December 2008; Party, Party, rain, rain, rain.

It's a funny time of year for many people Xmas, but I have to say that I love it. I love the getting together of old friends and family. I love the sharing and involvement of everyone. I love the crowd of people you want to be with. And obviously I love the eating, drinking and merryment...why not eh?

It's been good to leave Fez for a while, even if it is only to get to a country that should be sodden rather than one for whom it's becoming something of a fad and not a passing one it would seem. Infact the issue with the rain has now gotten to the point that there has been a national disaster called. I'm surprised that we haven't seen much more disruption to the medina. Of course you can barely move for sodden anything and the chantiers are just seeping water.

But I keep thinking, as I see street drains collapse, mostly around Ainez Leyton, what will happen if the drainage system that is in the majority of houses and that simply pours waste water, sewage and rainwater, in to the ground and under the foundations of neighbouring houses; won't this eventually lead to an undermining of the foundations, won't houses just begin to topple over?

A rare moment of sunshine at the tanneries.

It has to be said that whilst there have been a few instances of sewers blowing their covers open, the ancient system that lies underneath Fez has done wonders. If this had been many other African cities and we'd had rain for almost three months solid...by which I mean almost every day, all day, the system would have collapsed. So far, so good.....but when will it stop?
Original door frame and signs of stitching at 813.

Despite this we've managed to get some work done at both houses and I'm pleased with the advances made at 813 where windows have been enlarged on the intra sol and Driss has done a sound job of re building a door on the patio. He may be slow, but actually his work is beautiful.

Driss builds a new door frame.

Hamid is still a bit slap dash and Driss and I found ourselves sharing bemused glances at some of his work in one of the bathrooms. I'm begining to think that it might be time to call it a day with him. But, with snail paced Driss and a hell of unknown devils out there, I'm reluctant to just cut him loose. Rather you try to get him to do it right, or again, but always with praise...it's a bit like being in a special ed unit. Yes Hamid that's wonderful, shall we try and build that wall at a 90 degree angle now, rather than something closer to 45 degrees...nice wall tho, really great!

Driss still building new door frame..looks amazing tho.

We've spent ages filling holes and repairing crack in walls. The house is a mass of stitching interfaced with old gyzers acting as ties. Untill you take the plaster off the walls you rarely know how rotten they are and I suppose we've been quite lucky with 813, not too many stitches this time. I must admit tho, there's something satisfying about seeing so much of the house so fully gratted and brought back to the brick work.

Finn at party at Riad Alkantara.

The festive season, which obvioulsy passes by most Moroccans, their being Muslims, has however meant that there's been a few parties, even ones for you Finn. You managed to go over to Riad Alcantara for a wonderful affair with hats, sweets and even magicians. I'm not sure how you deal with big crowds as yet, I think your being an only child gives you a preference for the smaller gathering..we'll see how that pans out.

With magician, fun and games......I'm not sure he was so magical!

Daddy and Josephine, the mama of the medina at the Dar Romana party.

As for us, I suppose our social highlight here was the party at Dar Romana, which had us introduced to Justine and Didier the new managers. Jen and Sebastian did us all proud with an excellent spread, good food, wine and excellent company. Obviously with the rigours of the chantiers I passed out early, but my understanding is that Jen kept up the pace until the early hours and, well let's just say it took more than a couple of paracetamols to sort it out the next day.

Less is more...so they say!

A bit of work with UNICEF.

Outside of work..that's the chantiers, I also managed to get a consultancy with UNICEF doing some research with various INGOs who provide water and sanitation services during emergencies. The idea was to investigate the extent to which they use field research to monitor and evaluate impact and program direction or coverage. Having done a few such emergencies I know from experience that M/E is often neglected or at best compromised by the demands of program implementation and a fast changing environment.

My expectation was that INGOs would try to cover their tracks and..what's the technical term..bullshit their way thro not admitting reality. I don't know if it was because I did all my interviews by phone, or if agencies are really up to admitting their failings, but it was refreshing to hear agency leaders admitting that M/E was a real problem, scientific rigour failed to exist and they had a problem. I've got to present in Geneva next month, but it should be interesting.

It was certainly interesting feeding back in to my old world. Of course I miss it all and I miss being in an organisation where people are generally dedicated and pushing in the same direction for something they believe in. I also miss doing something I actually know something about. At least this helps to keep my finger in, just incase we need a fall back option.

At home we spent Xmas with beccie's parents, another classic indulgence of great food, great wine and great company, what fun...even the odd bit of fire works. Xmas wouldn't be the same without it. I'm not sure you knew too much about this Xmas, we'll have to see how you do next year. I wonder where we'll be for that.

Following a memorable Xmas we went off to Aberdovey in Wales to meet up with Ian, Tania and Sam, Sarah and Neil and your uncle Tony.
Again great fun and Neil did an amazing dinner for NY eve. These are really lovely people, we're lucky to have them as friends and family.

And you got a chance to meet Sam, which was great, he likes trains almost as much as you like farm animals.

Of course we ate and drank well for days, played games and talked late in to the night. It was so good to just spend time with old, old friends, enjoying the simple things that make Xmas and NY such good fun; good friends, good food and good drinking.

Oh and by the way, incase your wondering who that hoody is sneaking behind Beccie, well that's Uncle Tony, and he's a good old chap as well, despite appearances!