Shabby Apple Non-Giveaway....

I'm not a big blogger,

and must of the time i dont really care.

I keep this blog as a sort of mini diary of sorts,

seeing as i'm so crap at keeping a real one.

But there are times when i wish i was a

fancy blogger with a gazillionfollowers,

cause then Shabby Apple might get in touch with me

to do one of their giveaways and get a dress for free in the process.

And i superduperly want this dress for my

upcoming sailing trip on the Black Sea....

I'm mean,

what is a sailing trip on a fancy yacht with out a super cute sailors dress....

oh well,

never mind....

2 birds, 1 stone.....

Like most big cities Cairo has an Underground train system.

Its called the Metro.

Having recently moved further away from work and the Downtown area

(i disliked the constant threat of revolutionaries on my doorstep).

I now have a slightly longer commute to work.

The Metro in this summer heat is stinky and suffocating.

Its like half an our in a sauna....

and let me tell you this i am not the type of girl who likes to go to saunas ...ever.

But i do like to try and look on the bright side of life

and so here is one thing i do like about my commute on the metro....

shopping.

Oh yes....shopping.

Egyptians have a thing where they peddle their wears on the metro.

A little man/lady will come on, she will go down the metro car handing

out one of their items to each person there,

wailing aloud about how great their 1le product is,

they then return and either you buy it or they take it back.

There is a lot of trust involved in this little exercise....

in the London tube there is no way anyone would be returning the item....

in fact the first time it happened to me i thought that it was a free gift.

And 99% of the time the items are crap....

but every now and then they come along with something and you think,

'Yes! just what i needed'....

and it makes my commute just that little bit more worth while.

My Wedding Dress....

Okay, okay....

so technically not my wedding dress

but more the dress i'm wearing to a wedding,

but seeing as i'm not going to have my wedding dress anytime soon

and i've fallen in love with this dress i give myself the right to refer to it as

My Wedding Dress

from here

awwww man,

i hummed and hawed over this little beaut,

mainly because its way way out of my price range

but i was smitten

and then eventually i found a measuring tape and guess what,

it just happens to be in my size,

it must be fate

and so i gave into my credit card....

besides i've only got one big sister

(okay so i have 3 other sisters but lets not think about them just now)

and hopefully she's only getting married once....

thats a special enough occasion to blow your bank account right?

i also loved this one but figured i shouldnt wear white to a wedding,

(but then again if Pippa can to her sister

Princess Kates' then maybe its allowed now.....?

Hoildays.....

got a few days off.

Heading down to Luxor to see some very old things.

like really really old.

But first i'm going to buy myself a new dress....

a holiday should be experienced in a new dress.

Dont ya think?

Book Heaven?

So i finally got round to finding the

Azbakizya Second Hand Book Market in Cairo.

The first couple of times i got lost in the process,

and found markets that sold,

soap,

shoes,

meat,

underwear

everything but books.

But it was worth the wait.

It is literally book heaven .

Lots of old abandoned books been sent to a resting place,

until someone who loves them takes them home and give them a new lease of life.

I hate to buy new books.

I rarely ever do,

in fact in the past 6 years i can only recall

1 book that i have bought brand new,

and only because i was stuck at a train station with a long wait ahead of me.

I love second hand books.

I love that they have a history.

That they once took someone on the journey

that i am about to embark on with them.

I always hand in books that i don't enjoy to second hand shops,

as i know that there is someone out there who

will give them a home and appreciate them in a way that i couldnt.

Finding a 2nd hand book market

in cairo makes me very happy.

How i feel about haggling....

The Monty Python got it right.

Haggling is stupid.

I'm rotten at it, i hate to do it.

Especially when i dont know how much i ought to

be paying for something.

I think i've done a really great haggle

then later on i find out i was totally duped.

The other day i was haggling for a very pretty dress,

but the guy wouldnt budge on his price nor me from mine,

so i walked out the shop adamant

that i would not buy it for less than the price that i had insisted on.

Until a few moments later i realised that

i didnt actually have the dress that i really wanted to buy

for what was actually a fairly reasonable price,

and would feel too stupid to go back to the shop to

buy it as that would mean admitting defeat.

Or i hate the fact that i feel bad

as i may have haggled them too low....

At any rate when it comes to The Haggle...

I always end up the loser.

Ninja Bread Men....

Oh my goodness!

How much do i want these

so that i could (attempt) to make

Gingerbread, Ninjabread men....

but i've heard terrible rumours about trying

to get things posted out here to Egypt...

and i havent figured out how to work my oven yet.

I live in hope...

A List of Demands to a Smuggler.....

Captain Tim is returning from his recent sojourn in the UK and called
to ask if i'd like anything brought over.
Silly Boy!.....The rest of the conversation proceeded with me
interrupting him every two seconds with things that popped into my head
that i want smuggled into Slovenia

So he told me to write a prioritised list (reminding me that
he only has one bag which also has to contain his own belongings)

Here is what i came up with....

1.ibuprofen muscle gel

2.Irn-Bru

3.strawberry/cherry pop tarts

4.stuffing mix

5.instant chicken gravy granules

6.porridge oats

7.time out chocolate bar(any cadburys chocolate really)

8.Klear Floor Shine (for hardening my pointe shoes)

9.Pink Radox bubble bath

10. Gold bars (biscuits)

11.Mr. Kiplings French Fancies
(which was added after reading this post)

Did i miss anything important?
What would you ask for?