ATE Tone Magazine - Summer 1956 - Edge Lane

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Mr.
N. G, Rejnolds
Nosr cnaHalr nsyllol-Ds ar?d RoN scorr
are bot]t commercial elgineers.
They occupj)
neighbowillg deshs in De?attme t 892 at
Strouger Wo*s,
but their uork on behalf o;f the
lifm could not haxte tdken then Jurther apart.
Mr. Reynnldr let out ,ecenrt) to a sun
drenched ldnd in the Middle East anct Mr.
Jour ejed. to a blizzard-szrept teftitor)) in
the frozen North West. These are their
impessions of the countries thq ois;ted.
Mr. Reynolds joined A.T. & E. ift 1g3a
in the Inspecrion De2artment and has beer,
Scott
ln commercial engineeriry for the pdst ten
years, A md1-rie.l man, liz;ing in Watertao,
Ltuerpool, h;s nain r ecreations are sketchilq
and pa;nti?L?. Mr. Scott, also marr;ed,
with one son, ltues in lVauertree. He joineA
Department 12 (Loading Coils) in 1935.
i.,
It was one hundred and ten degrees in the shade*
if you were lucky enough to find any shade. I
could aimost see thc heat as our airiiner taxied
ro a halr on Cairo , shimmering. modern airpon.
As the aircralt doors swung open, I experienced
my first taste of the heavy, breathless atmospheie
of the Middle East,
Cairo, I discovered, with a cosmopolitan
population of more rhan 2,100,000, is a city of
never-eqding contrasts. Camels use the same
roads as CadillacsJ tumble-down hovels lie cheek
by jowl with tall hotels, and leisurely native bazaam
nestle in the same block as slicl< bargain basements,
Even the timeless waters of the Nile are harnessed
to help modern agdculture and industry.
Ncgotiations ovet communications within
Egypt's 3861000 square miles enabled me to spend
more than three morths in CairoJ Ismailia and
Z^g^zik, My working days started at 8.30 a.m.,
but after lunch, all toil ceased until after 5 p.rn.
Afternoons were spent at an open-air swimming
pool sipping iced ddnks. On free days and late
evenings after work, I ivent sight-seeing. Cairo
at night is a rxther gay, neotr-lighted Middle East
version of Manhattan and, viewed from the air, it
is quite spectacula..
Ifl ofle of the popular open-air cinemas, I saw
" The Desert Song "*English sound uack with
French and Arabic sub-titles-but I found the
Holl].wood version mote romantic than the real
thing. Film aflor\. unlikc commercial engineers.
don't seento be bothered by the heat and powerful
Mr. R. Scota
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Like thousands of other visitors to E$pt, I
ioumeyed a few miles out of Cairo to see rhe
Pyramids of Giza and marvel at the ingenuity of
their architects. For a srnall fee, the hor uaveller
can sit afld watch native boys grow even hotter
as they climb to the top of the Great Pyramid, all
451 feei of it, and back in abour ren minures.
Nearby, the Great Sphinx, with inscrutable smile,
stares across the dese{ and the centuries.
I also went to see ofle of ex-King Fatouk's river