I was urged to abandon Alexandria years ago, seeking the hard earned paycheck in Cairo, which is an every day scenario for alexandrians, living in a cerntralized country like Egypt where every aspect of life -well the bare necessities for most of us- is only found in the Capital.
Having to go to Alexandria every weekend to restore my dignity and self respect there, I turned to lose the feeling of home. I couldn't be so sure whether I am a native proud Alexandrian, or accept the fact that my official Address is in one of the most polluted cities in the world, Cairo.
This time it was a nice quiet friday in Alexandria, on the great Lord's month of february, with all the features of an adorable winter in sweet Alexandria, my home town.
My mom decided to visit her sister after the Prayers and I had to be driving -well it makes sense to drive my family on my day off in return for the years of suffering they had had to raise me up- although I really don't feel well going there because of the biter memories I have of this house, my aunt's husband's continous fights with everyone. I was not an exception.
Going up the 80 year's old notorious elevator that has been a major cause of lots of accidents I was really worried about my mom and sister, they would not bear to fall down the 8 levels we were climbing!! well neither would I survive as well, but I don't care about me, not anymore.
We reached the door of the appartment, and my sister rushed to ring the bell, and after a while that was as usual not acceptablly long, here comes my aunt with her slow steps and vague look to open the door for us, and again there was the usual odor of some food that is being cooked, and it smelled!!
Reaching this limit I was really as frustrated and depressed as most of you who are reading this right now :)
Well, now comes the bright side of the story, It happens that a virtue of my aunt's place is that it is located directly on the sea, the generous furious sea of Alexandria, with this nice balcony that allowed me to escape everything for a while, well a little while.
Looking at the infinity and tracing the horizon to the right and left is not only good for your sight, it is also one heal for your soul. Now look for a little while at the photo above, that was captured with my mobile phone, and imagine that Antonio Vivaldi is playing his four seasons in the background, and see yourself standing at this location with a cozy coat and a steaming hot mug of cafe mocha, while you are lighting a marlboro*.... Well I was there!!
It was a perfect mood to wipe out most of the burdens of life, and the stress of being an alien in my very own homeland. A mood to make me forget for a while that my own personal stuff are not safely located because my grandmother is most probably ditching them somewhere in this very moment. A mood to give me the freedom of virtual mobility in the vast space to cure the feeling of restriction with no decent means of transportation in Cairo, and losing 16 percent of my life in a low grade raptured disk proviking bus.
One needs a horizon for a very little while, every once in a while.
* They say that smoking kills, well, we are gonna die anyways.
