Female goatherder by the Canal Road near to Kasfareet village

Officer i/c Prov 3, Flt/Lt Don Blew with his wife Mina and children Mandy and Jane Johnny Martin used to baby sit for them but when he left, I took over mainly for a change in routine. They had quarters in Fanara and it was great to have breaks away from the routine of camp life. I do not know the name for it but he kept a humungous bottle of wine in the kitchen, a bottle as big as a dustbin. He had brought it back from Cyprus once and it stood in a wicker basket. You had to be very careful tipping it to fill a wineglass !! 

My time with the Hannafords

When the Blew`s departed Egypt, I was invited to do the same for a Sql/Ldr Hannaford and his family. They had a small villa on the shore of the lake, halfway between Kasfareet and Fayid near the Officers Club seen in the picture. As he was based in SHQ Ismailia from Monday to Friday, I used to catch a welfare bus after work , stay beside the lakehouse for the rest of the day and overnight then catch the early bus into work each morning. This gave him the peace of mind that he had a bodyguard as such for his family because the area was rather remote from the nearest camp. Electricity went off every night at 10 pm so we had gas pressured lamps. I was loaned a Smith & Wesson 6 gun for added protection but this was a handicap when I accompanied his wife and son Anthony anywhere like the pictures at Fayid, as the gun hung heavy in my KD trousers  !! Most times I pitched my bed on the verandah seen on the left and right beside the waters edge. There was an old canoe there with holes in the bottom but after I got some pitch and melted it to plug the holes, I had wonderful times just paddling way out onto the lake. I also recall the local native fishermen netting large prawns right on our doorstep. They ran a long net supported by canes stuck into the lake bed. This went out about 15 yards then was finished off with the netting in circles like a maze. The men then moved down the shore then came back splashing like mad in the shallow water, driving the prawns into the net. When they tried escaping into the deeper water they became trapped in the netting maze. Mrs Hannaford used to buy the prawns and they were delicious. I have some pictures elsewhere of local fishermen rowing out with a long net, and circling back to shore. All the fishermen then hauled both ends of the net to shore to reap the fish harvest.

I did another short spell as baby sitter for a Warrant Officer from Kasfareet and he also had quarters in Fanara. I cannot recall his name but it was a pleasant enough break again. I do recall walking into the house one afternoon straight from work and the house was silent. The bedroom door was closed so obviously it was kip time. I sat and read a book and after a while, they must have woken up as his wife walked into the lounge in just a pair of red knickers  !!!  Oops.......Sorry she said, turned round and went back to get dressed

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Beside the Great Bitter Lake

Local chico on the road running down from the camp to the Canal Road

Looks like the same chico minus the bike

And his mate

A walk from Kasfareet Camp to the 107 MU Lido

Just a fancy collage of the following pictures of the route we all took many times making our way down to the lake for a refreshing swim. Do you remember being accosted every time by the souvenir sellers, the 3 card trick man, kids selling water melons from a damn great pile beside the road ?

Passing  out of the east gate of the camp onto the bridge over the Sweetwater Canal which separates the camp from the village. That bridge had loose metal plates that banged about like mad when a vehicle crossed which was particularly infuriating during the middle of the night when we lived in the tent lines closeby and were woken up.

The Kasfareet Butcher

On this spot I once watched a cow slaughtered. Throat slit in local custom, blood running into Canal, carcase inflated using a pump, body thrashed all over to loosen the hide, animal skinned, cut up into pieces, washed under the tap where the guy stands and within a very short time the meat was hanging up for display and sale in the wooden shack to the right of the picture which adjoined the bridge. I say displayed but you could not see the pieces of beef for all the flies swarming over them  !!!

I often wonder now if the villagers of Kasfareet now enjoy the  rules of `elf and safety like us in the UK 

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Standing on the bridge looking east down the Sweetwater Canal

Passing through the village of Kasfareet

The road from the village down to the Great Bitter Lake

Tony Maskill with newly aquired friend

Tony again................Miles or Kilometres  ?

Camp signs on the Canal Road

Here I am relaxing at the Lido. We had our own brand of hair gel then.

It was called Brycreem  !

Accompanied here by Jock Marr

Here I am diving into the lake after a long run up the jetty. In the summer it was just like jumping into warm treacle.

There was so much salt in the water that you would dry out white. There was a shower fitted up to wash off the salt before we could get dressed.