Ahmed Omar, an agriculture engineer, went to his work for the first time today, after taking refuge in his home since protests broke out across the nation on 25 January.

“My work has been closed this whole time and just opened today,” says Omar. “I am glad that life is finally going back to normal.”

Omar is not alone. Indeed, Cairo, a city of 20 million and famous for its hustle and bustle, has transformed into a ghost town during the last 12 days of protests. For a city where ever lane and every suburb is always busy and bubbling with life, the change was shocking to many of its residents. However, since the protests began, with the exception of the thousands, sometimes millions, of protesters in Tahrir Square who continued to chant against the regime, Cairo had become eerily quiet. News of thugs ransacking shops and homes had forced people to close down their businesses as a protective measure, people scared of attacks stayed home, government offices closed down, banks were no longer open and petrol stations shut shop.

Today, for the first time, life is slowly returning to Cairo. People have gone to work, the city’s traffic congestion has returned, banks have opened, policemen are once again patrolling the traffic and garbage men are removing the rubbish which had accumulated over the last two weeks.

“These people who continue to protest over there are living in some form of parallel universe,” Kamal Teemy a government worker, standing in Ramses, said while pointing in the direction of Tahrir Square. “Everything is back to normal and they should bloody well leave, it’s over.”

Teemy is not the only one who feels that way.

“Today I went to the bank to pay some installment that I have not been able to do that for the last two weeks,” says Ali Hassanein. “Thank God life is going back to normal.”

Nereen Sakr went for a coffee today with her friend in Zamalek for the first time.

“It was so nice to be able to socialize again,” says Sakr. “I hated being cooped up at work during that whole time.”

For others, it was hope that they may finally get their paychecks.

“These protests began at the end of the month, which made me worry about not getting paid,” said Ehab Rasekh, an accountant. “But today they told us in the office that we will get paid on February 10 which is great.”

Sami Maged, a microbus driver was also stuck at home. He used to drive passengers every day from the Kanater suburb to Tahrir but stopped when the protests began.

"When the violence broke out, I couldn’t drive anymore. I only started today.”

But business it seems it not back to normal. Some shop owners feel that people are still apprehensive of emerging from their homes and facing the streets once again.

“I opened today but not one customer came,” says Abdel Rahman Monie, a shopkeeper in Abdel Moneim Riyad. “I think it will take maybe a month or two before I get the same number of customers.”

Monie had closed his shop because its close proximity to Tahrir meant that stones and bullets were flying past his window and it was better to close down then get injured or die, he says.

Suleiman Mohamed and Sherif Eissa, two cab drivers parked in front of the Semiramis Hotel in Tahrir, are furious at the protesters. For the last ten days, there has been barely any customers.

“Damn those protesters,” says Mohamed. “They are obviously unemployed losers or they wouldn’t have camped in the middle of the square. But if they don’t have families to support, we do.”

But it seems that everything is still not back to normal in Cairo. Army officers and army tanks are still littered over the city and an air of tension still hangs over the capital. The protesters in Tahrir continue to chant against the government and camp in the square insisting that they will stay until the regime goes, no matter how long it takes.

"I won't go until Mubarak goes," says Mohamed Sabah. "And things are not going back to normal at all; government thugs just paid us a visit early this morning."

Many protesters also shrug off accusations that they are irresponsible.

“Do you think I am not worried about my family or about the fact that my wife no longer has money to buy our household shopping,” says Hosny Hassan, a carpenter who has been camping in Tahrir Square. “Of course I do, but I am here because I believe that this will help my children have a better future.”

Some protesters believe that the government is intentionally making life go back to normal in the capital, to make the protesters feel that they are not important.

“They want to make us feel like that we are insignificant and that everybody went back to work and life is back to normal and that we are still standing like idiots,” says Bakr El Hussein. “But I am happy that life went back to normal. I didn’t want the normal Egyptians to suffer from our protest. But we are still not going anywhere.”