the big blue

dahab sure has changed in the year and a bit i've been away. the strip has expanded both ways (north past the light house and south past the big blue diving centre). roads have been turned into pedestrian walkways. flashy new hotels have sprung up. miss 2007 miss belgium contestants roam the streets. honestly. why would i lie about something as serious as this? jimmy the switch got married. to an egyptian lady. although he still has his western girls on the side. apparently. mustafa cruised off to australia. with an australian girl. alex has a new english girlfriend. as well as the french one he's always had. jeff snuck off in the night leaving a bill of 12,000 egyptians. ibrahim bought a house. price of property is now 1,000 egyptians / sq meter. we were gonna buy at 450. dammit.

there are some things that haven't changed of course: there are still a whole lot of mohammeds all over the show. we call them mo for short. it's just easier that way. mango lassies are still the bomb. banana pancakes are still the way to go for breakfast.

went out for a few beers last night. just to cure the boredom. bad news. awoke this morning with a raging thumper. i had to get to the dive center at 8am. frank and miguel were only due at 10am. so i woke them anyway. but they went back to sleep. bastards.

dive was great though. el bells, the big blue. awesome awesome spot. one sort of has to dive through this chute and one pops out at 28m. one turns around and all one sees is a massive face of rock and coral. one looks up and it's blue. no top. one looks down and it's blue. no bottom. one looks to the left and it's blue. err... no left. one looks to the right and one's fellow divers are dwarfed by the sheer size of the rock face. sure does help one to reassess things. like why one sooo badly wants to grow a thick tach. or why ginger things are inherently attracted to one named frank. or why one and friends were sitting at supper tonight and discussing the purchase of viagra pills in order to pop them for breakfast tomorrow morning before putting on wetsuits and going to dive. hmmm... the beauty of the big blue.

we sure did bang on about god and the mystery of the universe last night. not good. oh yeah... and i'm reading the koran. interesting book. although probably not my scene.

god, i feel like hell tonight
tears of rage i cannot fight
i’d be the last to help you understand
are you strong enough to be my man?