Roaming the back streets of fuck-knows-where I bump into this guy changing the brake pads on his Cairo taxi cab. I took a few quick snaps and he invited me to come over and sit down. Not speaking any Arabic myself I tried to work out what he said next, and when I couldn't make head nor tail of it, I decided that what he was trying to say was
Why not have a crack at this monkey-wrench and add fixing up a Cairo cab to your collection of foreign adventures.
And so I did.
I wish I understood any Arabic at all,
I'm sure he must have been totally bewildered as to why a Chinesey guy in a shirt and shoes would want to be tightening the nuts on the wheels of a Cairo cab!
I tightened up the bolts holding the wheel on and when I was done, he asked me if I fancied letting the cab off the jack, which I did.
Once I was done he jumped in and drove off. Given that I've never fixed a car in my life and I am built like a stack of marshmallows, I worry about the wisdom of his hurry.
As the day wore on, I saw a bunch of guys loading up 20kg bags of sugar onto the back of a truck. The foreman said jokingly
You want to help us?
to which I obviously was not going to say no.
After loading up half the van, I took a few more pictures and went on my way.
Just before evening struck I was walking by a car repair yard and a guy was using a blowtorch to strip paint from a car frame.
And for some reason he didn't invite me to have a go.
Damn.
