Job creation, Egyptian style

The ancient Egyptians, like the Romans, were way ahead of their time. Having just returned from a holiday on the Red Sea coast I was struck by the employment situation in the resort, which got me to thinking about UK Government plans for getting people back into work and off benefits.

Every day our villa was attended by the following:

• the pool cleaner
• the gardener
• the pest controller (rats! - thankfully, perhaps due to his daily visits, we didn't see any)
• and the 'ant man' (who got rid of these unwanted visitors)

Every couple of days a supervisor for the above would pop round to ensure his staff had done their daily tasks and we were happy with the service provided. In addition, the villa had a representative who met us on arrival and departure, along with the cleaning staff.

Every roundabout in the resort, of which there are many, has someone supervising the traffic. Over the top!? I thought so until I saw how the Egyptians drive! With nothing but miles of desert surrounding the resort it is perhaps unsurprising that little common sense is displayed where there are roads.

Security personnel were on every street corner. We certainly felt safe during our stay.

Teams of road sweepers brushed the desert sand from the roads - a thankless, never ending, task which keeps them in work and provides an income.

The resort itself provides vast employment, in the hotels, restaurants, dive clubs, boats, shops, supermarkets etc etc. Some of these businesses are foreign owned, however, I saw very few employed staff who were not Egyptian.

At the airport, our passports were inspected by one person and our visa stamp provided by another. Yet a third person inspected what the first two had done before we were allowed out of the Country. Ok, this was now getting frustrating and over the top, but, all-in-all, I think there are still lessons we can learn from the Egyptians.