"By Guess and By Allah" Taxis
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What it is Like to Ride in Vehicles that Almost Defy Description ANYONE who dislikes the Middle East as heartily as I do may cheer himself up any forenoon by a visit to the main entrance of General Headquarters, Middle East, in Cairo. For here is the main base of the Cairo taxi fleet, the "by guess and by Allah " vehicles which miraculously have kept pace with one side of the war up to now, ,
G.H.Q. faaes a difficult "V " bend, and this crowded curve is the Mecca of every Arab who can get something to move on four wheels, and keep it moving.
From dawn to dusk, and often far into the night, the taxis, which were showing severe signs of wear and tear long before Alamein, lurch on their explOsive way to discharge high officers at G.H.Q. Ten piastres (about 2s.) is the normal fare from anywhere to anywhere inside the Cairo city boundary. This is probably the cheapest thrill in the world.
• The taxis all have two things in common—glaring yellsw and black paintwork, and an incredible shortage Of vital parts.. Cotton waste has , replaced inner tubing in many tyres, because, in Cairo, a new tyre . costs from 430 upwa ids—and more in the black market.
The. local taxi-men could live in luXury for mOnths on 430, so they improvise. . I have seen rope and leather used as springs, and felt quite comfortable as a passenger in . this masterpiece of improvisation. The Arabs are clever, tOo, with old tins, and I have seen handsome. engine
covers and doors unwittingly provided by Huntley and Palmer.
What goes on underneath the bonnet to provide the motive power and the staccato barrage that always accompanies it is something I could never discover.
Cairo seems to be full of garages, whichis fortunate. The . driver's mate has also to watch the car when
the driver goes to dinner. It is not uncommon for a thoughtless taxi-man to -return from a café and find his -taxi neatly jacked up and all the wheels missing.
There it Was—Gone!
-Competition is keen in Cairo, but these things happen all over Egypt. A naval officer attached to the C.-in-C. 's staff in Alexandria once found his car without magneto, sparking plugs, and spare wheel, all removed in the time it took him to make a local 'phone call.
Cheap and plentiful petrol,. and journeys which are really necessary, make Cairo the taxi-driver's paradise, Taxi travel is essential—because the only other way to get around is by hangingaike a fly on a wall to the footboards of the Express tramcars.
During a month in Cairo I never once .had an inside, seat in a tram. Tram travel is cheap and fast; there are no windows, and the Egyptians, who love both travel and coolness, spend most of their afternoons speeding from Gezira to Mena, or from Heliopolis to Garnra.
So the taxi flourishes: flashy, fast, and unreliable, with charming, swarthy drivers who smile and say " Maleesh " at everything, from a narrow shave to a broken propeller shaft. " Maleesh " means " Never mind," and is probably the most-used word in Egypt.
Two personal experiences of Cairo taxi-men before I leave them to the inevitable mechanical Nemesis which is cetching up with them. As a naval driver in Egypt I grew to like them unusually and admire them always.
Brigadier Lorne Campbell, on the Shepheard's Hotel-Kasr el Nil Barracks trip, 10 minutes of the most hectic and, crowded taxi route in town, once got out of a taxi after being in it only two minutes and walked the rest of the way.
He confessed that his nerves wouldn't stand it. Brigadier Campbell was on leave in Cairo—because he had won the V.C. in a desert Tank battle two days before.
A few days later, a Naval captain, on his way to G.H.Q. in a taxi that had a definite list to starboard to start with, noticed that it was also lurching and rolling unusually badly, especially on corners.
He stood it for a bit, then said to the driver: " There is something very far wrong with your steering." The Egyptian turned to him with a smile. Maleesh,' ' he said soothingly. " Steering good, but front wheels one big, one not so big."