Thank you, ladies, for joining me in this forum. It was very lonely here all on my own yesterday!

Nice to see you've joined us Queenie to stop this place from getting too 'Hurghadacentric'.

I hope that we find a Cairo expert to join in as well sooner or later as I am sure that there are a lot of people who would like some information on such a big city.

As for me, I'm 38 ... oh, alright then, I'm 43 really ... and I'm sort of probably kind of just about soon to be single maybe. Or not. Depends if the girlfriend is coming to Egypt with me or not.

As those from TotallyProperty know, I am not actually in Hurghada yet, but will be there in a little over two weeks' time. Currently I am in Riga, Latvia where I am finishing a 15 year stint in Eastern Europe, so will soon go from moaning about how blinking cold it is every winter to moaning about how blinking hot it is every summer.

I am going there to start a real estate agency specializing in property in the area after going to Hurghada for a holiday and accidentally writing a book about the whole subject while I was there because I couldn't stop poking about and asking everyone a load of questions about everything.

I'll be starting off in a rented apartment in Sekalla, which is currently the main centre of Hurghada. It's a bit grubby round the edges, but it's where all the action is both in terms of business plus also the nightlife. Having lived in the centre of Riga for the past few years, I have become used to walking everywhere and really don't want the hassle of owning a car again, especially when taxis in Hurghada are so cheap.

Ironically I'm not a huge lover of sea, sun and sand. I actually feel a bit guilty of the fact that I'm going to this neverending summer paradise that many people would just love to live in but don't know how they would make a living when they got there, whereas I won't be taking advantage of it all.

I'm rambling. I'll shut up.