Looking forward to things looking up.

Two words on every man and woman's lips in Egypt today - 'Morsi and Shafiq'

An army helicopter circling low all day over Luxor.

Army personnel and their tanks at voting stations.

A Coptic mother, afraid for her childrens' future, unable to eat, sleep and think of nothing but the outcome of the next few days.

A young man smiled and said the word 'Civilisation' as I walked past a voting station for men.

Despite warnings from the UK Embassy in Cairo, I had lots of shopping to do today and was so close to the Salah El Din School, which was being used for the women to cast their vote, I just had to sneak a peak.

As I walked closer, I crossed to the opposite side of the school. I was very aware that it could be a volatile situation and wanted to merge in discreetly, which is very difficult being the only European around!

Traffic had almost stopped outside. The reason why soon became apparent, as I peered through the moving buses and cars on my side of the road.

Women, from 3 religions, Muslim, Coptic and Catholic and of all ages, queued together in the street. They stood excitedly in 4 rows, behind wooden posts with their voters numbers on i.e. 300-1500 Everyone was so happy, chatted, giggled and were so eager to say hello as they walked hurriedly by to get into the queue, or as they watched the event.

The army overlooked clutching their guns and a smile. 'Is it okay if I take photos?' I asked. 'No problem' was the reply and was the same for the people around me and the Policeman in charge. One even watched all my shopping as I crossed the road to get closer.

I became suddenly aware of the huge smile on my face! I could feel all the excitement they felt, which gave me an overwhelming feeling of being part of an extremely historic moment, both they and I would never forget.
I felt admiration for them and the thousands of people in Tahrir Square that made today possible.

I asked a bystander where the men voted and was told of another school about 1/4kilo away. Slowly I walked down to see if there was a difference, I thought there may be more 'High voices' as we say here, but to my surprise, only the Police and the Army Officers were there! Probably sleeping, I thought :-)

The sunset was going to be a smoky one as I neared the river, the black, smog emitted from the Cruise Ships, created a haze over the river. 'No business Madame' a motorboat man shared with me 'Just one time take a motorboat, 5 pound Madame. No business, we wait for the business'

'I like the ferry' I replied (They all know this, so it does become tedious in 45 degrees trying to be polite as you are melting and just need to sit down) 'Morsi' was his reply. 'We want Morsi to take the tourists out, bloody tourists' Yes, that makes complete sense to me, if your work is with tourists, then it is a wise man that wants them out of his Country and choses to vote for this.
That hypocritical remark did mar my earlier experiences, but heading home on the Nile, soon made me forget.

Now, I see on the news, that Parliament has been dissolved....what next?

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