What really sucks in Cairo...

...isn't traffic.

Hi,

You've guessed it already, I found some time to blog again. Lucky me and you dear reader.
Today I realized that the good thing about Cairo actually is something that it really sucks at.

THE WEATHER

"The weather?", you say. Yes, the weather. Let me explain. Although the sun pretty much always shines, it actually almost never shines the right way. From November untill April it doesn't shine bright enough and it's getting cold in Cairo. And from June untill September it's too hot. During this period the AC is turned on all the time, which is rather unhealthy and many people are sickish. And the humming of the AC is very dulling. On top of that, most Egyptians I've met turn the AC to 'freeze' and whole buildings feel like big giant refridgerators.

Interestingly enough, those AC are the only means of heating in many cases. There is no concept of central heating. Btw, there's no insulation of buildings nor double glass windows for that matter. So
as soon as it gets cold outside, its getting even colder inside. As if the buidlings in Cairo are designed to amplify the temperature. In summer the walls heat up and inside it's even warmer than outside, in winter the walls act like giant cooling elements and keep the apt cold even during the sunny day.
And using the AC to heat up the place is even worse than to use it to cool it down. And it's very uncomfortable. My Egyptian friends an colleagues agree and they just wear more layers of clothing.
The weather sucks in Cairo. Only in May and October it is actually nice. Temperatures throughout the day are comfortable, without AC. No rain, and seemingly less dust as well.

This is when the thing that Cairo really sucks at isn't the weather but traffic instead.

Iwan