Traffic Apology

The other day a traffic cop bullied his way into getting 40 LE out of me. In return I lingered and talked his ear off about how messed up it was for him to be working for the government. I told him that there's so much injustice. Take for example how horrible the planning for streets are, and we have to pay for the government's delinquency and dereliction. He asked with some irony, is this the sum of all your grievances?

He said, "Everyone here is facing injustice."

I said, "Well maybe that's why you should inflict injustice upon others. But I think that a truly good man would not."

We chatted for several minutes in the afternoon. We talked about football, about writing and about the streets. He apologized for giving me the ticket. He said that if he'd known I didn't have that much money on me, then he'd have given me my license (after threatening he'd take it). We're all sorry, aren't we, for all the shit that's going on around us. I'm sure he really was, and I really am. He did exactly what I'm doing now, he said he was sorry but did nothing else.

We're all sorry and we're not doing anything about it. I'm not saying we should, it is far too annoying, much like the voting ads full of bullshit the government wants to sell us. Those ads are too annoying, too deluding and too saddening, so I won't sound like them. I'll just do what we all do best and say that I'm sorry I don't have any bright ideas. I'm sorry that bullying is the Egyptian way now, and I'm sorry I won't agree with any delusions.

The funny thing is that this man may have been a good man in another country. I may have been a good man in a better country. We may have even been friends.

Shootlock

It's unbelievable what the traffic was like this wednesday night as I rode my bike through Cairo's streets. A friend of mine told me she was held up at the intersection of the shooting club and mohy el deen street, but as I rode towards the shooting club, the streets were so clear. I imagined that the traffic was held up by someone because of the Obama visit or something. Then as I approached the intersection I realized that there was no traffic police presence whatsoever. The drivers left to their own demise got themselves into one deadlock after another.

Civilians started playing the role of traffic police, applying some common sense to the senseless drivers. The streets were chaotic even though the traffic flow didn't seem to be that much. How incredulous is it that on the night just before Obama's visit, a big junction would be left like this unadministered. Did the traffic cops leave because no one cared? or had headquarters ordered them somewhere else?

In any case, I want to report that the traffic was horrendous, I had never thought that the traffic seargent was of that much importance. But then again I had never thought that the traffic police would leave their posts.

I really wonder what other ills this Obama visit will bring us. It seems that when something bad happens, we the people have to suffer, and when something good happens, well, some key persons might benefit, but we the people have to suffer also.

I don't think people are as worried about what Obama's going to say, as much as they are about avoiding the hell and torture they might endure if they make a wrong move tomorrow.

Invitation To Ride

So I cycle to work every day. It’s not a long distance really, something like 10-15 minutes by ‎bike or the equivalent of 20-30 minutes by car. Cairo is not at all designed for bicycles but ‎then again neither is it designed for cars or pedestrians or even humans. I used to cycle from ‎place to place when I had my freestyle bike as a child, but all that changed since it broke ‎down and I sort of outgrew the freestyle stuff. Anyway it did take a bit of courage to decide ‎to cycle in Cairo to and from work, especially that I was showered with warnings from ‎everyone who came to know of my plan. ‎

The warnings were concerning many aspects, firstly the pollution in Cairo, instead of actually ‎doing a sport that would benefit my body, I would be augmenting the inhale of pollution to ‎bring about more quickly the ruin of an already deteriorating pair of lungs. Another problem ‎was traffic; driving in Cairo is chaotic enough as it is without the disadvantage of having to ‎deal with it from a vulnerable exposed bike. Being a driver myself I can see how anymore ‎space used up by a bike can cause drivers to go crazy with rage. The pedestrians have left the ‎non existent sidewalk and moved on to the road, but what makes bikers more infuriating is ‎that they move quicker than both cars and pedestrians. They use up little enough road so as ‎to glide through traffic and yet enough to hinder some cars.‎

One more issue that was raised but that is totally absurd is harassment. Yes even guys can ‎get harassed if walking in shorts, or strange clothes or on a bike. Of course I don’t have a ‎poor looking bike like those carrying bread or running errands, so one can expect the same ‎kind of remarks as those I get while going to play football wearing shorts during the winter. ‎Even more, some have warned that I may get some kind of mockery from the not so ‎accustomed workmates. ‎
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But of course that last issue is the least of my worries, relative to the normal population, I’m ‎considered eccentric anyway, and I’ve never cared much for what people say, I’ve been ‎down that road so many times and I discovered that if you’re confident enough people get ‎tired of the strange things you do and eventually start accepting you and sometimes even ‎respecting you.‎

