Simon Dow Maitre de Cuisine 
Let me take you back a few weeks, Jan 25 was for me just another day but for my Egyptian friends it was the start of something more. The day was going ok you know the normal bullshit but when I finished and left the hotel to get a cab the streets where alive with people chanting in Arabic it was like they were all strung out on a bad trip, taking local advice I stayed away from the mass crowds and did not think much of what had happened, then the next morning went into work chefs were missing, booking in the restaurants where down with the phone going constantly with people cancelling their reservations for the coming days. I took everything in my stride, as I was hearing the police will quash any trouble and we can all go about are normal business or so I thought until that Friday when literally all hell broke loose.
The guys at worked had warned me that something big was going to happen after midday prayer on the Friday 28th I really did not pay to much attention as state TV was broadcasting as normal and there was no mention of any trouble in any local papers the FCO was saying everything is stable, Friday morning came and me and the wife walked around our local area which leads us to Tahir square which is only a five minute walk, as we got up onto the bridge we could see people starting to gather together the atmosphere was friendly and we stood and watched from our vantage point we could see more people coming, and the chanting was getting louder, and still more people were coming from all directions. Then the police started to go to town, firing rubber bullets and tear gas driving there vans directly into the crowds and at that point me and the wife decided to make tactical retreat back over the bridge. As we moved back into our area we could hear the sound of sporadic gunfire, we both decided 
to get back to are apartment as quickly as possible. As the day carried on, it went from bad to worse but curiosity got the better of use so we ventured out again now the streets where filling up fast people where everywhere, and the police had literally gone mad and trigger happy with the tear gas and rubber bullets the air was really acrid with the taste of the tear gas, but the crowds were not stopping they continued to grow more and people arriving, as we moved up towards the bridge i found myself separated from my wife and son and how i managed to come in between the police and the youths that where throwing stones and petrol bombs was beyond me ( I think I got carried away with child hood memories of living in Belfast).
We walked down the corniche along the Nile and we could see police on the other side of the river from us, running into the crowds firing there shotguns directly at people . The violence carried on for much of the night, the city was alive people shouting and firing gun shots filled the air.
The next morning was surreal the police had disappeared from the city, the police station was deserted , we went outside to see what was happening and there was a pleasant calm, almost like a festival vibe we could see across the bridge to the Mubarak's government offices, which were on fire. The military were directing the traffic, and as we got further along we could see tanks and a heavy presence of military, but as far as we could see there was no sign of the police, then out came the camera, and I was like a Japanese tourist on cocaine I started snapping away at the burnt out cars and tanks that littered the streets .
The days that followed were somewhat confusing with so many mixed messages, we had no telephones or internet access after the revolution, so what info we had was all through the TV (state TV), and this was saying that everything was ok and there was no trouble -al jezaara was on the ground 
reporting directly and given travel updates , then we found out about the curfew 3pm to 6am which meant not going to work, as all the hotels in Cairo had ceased trading, everybody was panic buying at the super markets and the Carrefour we normal used was looted and had been burnt out. Now after 6 days of utter chaos it time to get myself and my family out of Cairo safely, the information we were receiving was telling us to leave. So I was sent out by the hotel on 30 days unpaid vacation, where I had to book my own flights and the company would reimburse me on my return to Cairo, on top of that the banks where all shut, the atm machines where turned off, so we had no access to money, we still had no phones, or internet. We finally managed to get a message to my 
family, where we were able then to get flights booked out of Cairo. The next day as we drove to the airport we could see the extent of the damage, and the heavy army presence. We were all really glad when we got to the airport, after we got checked in are flight was cancelled at the last minute which a fcukin ball ache, as now it was going to take us 3 days to get to Dublin first flight was to Jordan, where we spent the night, then we flew to Istanbul again we had to spend the night there and then finally we were in Dublin. In all fairness we did not mind as long as we were out of Cairo and we were all safe that was the important thing.
Now I have returned to Cairo with my family, as my son is at the school here and in the middle of doing his Gsce's so he's a critical stage of his education, my contract is now on a 28 day rolling basis. .the hotel business in the Cairo has lost millions of dollars the restaurants are sitting empty and it will take at least another year for the country recover from this.
The people are still protesting the army is still on the streets and there still a curfew in place. Me I am here to make money pure and simple, no money no job no point staying, so on that note its destination unknown. And a special thanks must go out to the British embassy 
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