BED-ROCCO

 The evening wore on...  That's a very nice expression, isn't it? With your permission I'll say it again: 'The evening wore on.'

After listening to Wales's dire performance against Japan, we needed cheering up, so off to one of the few restaurants serving beer... 

First to brave the chaos of chippy alley:-

And so to find sanctuary. Le Grande Bazaar, just off jamaaaaaa fnaaaaaaaaaa

Just when we thought it was getting quiet....

Did I mention that this place is madness?

Then tomorrow adventure calls! Off to the hills!

Our minibus

Unbeknownst to us, we had been booked onto Shitetours.Moc. The trip reminded me of old package holiday excursion trips, and why I hated them. First stop was a loo, or actually a loo in the back of a tourist tat shop, which you had to go through, IKEA like, and run the gauntlet of old Moroccans asking 'where you from' & 'I do you a good price'. 

Carpet weaving out of rags

Then, off to a "village tour" which was a thinly disgised attempt to sell you a carpet, or one of 50 types of Argan oil products, guaranteed to cure skin spots, snoring, dandruff, hair loss and any other common ailment. Meh.

Typical village house (or hotel)

Next up was Shitelunchstop. Luckily, our hotel guy told us to avoid the food, so we ordered coffee. This arrived as we made our way back to the bus.

Then, joy of joys, came the mountaineering! 30 mins up a ravine over wet rocks, guided by a toothless antique Sherpa who was convinced my French was better than it is to see a waterfall. Goodness knows what he was telling me, he may even have been offering to buy Kim. We gave up before the final ascent on K2, as oxygen was not provided, and we didn't want to be med-evaced out with a broken part. 

The final straws came on the way back. As the 7 hour trip was turning into over 8, the driver decided to stop & have a chat to his boss on the side of the road. This allowed the Romanians in our little group to also persuade him to divert to Carrefour so they could buy booze, whilst we waited in the bus.... Grrrrr. Still, you live & learn as they say.

Oh, and we saw some monkeys 

بيرة الأسبوع التاسعة والستون

 

MOROCCAN ROLL

 Another day, another Dihram...

We are settling in to the rhythm of Marrakech now, and coping better with the full on assault of the senses this city brings. It's always amazed me how soon you adapt to a new place & it becomes the norm. 

The Riad is fantastic - a little haven of peace in the hectic streets, and really close to the main square, jamaaaaa el fnaaaaaa, or something like that. Far to many vowels for it's own good. There were some doped up Cobras and snarky looking monkeys there yesterday, with the odd duck & loads of cats wandering about. 

Yes, we're staying here (outside)

Brekkie room (inside)

Our room 

Shower unit from Tatooine

Last night @ the souk

Rooftop dining

Main Mosque

Saadist tombs

Bean soup, lentil salad & mint tea for lunch

Lovely old fashioned market street

Bahia palace

Beautiful Mooresco/Andalusian architecture 

We took in the main square, the mosques gardens, the Saadian mausoleum, the El baddie palace, then the Bahia palace. My poor little trotters taking a pounding. Still amazed at the extent of the markets, every street seems to throng with stalls & shops selling all manner of goodies. The top of our road is the Marrakechian equivalent of Cardiff's chippy ally - not sure that I'd risk a £1.00 kebab from here. 

Then back to the Riad for a nanny nap. 

MORE-ROCCO

 After an auto-da-fe last night, we are gradually adjusting to Morocco. 

The airport pickup zone was a total free-for-all, with taxis, hire cars, babies, pregnant mothers all throwing themselves on a zebra crossing at the same time. Then, came the madness of the roads. Here, motorbikes, scooters, pushbikes, trucks, taxis & pedestrians all wanted to be in the same place at the same time. Luckily we only saw one collision in the 25 mins it took to travel 5 miles. The road passed through two gates, just wide enough for one car or about 25 scooters, with traffic allowed in both directions. 

The nice man in the taxi then dropped us off outside the pedestrian zone of the medina. Well, I say pedestrian, but that seemed to include scooters, sports motorcycles, donkeys, tuk tuks (tok tok) over here, delivery scooter/truck hybrids, & probably camels. To be fair, Kim fought them all off and ploughed a furrow to our Riad. Allegedly 5 mins away, this took 15 & several expletives.

The Riad turned out to be down a dilapidated side alley, but the door opened to a haven of peace & beauty. What a find! Travel Agent Kim strikes again!

After chatting to Yahya (Moroccan for John) we girded our loins & entered the cacophony of chaos that is Jemaa el-fnaa. What a crazy place! More details of this to follow. 

We ate in just as mad a place - a restaurant with a dj playing a theremin over records, then a violin playing dwarf playing "o sole mio", then a piped version of Alabama song by Brecht. The food was Moroccan, or pizza or sushi of course.

