Friday, September 3, 2010

no steam engines on the nile

Making foul the best tasting (fool) is made this way cooked slowly overnight in the household rubbish including what waste comes from the animals backsides. Beans mixed with herbs and spices.

another salesman in the village.m
This guy is the tree cleaner the matting from the tree has many uses, used as a cloth to wash . made into all types of brushes brooms paint Etc the branches also have a number of uses first to make chairs and tables crates for fruit and vegetables, folds (pens) for the animals wattling for wall etc, etc,,
The old pump house chimney as you get closer it looks like a forgotten relic in the middle of the village now a place for dumping the rubbish that's if the village people can be bothered to step out of the front door to tip their rubbish, a place that houses snakes rats and other wildlife inside, gone has any piece of metal that would have any monitory value, only the steel bends are left just incase someone will need them and therefore will have more value than scrap iron.

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the opening seen in the base of the chimney
this a shot looking up the inside of the chimney and it took all my will power to stop me climbing up there to get a surrounding areal view A few years ago I would not have even thought about it but I know my back would have given in half way up and unlike a ladder with poles each side of the rungs if I did get stuck
I could have slid down to safety . we must grow old gracefully and give in. such is life.,
The whole of this buildings windows and doors have been bricked up not that this will hinder the thieves of Egypt .. the seem to have the God given right to take anything, Ah its a gift from Allah. '
Looking up from what was the grand entrance into the pump house, ,
The villagers view of the Building.

Not sure if this is the older of the two pump houses but its in bad disrepair
the land around and inside has been filled in and we are now looking at what was the first floork
Inside the floor has been filled with rubbish so none of the old plinths etc that the old machines stood on are visable the brickwork with the hole in it is the chimney base and the opening for the fire is another 2 metres down in the infill. this building dates back to the mid 1800s and has I would think been derelict since the late 20s when mechanical pumps came into use.. I do not know what these steam engines where fired up with but wood is not ready available in Egypt never has been even the Pharaos brought timber in from Lebanon and other countries. And I have not heard that coal has been mined here but the coals could have been brought by barge down the Nile as all these pump houses just like the Temples were built by the Nile.
Even the roof timbers are made from palm trees these are not a good burner the tend to smoke not heat up and would not have been any use to heat up the huge boilers to drive the beam engine pumps that could lift up to 200 gallons of water into the canals in one stroke these pump houses only had one use and that was for irrigation of the land. the people used the Nile for everything they came to the Nile for drinking water, ablutions and bathing. everything was washed in the Nile including the domestic animals, the water was always clean because it flows so fast. that was before they built the Dams te regulate its waters,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aswan_Dam
they say themselves NO NILE NO EGYPT. and its a pity the mentality has gone to keep the Nile Clean.
Half filled in is the pit where once the pipes lay just a trap now for snakes and the children that wish to piss in it
Views from the old pump house of the Nile

A new born Donkey foal
A second view at the bread oven its sole purpose is to cook bread not to burn rubbish even though they use plastic and whatever the can find to heat these ovens up. the worst thing they use now is polystyrene from packages that foul acrid smell and black pieces hovering in the air and getting on peoples chests, but no thought of that here these are simple people and this stuff makes good quick heat . hooray for polystyrene coming to Egypt they say?%$&"

The front door an excelent bit of craftmanship using local materials
one side of the door the wall has sunk 4"

The scenery here on the outscirts of Luxor City is supperb and one of the reasons I chose to live here and
its simple way of life, back in 2002 I did not know or realize how simple the people are,

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No we are not on the riviera this is the Nile at Luxor the Nile is at its lowest and dirtiest
no swimming for us foreigners unless we need a dose of dysentery or a mouth infection,

I could be on a tropical Island
Or even a deserted Island
Or crossing the Atlantic watching the wake from the propellers of a huge ocean liner

but here I am in Luxor Egypt cropping photos to show you how Nice this place is
and its a shame because this place I chose to live has so much going for it but the culture of the natives spoil its beauty, but I can find Quiet places and have my dreams.

About Me

MY BLOG LINKS CAN BE FOUND ON THE SIDE BAR. BIRDS, PLANTS,BUTTERFLIES,DRAGONS AND DAMSELFLIES.+ MY LIFE OUT AND ABOUT LUXOR. MY MAIN CONCERN NOW IS THE POLLUTION OF THE NILE AND THE EFFECT IT IS HAVING ON ITS PEOPLE AND WILDLIFE. POLLUTION OF THE NILE IS ON WWW.MYEGYPT.CO.UK
http://egyptwildlife.blogspot.com/ http://egyptswildlife2.blogspot.com
http://nilelife.blogspot.com/
http://nilelife2.blogspot.com/
MY WEBSITE WWW.MYEGYPT.CO.UK