I’m back on Bridge Street.  Before curling up to read, I’m thinking of my loved ones, family and the notion of ‘home’.  Skyping with my sister-in-law, niece and nephews this morning; Bridge Street to Cairo; once again I was overcome by the concept of the global community and what distance separates us.  Also, what a blessing technology (the very thing that can most frustrate us at times) is that it allows families to remain near though far!

The night before last I made it back to my parents’ home in Belleville after an absolutely ‘magical’ stay in Prince Edward Island.  After Mom and Dad headed for bed, my sister and I stayed up late to watch the movie Cairo Time.  Mom and Dad had tried to watch it, but it had lasted ten minutes…a slow-mover, my Dad had described.  But my sister and I knew that we wanted to see what would be ‘home’ to my brother and his family for the next three years, so we persisted.

He who hath not seen Cairo hath not seen the world. Her soil is gold; her Nile is a marvel; her women are like the black-eyed virgins of Paradise; her houses are palaces; and her air is soft, as sweet-smelling as aloe-wood, rejoicing the heart. And how can Cairo be otherwise, when she is the Mother of the World?
–“A Thousand and One Nights”

Canadian filmmaker, Rubba Nadda, is responsible for this ‘artistic’ film, Cairo Time.  The story itself leaves the viewer feeling ambivalent, but the setting is rich, warm and luminous!  An amazing piece of work, honestly.  With these images in my mind; the sights, sounds and smells of Cairo…it was an interesting thing to then speak with my family who is there for this extensive posting.  Their world at this time, has shrunk significantly, given the differences in currency, food, schooling, language, social boundaries, transportation and well, all else that can impact a culture.  I asked my nephew, for example, if he could see the pyramids from his apartment…he laughed and replied, “NO WAY!”  Such was the beginning of the long list of differences that we established between the movie and its romanticism and the reality.

It was a wonderful thing to speak with family in Cairo while having morning coffee on Bridge Street.