Barber at the train station of El Marg, Cairo, 1908
1908. A barber setting up shop by the train station of El Marg, North of Cairo. This is the closest train station to Lady Anne Blunt’s stud of Sheykh Obeyd. Her journals indicate she regularly used this station to go to Cairo and back to her stud, about the time that picture was taken. I wonder if she ever saw that barber.. (Photo from the magnificent Facebook Page: Ahl Masr Zaman.
I do like these snapshots from history, showing people doing perfectly ordinary things: the concentration on the barber’s face, the man holding the mirror, the other men sitting around waiting their turn, or perhaps just waiting for their friend, or even just passing time. If the barber was a regular at the station, I would wager Lady Anne would surely have seen him on at least one of her journeys – at least, it’s nice to imagine it so!