This photo has a smudged look which resembles my own unspectacled vision of lights. Unable to focus, I can’t tell where a light begins and ends.
The photo comes from my father’s war album and has the caption “King Pharouk celebration”, though the name is more commonly spelt Farouk. At 16 years of age in 1936, he was crowned King of Egypt, its penultimate king. I’ve searched through Google images for photo clues and found one showing him at a celebration of the Prophet Mohammed’s birthday, standing near a huge crown with draping lights, as they are in my photo here. The date would be in the early 1940s.
Though Egypt was neutral for most of World War II, allied troops including Australians were posted there and Egypt thus became a potential target for German and Italian bombing, so cities were blacked out at night. But the extravagant King Farouk who lived a lavish life refused to turn off the lights in his palace in Alexandria. His fellow Alexandrians were not happy.
great photo and story
Interesting post and photo!
Enjoyed the photo and the narrative. And, best of luck on the novel! You can view my interpretation of “unfocused” here: http://wp.me/p1TywS-rc
~Anne
Thanks Anne. And thanks for the luck you’ve offered me! I see from your blog that you too are writing fiction, so you can appreciate how much help, or luck, such a writer needs…
good, not to forget old photos – difficult to keep them alive …
good, not to forget old photos – difficult to keep them alive …
It must be great to be able to share such memories with your children.
I hope your dad returned safe home…?
Yes, I suppose it is great for my adult sons to see these photos, though they don’t say so. They never met my father, so they don’t know why I’m trying to redeem him. He returned home ‘safely’ from the Middle East after 8 months, but his nerves were shot and he became a pensioner soon after, at the age of 23. He never worked. He died at 63.