Lockdowns, vaccinations and delays …

What a difference a day makes! From take off at Newcastle Airport on the 29th January, 2020 to arriving on site in Shebin-el-Koum on the 30th, the world had changed; the first COVID-19 cases had been confirmed in the UK and the WHO had declared a global health emergency.

While Britain and the world closed sports grounds, restaurants and bars, requiring people to work from home and headed towards the first lockdowns, we continued apace in Egypt.

Fortunately, we had no adverse effects on site, but the worried looks on the faces of our local colleagues told a different story back in their homes.

My contract is extended in Egypt, mainly to provide additional support to the Governorate and the local installation team and partly to assist with the identification of an operational issue. That’s not a problem, flights are suspended and there’s a lockdown at home, so another three months should see the back of this COVID thing! Or so I thought …

Lockdown Blues. We all went through it, what else is there to say? I had my first vaccination in March 2021 and was due for my booster just as I was to return to Egypt. Fortunately,  the Egyptian Ministry of Health provided a free vaccination. The certificate to prove that I had been vaccinated cost £_Eg400! Another vaccine came later in the year at the wonderful Nightingale hospital in Washington, Sunderland. (This time everything was free.)