of the Great Pyramid in Cairo)? Less obvious. But there they both were.
From a fake old picture to some real ones. These were taken in around 1945 when my Granddad, Harold Whitworth — my father’s father — was serving in Egypt towards the end of World War 2. He’s the chap with the dapper moustache sat down next to the guy in the turban; and the one on the left of the other shot. (Mildly dubious it might be to dress as a native stereotype, but I have photos of myself doing much the same in Fiji.) Anyway, these are the kinds of family references that now seem obligatory when visiting my parents for the annual-Xmas get-together — last year it was the family tree; in 2023, the box of very old photos.
I don’t honestly remember Granddad ever saying much about his experiences in the war; he was certainly not one of those ex-soldiers who go on about it to anyone who will listen. In these pictures it all looks like an extended holiday, but I’m sure it wasn’t.
The idea of flying over the Sahara did appeal at first, but for much of it there was almost nothing to see – as one would expect, I suppose. Nothingness – at least, when seen from 35,000 feet – got boring rather quickly. However, flying over this huge expanse of water among the dunes did wake up the photographers amongst us for a while. Look closely enough at this shot and you can also get a sense of the curvature of the Earth: the horizon has a definite bend to it.
Being 42 