Todays snaps:-

Tanjia (boiled cow with bones)

Juice bar

Old koranic school

Kimmy door 1

Kimmy door 2

Not so secret garden

Photo museum 

Atlas mountains 

MARRAKECH, BAAAABY!

Off to Morocco! Staying here 

Beats a rainy Bristol....

DOCKLESS DISASTERS

 

E-Bikes R us:- I know! Let's increase sales by doing away with docking stations!

Anytown Council planners:- Great, our citizens will love us!

Joe e public:- Great idea! I can ditch the bike wherever I want!

E-Bikes R us:- yeah, but be careful..

Joe e public:- yeah yeah of course, but its only one bike...

Later, back at the ranch.....

Joe e public:- Shite, the pavements are all blocked!

E-Bikes R us:- Don't look at us, we tell our users to be careful.

Anytown Council planners:- we told them to be careful 

Joe e public:- I can't get to the tube station!

Anytown Council planners:- oh feck - why didn't we think of that...

Anytown Police:- 'ello 'ello 'ello, What's going on here then?

Chaos ensues 

All Exit, stage left, pursued by a bear.

Ministers to target ‘wild west’ of ebikes blocking pavements 

THE SIN OF PRIDE

 From Katabasis, by R F KUANG, an example of the sin of pride, the first court of Hell:-

In that case, Tim Ley is doomed....

CWRW'R WYTHNOS TRIGAIN WYTH

 

PEMBREY HAS IT ALL!

 A dry ski slope, a country park, a land speed breaking stretch of beach, parked up fighter jets, a racetrack, an airfield, and this little gem:-

Beat that for Value!

UP THE UPS 2

In front of the old clubhouse 

My thoughts turn to days of yore @ Swansea Uplands Rugby Club.  

Some of my earliest memories are set in the old clubhouse, just off fairwood common in upper Killay. This was a ramshackle collection of post war sheds, set back from the road. 

The clubhouse which was split into three sections. A lounge area along the pitchside, with large windows looking over the field, and a darker cave- like "snug" section with team photos, jerseys , cups & momentos for the players, and some mud encrusted, wintergreen smelling changing rooms.

The Snug was a magical place, reserved for the team, post match, where the arcane arts of rugby teams were practiced. I remember my dad singing "Old King Cole" in there, and repeating a sanitised version to me later on. something along the lines of:-

Old King Cole was a merry old soul,
And a merry old soul was he.
He called for his cup, & called for his bowl,
And he called for his fiddlers three.
Now every fiddler had a very fine fiddle,
And a very fine fiddle had he.

Fiddle diddle de diddle de said the fiddlers,
What merry men are we.
There's none so fair as can compare with the Uplands RFC.

There is of course, a much ruder version, laced with innuendo & misogyny, par for the course in many a club across the land back in the Neanderthal 60's.

Jugs of ale were served up to the team, flat tasteless low alcohol stuff that passed for beer back then, enabling drinkers to claim that they had consumed 8 pints & were still ok to drive home. This was often followed by a shout going up in the clubhouse to go and lift a car out of the pond on the approach road to the club, as said drinker had forgotten about the bend, and the pond.

I fondly remember the old groundskeeper, Freddy Bourne, slipping me a warm pastie from the batch heated up for the after match team feed. If you know "Ted" from the Fast Show, you can picture Freddie. 

My Dad used to tell a tale, straight out of Micheal Greens "the art of course Rugby", where some of the promised kit failed to materialise, so the team improvised by painting green hoops on their legs in lieu of the missing socks. Different times indeed.

My Dad & his mates (with crap socks)

PERHAPS, PERHAPS, PERHAPS

 

Could it be? Read the full story here

A NOT-SO-CRUDE HALL

We had a lovely break at Crewe Hall Hotel & Spa this weekend, to celebrate Kim's 60th trip around the Sun, with Hari, Ows, Dan, Katie, Dylan & myself. Much fun was had, relaxation gained & pounds added to bodies. The Hotel was fantastic, in an amazing old house, tastefully curated & added to, to make a truly 4 star home-from-home.

Stunning 17th Century house

The Stable block

The West Wing

Entrance Hall

Entrance to the Chapel

said Chapel

We has an adventure to Little Moreton Hall, as Storm Bastard had closed the bird of prey sanctuary we had planned to visit. This turned out to be breathtaking - a stunning Tudor moated Hall - alledgedly the inspiration for the architecture of Chester. It rained, but we had a great time stepping back into history.

Tea @ Bleeding Wolf, Scholar Green, was 10/10. If you ever pass this way I would highly recommend it. We were all amazed by the quality of the fayre. I asked for lashings of custard on my crumble......

A darn good time was had by all.