Update

I have a bit of time and wanted to give you a quick update. As you may have seen in the news the situation has quieted down considerably here in Cairo, many of the smaller shops opened yesterday and one of the larger supermarkets that hasn't been looted is suppose to open today. I even heard Pizza Hut is delivering again, which I am reluctant to order from as this past week I've lost close to 1/2 a kilo, the revolutionary diet plan I'm going to call. But our driver is having trouble finding beer as they looted and burnt out many of the licensed shops that sell alcohol. The only problem we can see for the near future is that many of the police stations/vehicles/weapons have been burnt or looted. Having said that we've never seen a strong police presence in our neighborhood in the past nor have we heard of any people/house having problems recently.

There were a number of gun shots to the north of us last night, I have no idea what was going on but it was small caliber weapons and I didn't hear any returning or automatic fire, which I take as a good sign. The only bad thing is that no one looted the frickin' roosters that the farmer next door keeps as they are starting to get on my nerves with their crowing all day and half the night.

Doortje is staying in the hotel again tonight as we want to see what this day brings and then she may come home tomorrow, if the work load at the embassy allows, even if it's just for an afternoon off. I have no idea where she's going to sleep though as Aliaan has taken on the role of the alpha female and has been sleeping all night on Doors side of our bed. It was mildly disturbing last night when I rolled over in bed, forgetting that Doortje wasn't home, and coming face to face with the fur face beside me.

We want to thank our family and friends for the phone calls, emails and facebook comments as they have meant a lot to us both, and sorry that I haven't replied to all the emails but it's been mind numbingly distracting around here as you can imagine.

So, things are looking better and we are cautiously optimistic that the worse is behind us. Except for the roosters that is.

Brian en Doortje