I walked down to our local grocery store this morning to buy -- prosaically, for my first trip outdoors on the first day of the New Egypt -- toilet cleaner for our maid. Maybe it was just my own positive frame of mind, but everyone I saw seemed gloriously happy. In the store, the clerk brought me a basket as I was pulling sponges and disinfectant from the shelf and declared that if I needed any help he was ready to assist me. Our maid told me she believes that this is the beginning of a better era for Egypt, when people like her who hold academic degrees but are forced by poor economic circumstances to work menial jobs will finally have a chance to realize their dreams of self-determination.
The traffic on Qasr al-Ainy Street, the main avenue linking our neighborhood Garden City with Midan Tahrir, was flowing normally (and in the legally designated direction) for the first time in two weeks, guided along by two soldiers in neon vests waving batons. Perhaps this wasn't the heroic role these two fellows might have envisaged for themselves last night, but with the police force still largely absent from the city, someone has to keep the cars moving.
The traffic on Qasr al-Ainy Street, the main avenue linking our neighborhood Garden City with Midan Tahrir, was flowing normally (and in the legally designated direction) for the first time in two weeks, guided along by two soldiers in neon vests waving batons. Perhaps this wasn't the heroic role these two fellows might have envisaged for themselves last night, but with the police force still largely absent from the city, someone has to keep the cars moving.
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