Despite all these warnings, I still decided to cycle to work, and it does have its perks apart ‎from dodging pedestrians walking like zombies unaware of their own existence and yours, ‎the bigger task was to avoid cars that continuously ignore you, almost run you over and then ‎simply smile and apologize. The perks of cycling though other than it being a sport I enjoy a ‎lot is that I get home faster in the deadlocked traffic of Cairo. I can run errands on my way ‎home and I can decide to leave during rush hour rather than rot away in the office. I can ‎enjoy the cold air in the evening and rid myself of that usual feeling of lethargy at the end of ‎a working day. I can actually go back home and decide to go out, not dreading driving to ‎places since I haven’t been locked in a traffic jam for over fifteen minutes. I can even park ‎right next to the office and not go around 10 extra minutes looking for a parking space, with ‎the car, the process of parking is horrendous. ‎

With all these perks comes one that was very unexpected. Owning a bike is like being lost. ‎Not in a bad sense I assure you, it’s just that when people are lost, people are very anxious to ‎help them and get them on the right way and talk to them. That’s what it’s like when some ‎people see me with a bike. I’m talking about the doorman and the security guards and the ‎garage keeper. They’re very excited that I have joined their ranks and run my errands on a ‎bike. One of the security guards was so interested that he asked me if my bike was normal or ‎with “3’eyarat” (gears). The ability to make small talk about the bike is excellent. ‎

I’m not sure why people don’t go to their work on bikes here in Egypt, I mean it may be a ‎bit demeaning, but if more people did it then the traffic won’t be as bad (except on the 6th of ‎October bridge) and the whole biking thing will be generally more accepted. If anything it ‎can attempt to bring closer those rich enough to own cars but choose bikes, and those rich ‎enough to merely own a bike.‎

I’m Stupid

Driving through the crowded streets of Cairo, a friend of mine and I got stuck in a small deadlock while trying to go through a one and a half car two-way street. One guy could have just backed off completely and solved it all, but instead, he just held up traffic and kept trying to go forward until, inevitably, he had to reverse into an empty space so that others including himself can move.

This jam was responsible for us running a bit late and so I maneuvered my way through the streets till the main street was at hand. Now as I was approaching the main street, towards the end of my one way street another car came in. Seeing that it was my way and that he had some space to back off (and that the main street was not crowded so he wouldn’t be clipped) I just paused and checked if he would go into reverse. After a little gesticulation and shouts muted by his own windows, he finally backed off enough for me to pass.

As our windows got nearer, he said very calmly, “By the way, you’re stupid.” As I was telling him that he was stupid as well, my friend was said, “It’s true”. He was telling me that I’m stupid because he’d just made a turn and that I had more space behind me, my friend agreed that I was stupid because that man had to back off a bit into the main street and I was saying that he was stupider because he went down a one way street in the wrong direction.

I’ve always thought that the person making the mistake was supposed to provide the solution, but he and my friend seemed to agree that I’m stupid because I didn’t put in an extra effort to correct his mistake. They think I’m stupid because I obstinately and idiotically thought that the road rules were on my side. They think I’m stupid because it would have cost me less effort than him to fix his mistake.

I thought that my friend didn’t know it was a one way street and that it wasn’t stupidity but rather a principle, so I made it clear and this is how my friend replied, “So what? Everybody does it.” Well then that makes it okay I suppose. I must be stupid indeed. It’s alright that people aren’t accountable as long as someone else can fix their mistakes. It’s alright that people break the rules as long as everyone accepts it. It’s alright to accept things as they are because that’s life… I remember in Alexandria before the roads were fixed, people would cross over to the other side speeding and flash their lights at people going in the correct lane so that they move out of the way. I always thought it was only courtesy to get back in the correct lane if you weren’t able to make it… but I guess I was wrong.

I think I am stupid really for thinking that courtesy ever plays a real part in life apart from its existence in books and literature, it’s not deal with your consequences, it’s have people deal with your consequences. Accept things cause everybody does it… well, I guess I really am stupid and that I stand alone in thinking that it means something to stand for something. I stand alone because at the end even though my friend said, “Sorry for the offense,” she added as she left the car, “but you do know that it's two against one.”