Saving Electricity in Egypt - Part 2

My night-vision skills must be improving since the environment conscious doorman has added a new exercise to my daily routine.

The day before yesterday the tube light in the elevator started flickering informing anyone who cared to notice that it was due for retirement soon. As any Brit knows, this things get changed pretty much immediately. I mean, when was the last time you rode in a lift without light and five people you do not know cramped into it.

Clearly the doorman in my building has no such squabbles. The light died yesterday. In the evening, I went out to get some water in the local cornershop since only the Egyptian stomach can take drinking the tap water. Riding down in the lift without light is definitely an experience - finding the "Ground" button is fun, particularly when you end up pressing every single button between your floor and the ground floor. The whole experience is something akin to being placed into a black box that is moving - a kind of sensory deprivation experience. Since the lift has a Quran player installed that plays the same verses over and over while the lift moves, listening to the Quran in the dark in the moving lift is both frightening and inspiring at the same time.If you are seeking a new experience in your life this is the one to try.

On my way back from the shop, I got into the lift with the doorman and another resident. As the doors closed, and we pressed our buttons in total darkness (hoping that we pressed the right buttons), the resident asked what was wrong with the light and whether it was getting replaced. After slapping the tube light a few times, causing the light to flicker a couple of times and then go dark again, a "Hmmm", pregnant with multiple facets of meaning, was the only sound that came from the doorman.

The light is still dead today. Of course :)