Although Charles wished to continue his relationship with Elizabeth, she wanted to enjoy the new life that awaited her in wartime Egypt. Speaking excellent French and German, she secured a job in the British naval cipher office in Alexandria and quickly found a most agreeable flat in the city. She engaged a cook called Kyriacou, a Greek refugee, who introduced her to new and delicious foods such as octopus stew in rich wine sauce with mountain herbs. She began to discover the foods and flavours of the Lavant. Kyriacou, although an excellent cook, was highly eccentric and a new cook, Suleiman, later took his place. Elizabeth remembers meals from this period; delicious spiced pilaffs, grilled lamb kebabs and the Egyptian dish ‘Fellahin’ which consisted of black beans, olive oil, lemon and hard-boiled eggs. In 1942 Elizabeth became ill and spent several weeks in hospital and felt obliged to resign from the cipher office. Upon her recovery, she moved to Cairo and set up a reference library for the British Ministry of Information. Through the library, Elizabeth met many interesting people and made new friendships. Her new friends included Alan Moorehead, Freya Stark, Bernard Spencer, Patrick Kinross, Olivia Manning and Lawrence Durrell.