Dressed in Tahrir Square

What a difference a jacket makes! I went to Downtown to meet with a professor of IMD Business School who is running a leadership course there with a major bank. I had been invited to take part as a coach-facilitator but unfortunately couldn't make all the required days. However, we thought it would be a good idea to introduce me to the client and explore the possibility of supporting IMD with them in the future. It will be a slow burn process but that is part of my world.

The venue was the Ritz Carlton Hotel which faces the Nile and backs directly onto Tahrir Square. It was the emblematic Nile Hilton in the sixties and the mural you see dates from then. I was in business dress as I made my way towards the square. It was hot again with just the right mix of sunshine and sand in the air to make you say, 'This is Cairo!'.

My eyes swept the perimeter of the square: the blush-pink Egyptian Museum, the recuperated vista through to 6th October Bridge which has opened up after the demolition of the Mubarak's party's HQ that was burned down at the height of the revolution, the Nile Ritz Carlton itself all sleek and dazzling like a cruise liner, the towering Semiramsis Hotel, the vast Ministry of Defence building that out-Stalins anything Stalin built and the long parade of Art Deco-fronted apartment blocks with their yellow facades that curves round the landward side of the square.

My combination of formal jacket together with the portfolio in my hand and purposeful step seemed to act like an invisibility shield. No one took a blind bit of notice of me, no shopkeeper shouted 'Welcome to Egypt', no Assistant Director of the Egyptian Museum tried to hijack me, no street kid ran alongside with upturned palm. Why didn't I think of this before? I thought. My attire even made crossing the lines of fast-moving traffic easier, an authoritative keep-your-bumper-away-from-me air emanated from me.

I've popped into Café Rich for a freshly-squeezed lemon juice and a Turkish coffee before heading around the block for a further exploration. I should be at home working, so please don't tell anyone you saw me. Not that you could, with my new shield activated.