keeping it in perspective

When I read and hear about what's going on in Egypt, having four non-working toilets seems like a pathetic annoyance. I read a report over at No More Commas Period from a friend of the blogger who is trying to build a B & B at Aswan. There are also a couple of fine articles about the "history" of this revolution, plus David Brooks' Monday columnin the NYT. It is important to know what's happening; I fear things are probably going to get a lot worse.

As for the blocked up toilets, Elias was here all day, beginning at 9:30 AM and finally finished up the replumbing of the upstairs at 6:30 PM tonight. We have moved back into the house upon his assurance that everything is working just fine. The problem? A combination of invasive palm tree roots that had coiled themselves all through the PVC pipes AND improper connections that didn't go all the way into the street sewer. I was afraid he would have to rip out our lovely downstairs patio to get to the offending parts, but instead he shoved a long piece of flexible rebar with a hook on the end through the pipe, twirled it around until he snared the roots, pulled them out, did that again and again until he had cleared out the pipes. Then he reconnected everything, put in a new length of pipe, buried it all under sand, re-cemented it all, and we're good to go. Or so he says. For this he charged the fine sum of $800 pesos or $65 US. We gave him $1,000 in case we need him back again anytime soon!

Would that the situation in Egypt could be so easily solved. Things are turning violent. And it could spill into other Middle East countries. These are not easy times for anyone who is paying attention.