i'm walking along the nile earlier today when i see a truck stuck in a rut on the side of the road. the truck has the seal of the egyptian military police on the side and the back of the truck is a big rectangular box with small windows with bars. the stuck truck appears to be a paddy wagon.
behind the truck are about a half dozen guys pushing, three of them in police uniforms. despite their efforts the truck won't get out of the rut. one of the non-uniform people sees me watching and waves me over to help. i think, "why not," and run over to the back of the truck.
as i'm leaning forward pushing, my hands straight out against the truck and my head facing down. i notice that the guy next to me has handcuffs locked around one wrist and dangling down towards the bumper. i look at the hands of the other guys and discover that everyone not in a police uniform has cuffs dangling from one wrist (except me, that is). the guy next to me notices me noticing and says, in heavily accented english, "it's okay, it's okay." he pointed at one of the officers and adding, "police."
shortly thereafter we got the truck out of the rut.
the moral of the story is that it's too friggin' hot here to push a truck in mid-afternoon.
