Feeling Broody

Book of the Week: The Narrows by Michael Connelly

Lovely fun half-day at work, and the best part is that I’ll get two days off in lieu of it. Dashed off a quickie on Philip Riddle getting an OBE, though after sending it in discovered that I needn’t have gone to the trouble of trying to get a quote from VisitScotland because it won’t be used in tomorrow’s paper anyway. And then it was away to Forth Park in Kirkcaldy to speak to two mums from Dunfermline about their little girls who were born yesterday. The babies looked so cute and cuddly, my biological clock almost detonated like a time bomb. Don’t know if it’s just my hormones going crazy (tail end of the wrong time of the month) or because babies are adorable and generally have that effect on people, but I just went all mumsy-like. And then I got a call from Hoon, and, after I calmed down from freaking me out (because she hardly ever calls me over here), got talking about kids. This has so far been a very pro-kid day. I need a mental contraceptive.

On a less scary note, I’ve decided that I want to go to Egypt for my anticipated mid-life crisis birthday this year. Should tick all the boxes to help me get over turning 36: it was probably the first country (civilisation?) to register on my consciousness (I knew more about ancient Egypt at five than I did of Malaysia), it’s got all the stuff I’m interested in, it’s a country I’ve never been to, and part of a continent I’ve yet to set foot on. So yeah. Definitely Egypt. Achievement of a lifelong dream and a hell of a lot more of life lived. As I can’t see myself getting too much time off, a week in Cairo will have to suffice – I’d much rather try to do one place in depth rather than run around like a headless chicken trying to see everything (don’t get me wrong though, I do WANT to see EVERYTHING in Egypt).

This must be some kind of record for me – three posts in as many days. I must be on a roll. The new year period really does fill one with renewed zeal and resolve. Watch me degenerate from this point.

Factoids of the Week:
Egypt has a literacy rate of only 58%.

Only 4% of the country is arable farmland. But the annual flooding of the Nile deposits some 40 million tons of silt, replenishing the topsoil.

Antony and Cleopatra were ugly. Researchers from the University of Newcastle examined a 2000-year-old Roman coin with the images of the famous lovers and found that Cleopatra had a pointed chin, thin lips and sharp nose, whilst Antony had bulging eyes, a thick neck and a hook nose. The researchers say the ancient Roman writers back their claims: while Roman writers describe Cleopatra as intelligent and charismatic, with a seductive voice, tellingly, they do not mention her beauty.

The earliest known surgery was performed in Egypt around 2750 BC – although there are remains from the early Harappan periods which show evidence of teeth having been drilled dating back 9000 years.

Ramesses II (“the Great” – a.k.a. the Moses pharaoh) lived to the age of 90 – the oldest pharaoh in history.