(Public domain)
As you may well know, Egypt is currently suffering from curfew blues. While Cinderella had to go home when the clock struck midnight, Egyptians are instructed to return to their humble abodes at a measly 7 pm. Recently it has been pushed back to 9pm…two more hours…party time. That is every night. Yes, Cinderella was cooler and hipper than most Egyptians right now… at least, until she married the stupid prince.
While reruns of Friends and How I Met Your Mother, as well as the occasional two-hour game of Monopoly seem entertaining, things tend to get a bit repetitive. Armed with nothing but the internet, Egyptians head to social media websites to express their dismay. Amidst tweets whining about how the curfew is making them fat, and how they are fed up with looking at the ceiling, some people propose hashtags. Some of them fail miserably, but others prove popular. The latest hashtag created, Curfew Discoveries, was propelled by being barricaded at home for hours on end, and the exploration that ensued.
In Arabic, Egyptian tweeps shared their awe-inspiring discoveries. There were the ones that revealed the state of domestic life in 21st Century Egypt like “there are other people living in my house”, “our home serves three meals a day” and “the refrigerator’s shelf can fit up to 78 lemons or 65 cucumbers vertically or 75 horizontally”. Then there were the tweets concerned with the limitations of the new living arrangement such as “McDonald’s last delivery is at 5pm” and “one cannot tickle him/herself.”
The hashtag also served for a place to report lost items. There was one case of missing slippers that seemed to reverberate across the twitter-sphere. The most disconcerting of all was that of the missing right slipper of a bunny set. A reward was offered.
There were a myriad of tweets that were concerned with more scientific issues, such as time-related findings like “the speed of an ant on the balcony’s rail is three metres per minute when it is not carrying anything” and “it takes six minutes and 40 seconds for the toilet tank to be refilled with water.” Some used the free time to make an inventory of items in their homes: “the number of tiles in the apartment is: 244 floor-tiles and 121 wall-tiles”. While others considered it an opportunity to make new friends: “I have noted a planet similar to ours in the Andromeda galaxy. I sent them my number so we can chat on Whatsapp.”
A repercussion of the curfew was the dwindling stocks in supermarkets and shops. Therefore, to help others, some tweeps documented the longevity of some products: “a light bulb is burnt out after it is turned on and off consecutively for 1477 times”.
So, next time you find yourself bored out of your mind, it might be well worth it to check social media websites. It is guaranteed that you will find people who share your laughter and pains during those difficult times of national imprisonment.
