366 unusual things: days 124-128

3rd May – A student sent me an email that seemed blank until a few words caught my eye on the far right of the screen.  Her computer was set for Arabic.

4th May – The restrooms in a trendy shopping village have blue lighting which makes your skin look blue.  Found out today this makes finding a vein impossible.

5th May – When a police car arrived outside the Housing flats opposite us, an old guy doing some gardening stood up with both hands in the air.  I was relieved to see them all laugh.

6th May – Tonight there was a Super Moon:  the orbiting moon came the closest it gets to the earth.  My husband and I took photos –  I shot the moon and he shot the possum.  With a camera.

7th May – Had my hair cut by a hairdresser who said ‘beautiful’ every time I spoke.  I liked it.  At first.

Weekly photo challenge: Unfocused

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.

King Farouk celebration, Egypt, early 1940s

366 unusual things: days 119-123

28th Apr – An 8-year-old dyslexic pupil says she thinks in pictures when asked to spell a word.  I’ll have to find a way to turn sight words into pictures!

29th Apr – Just witnessed two angry young boys fist-fighting on the street. Their cool, calm mother brought them together, saying “Now, Matthew and Oliver, you must never hit each other.”  When she moved away they flew together, slapping and yelling.

30th Apr – Tutored a boy at a desk placed between a mirrored wall and uncurtained glass doors.  At the same moment, though facing in opposite directions, we both saw the clouds part and reveal a brilliant orange sunset.

1st May – A large black dog stood at the automatic doors of the grocery store, preventing them from closing, until his master had finished shopping.

2nd May – A few minutes before midnight, I translated a passage about a man locked in a room who heard a clock strike midnight followed by the sound of quiet steps approaching him.  He could see no one, but when he looked around, his door was open.