Africa Cup of Nations Notebook - Day 30
What you need to know:
- In Kenya, liquefied petrol gas is sold in metal cylinders.
IN CAIRO, EGYPT
Night is when Cairo truly comes alive
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Cairo is all bustle and hustle, all day, every day. If you have lived here for over 30 days you would know. With a population of close to 20 million this is not unexpected. But one noticeable character of the city is how it truly comes alive in the night. Whether you are in the commercial streets or the residential areas you will not fail to notice the heightened economic activities as the sun goes down. Most businesses open from midmorning and stay open to the wee hours. Here starting your day at the crack of dawn may be a waste of time as that is when activities are at their slowest and many establishments are closed.
Names with calendar dates the in-thing
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Can you imagine leaving your house at 10th of Ramadhan City in the Sharqia Governorate, a first-generation new urban community, and one of the most industrialised in greater Cairo, to pick a friend at a hotel in 6th of October City in Giza Governorate, a satellite town and part of the urban area of the capital city of Egypt; going for a football match at 30th June Stadium in New Cairo City; before touring October 1973 War Panaroma in Nasr City; then settling down for evening drinks at 15th of May City, a suburb of eastern Helwan. Only in Cairo!
Itinerary cooking gas sellers
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In Kenya, liquefied petrol gas is sold in metal cylinders. The product is mainly found in petrol stations but can also be obtained outside supermarkets, special establishments that especially deal with sale of the cooking gas and even your estate trader who displays the product by the road side. In Cairo, the gas can also be obtained in metallic containers. It is a common sight in estates, particularly in the morning, to see a pickup vehicle laden with the cylinders, doing the rounds with a turnboy at the back banging away as he calls out loudly for buyers.
Local coaches 17-15 up on foreign ones
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The Africa Cup of Nations that ended Friday night was the 32nd edition. Of these, 15 have been won by foreign coaches and 17 by local coaches. Locals Charles Gyamfi of Ghana (1963, 1965, 1982) and Hassan Shehata of Egypt (2006, 2008, 2010) have been the most successful with three titles apiece.
Frenchman Herve Renard is the most successful foreign coach at the Afcon with two titles, won with two different nations, Zambia in 2012 and Cote d’Ivoire in 2015. Only two coaches have also claimed the title as players, Egypt’s ex-striker Mohamed Al Gohari (1959 and 1998) and Nigeria’s ex-defender Stephen Keshi (1994 and 2013).
