# Midan Tahrir today.



## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

I have just returned from a walk down Kasr el Knile through Midan Tahrir and back up the 6th of October bridge. I have never seen a million people before so can't be precise but I would have been surprised if there were a million people there.
Not a single policeman was to be seen nor was there any army positioned on the bridges so in fact there was no crowd control, anyone looking out for accidents etc.
Nice atmosphere at times but at other times I found the crowds of young men that were just standing and looking at passers by quite unsettling, I may be guessing wrongly but I would say they were opportunists looking for an opportunity .


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## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)




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## Eco-Mariner (Jan 26, 2011)

My dear Scots lassie.

Do you get a feeling that the regime sympathisers are mingling and worried about where they see themselves in the new order of things?

Or do you think those youths are part of the poverty section of society that are totally bewildered at what has gone on?


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## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

No I thought they were part of the old regime or and pickpockets.


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## Eco-Mariner (Jan 26, 2011)

So how will we "out" them in the longer term do you think?


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## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

Eco-Mariner said:


> So how will we "out" them in the longer term do you think?




I have no idea, the old regime stalwarts will of course want to go back to the "good old days" when they had power and money and they may sit tight and wait for the feel good factor to go as it surely will and then start making political moves and I guess there line will be... You were told we were keeping the money for ourselves but where is it now? You are still no better off.
Pickpockets and petty criminals will always be with us it's a worldwide problem.

The big clean up got lots of television coverage and in fact they are doing it again tomorrow, however I did say at the time it is only 1 day ant the tv cameras are there.
I took a photograph today of rubbish piled up in Tahrir Sqaure and it was old rubbish as I was down there just as prayers finished, so the novelty of keeping things clean has already gone.


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## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

*sadly rubbish in Tahrir Square*


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## aykalam (Apr 12, 2010)

Well I said it before but I will repeat myself. One of the many things this country needs is systems to deal with the garbage collection on an ongoing basis, not volunteers who will need to go back to their daily studies/jobs, etc.

It is great to see people take pride in keeping their areas clean however it is not possible for them to do this on a full time basis and keeping Cairo clean is definitely a full time job.

Having said all that, today I drove in Nasr City and there were volunteers everywhere cleaning and tidying up, even fixing pot-holes! and no there were NO CAMERAS around, just a lot of locals doing their bit. I don't believe that they are playing to the gallery because this is happening everywhere, not just where TV crews are visible.


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## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

aykalam said:


> Well I said it before but I will repeat myself. One of the many things this country needs is systems to deal with the garbage collection on an ongoing basis, not volunteers who will need to go back to their daily studies/jobs, etc.
> 
> It is great to see people take pride in keeping their areas clean however it is not possible for them to do this on a full time basis and keeping Cairo clean is definitely a full time job.
> 
> Having said all that, today I drove in Nasr City and there were volunteers everywhere cleaning and tidying up, even fixing pot-holes! and no there were NO CAMERAS around, just a lot of locals doing their bit. I don't believe that they are playing to the gallery because this is happening everywhere, not just where TV crews are visible.




Yes it is great and yes they shouldn't need to be doing it, but what I am saying is one swallow doesn't make a summer, within a week Tahrir Square is back to it's old dirty self... doing it once is no problem keeping it up is.


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## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

Bear in mind who creates the rubbish in the first place!! Egyptians really need to learn to take their rubbish home.


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## aykalam (Apr 12, 2010)

MaidenScotland said:


> Yes it is great and yes they shouldn't need to be doing it, but what I am saying is one swallow doesn't make a summer, within a week Tahrir Square is back to it's old dirty self... doing it once is no problem keeping it up is.


This is precisely my point: it should not be volunteers keeping the place tidy, there should be full time employees within a well organised system  (yes I know!) This and many other things need changing in Egypt, hopefully it will happen, but it won't be overnight.


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## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

Years ago we had a Spanish rubbish collection agency but the government didn't pay them


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## aykalam (Apr 12, 2010)

hmmm...yes I heard about that. It's a shame since Spain are nowadays excellent in this type of thing, not just cleaning but also recycling processes. 

Again, hopefully things will change now. I want to stay optimistic, but not deluded


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## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

aykalam said:


> hmmm...yes I heard about that. It's a shame since Spain are nowadays excellent in this type of thing, not just cleaning but also recycling processes.
> 
> Again, hopefully things will change now. I want to stay optimistic, but not deluded




Going off on a tangent... this is why I have never bought here and have always said a contract here is not worth the paper it is written on but hopefully a new regime will mean honest contracts,


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## Eco-Mariner (Jan 26, 2011)

MaidenScotland said:


> Going off on a tangent... this is why I have never bought here and have always said a contract here is not worth the paper it is written on but hopefully a new regime will mean honest contracts,


Quite true. Now you're in my specialist programme..

We are constantly pushing for reforms, but the next government is an unknown quantity. What we sold over the last decade may not be legal under the Mubarak regime so we can push the next administration into clearing up all the anomolies and land registration/ownership wrangles and "bent" licenses. 

I'm looking forward to the challenge.

Alan.


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## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

Eco-Mariner said:


> Quite true. Now you're in my specialist programme..
> 
> We are constantly pushing for reforms, but the next government is an unknown quantity. What we sold over the last decade may not be legal under the Mubarak regime so we can push the next administration into clearing up all the anomolies and land registration/ownership wrangles and "bent" licenses.
> 
> ...




I was told I was talking nonsense when I said about contracts being worth nothing here, despite telling them about akn international company that had to take the government to court to try and get them to pay up... after many many years and at great cost they finally won last summer... they havent had a penny yet.


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## MensEtManus (Jul 30, 2009)

Not sure if folks are aware of this, but there is supposedly a French company in charge of keeping the streets clean "for free!". (or at least that is the case in Alexandria)

It turns out that the truck passes once a month or basically whenever the driver feels like it. In order for me to ensure that he "does his job" I had to basically pay a weekly charge to ensure the free service is done on a daily basis. I pay 50LE every time the truck passes by to pick up the garbage whereas it is supposed to be a free service as part of the yearly fee companies pay to the zoning district.


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## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

MensEtManus said:


> Not sure if folks are aware of this, but there is supposedly a French company in charge of keeping the streets clean "for free!". (or at least that is the case in Alexandria)
> 
> It turns out that the truck passes once a month or basically whenever the driver feels like it. In order for me to ensure that he "does his job" I had to basically pay a weekly charge to ensure the free service is done on a daily basis. I pay 50LE every time the truck passes by to pick up the garbage whereas it is supposed to be a free service as part of the yearly fee companies pay to the zoning district.




No French company in Cairo as far as I am aware... now why the heck a country has to go outside to get contractors to clean their streets has me scratching my head.

At the beginning of the troubles I did see two cleaning vehicles on the bridge one sprayed water and the other had automated brushes, I had never seen these before, only trouble is they did it in rush hour, why not do it during the night???..


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## MensEtManus (Jul 30, 2009)

That's interesting, Alex is ahead of Cairo. I bet you the governor of Alex must have a cut in the cleaning company or something. 

Here is the company that takes care of cleaning Alexandria: Veolia Environnement | The world leader in environmental services


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