Ready To Depart…
(Waiting to leave Luxor’s quayside and be driven to the airport…)
There was time to kill.
A long wait to disembark was contemplated
And thus a walk along Luxor’s lengthy quay
Was undertaken, but harassment was anticipated.
I noted early commuting on local boats, a dry waterfall,
A tiny, pathetic kitten and emaciated carriage horses being fed.
There were flies, a wafting stink of dung, then I saw a young Muslim girl
Kicking a football and isolated vehicles smothered in dust loitered upon tyres with little tread.
Exercising my degree in ignorance and feigning intolerance,
Treating hawkers and footpads as if they weren’t there,
I swatted insistent flies and shaded my stern frowning eyes,
Forging ahead with a forthright gait and a confident stare…
Soon, perched upon a long, tight mooring rope on the quayside,
A single pied kingfisher was suddenly spied.
Deep into the river the small predator peered,
Then dived and its prey was inevitably speared…
But there was more, for whilst seated upon
The hot sun-deck, a shabby little egret
Settled upon the surrounding safety rail, all fear gone,
Its aura infectious, its demeanour unconcerned, its pose involuntary…
It exercised its avian ignorance and feigned confidence,
Treating gawpers and loungers as if they weren’t there.
It poked with its bill and narrowed its predator’s eyes,
Lunging its neck with a forthright gait, embellished with a fearsome glare…
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| THE WATERFALL, DRY STONE... |
Pete Ray
22nd November 2025…
A warning was offered to tourists from the ship on the River Nile to ignore any approaches from local folks.
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| ABOVE & BELOW: A PIED KINGFISHER PERCHES, THEN DIVES... THE IMAGES WERE TAKEN BY MY iPHONE BECAUSE MY CAMERA HAD BEEN PACKED AWAY FOR THE JOURNEY HOME TO THE UK... |
The walk around the quay area on the morning of 20th November 2025 was just as described and my behaviour was spookily aped by a little egret…
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