Waiting for Gumah

Gumah, who collects the rent for our flat, came round on Sunday while I was out. The rent wasn't due until yesterday, so Mr C sent him away again, saying we didn't have the money and to come back later. We had decided long before, that we were going to subtract the cost of the heaters from the rent and put up a good fight to make sure they didn't con us out of our money. After all, it's ridiculous to expect people to live in a freezing cold flat with no heating, after Gumah had told Bikey that the air conditioners in each room gave out heat too, but he just didn't know how to work them.

Duly, yesterday, we arranged for Gumah to come at 7pm. Mr C had gone to pray, so when he arrived it was myself and Bikey at the helm, with Bikey playing the starring role, as an all-'Ammiyah-speaking gal who knows how to talk tough to the locals. To understand the ensuing argument, you need to know that our rent is 2400 Egyptian pounds, our heaters cost 300, and we wanted to pay 2000 (including costs such as electrician and plumber and having to buy stuff around the house). Bikey told Gumah that we would only pay 2000 and started outlining her reasons. He in turn, threatened to chuck us out if we refused to pay the extra 400 ('Someone would take the flat tomorrow if we rented it') The atmosphere during the scene, played out at our front door, Gumah and friend without, Bikey and I within, was becoming rather strained when Gumah's friend pipes up in a stage whisper "Where are they from?". Gumah, stopping short says "I don't know..where are you from?" to which Bikey replies with a hostile "Leih?" (Read: Why the hell should I tell you?)

We agreed to disagree and take the matter to the landlady, who hitherto we had supposed was languishing in a hospital bed (as we had been told only that day by Gumah, the wily rogue). After a false start, in which Gumah made us walk all the way to her house only to find she was busy and couldn't see us until 10, we returned. Skipping past Gumah's shack and evading his small son who asked if we wanted his Baba ("No!") we went up to the landlady's flat. Ironically, it was very cosily heated. A polite but determined discussion then took place between Bikey and AlHaggah, as she is known. Neither party was prepared to accept a change in their terms and for 40 minutes it was a stalemate. The Haggah blamed Bikey for getting the flat without knowing about the heating, and we all blamed Gumah for misleading us on that point. Eventually, she agreed to reducing the rent by 100, and we grudgingly had to accept (as she had threatened to simply take it out of our deposit anyway). After this, we were offered cups of tea, which we accepted out of politeness, and then burnt ourselves trying to finish in a hurry so we could leave.

Anyway, much qudos to Bikey for her efforts yesterday, particularly for standing up to the formidable Gumah. She is one tough cookie.