We've started..will we finish?
You know somwtimes Finn, you need a kick up the back side to spurr you in to action , and I got this with the visit of grandad and grandma Eve, who’ve been here recently. There I was like a rabbit in headlights, unable to get going because Tazi wasn’t exactly what I wanted. Then your grandparents visited and we had to decide to do something.
Grandparents visiting...actually that's grandma.
The first thing was we were far from sure if they’d even like Fez. Fortunately they loved it. Then of course were the questions as to what exactly we were going to do here? I couldn’t face them filled with doubt, so the only thing was to say that we’d decided to start Tazi. It scares the life out of me doing something I don’t believe in, but there you go. Choices have been made...now get on with it and do the best you can!!!
So we started and found a small team...start small, especially if you’ve no real idea what the hell you’re doing! As I say it’s all been a steep learning curve and one I’m enjoying. We’ve got a team of four working initially and they include;
Abderahmans' up at the top of the ladder, can you see him?.
Abdulrahim our mason and general right hand man. He’s a good old school mualem, which is to say artisan. He was trained by his father who would, as he says, literaly beat him if he made a mistake as an apprentice, he even showed me his scars to prove it!!! It’s good to have him on board and it’s great that he also speaks some French. However I have a sneaky suspicion that he might be, how can say this, begining to feel too comfortable as the right hand man, but so far so good..and watch this space.
Then there’s Mustapha, our decapeur, that is our guy who strips our wooden doors and windows.
Mustapha is very camp and very lovely. He lives with his mother and is married but his wife lives in Marrakesh, which they are both very happy about. He works slowly but steadilly, never gets in too much of a sweat and asked if he could start work earlier as his mother wanted him home earlier for dinner! He’s aged about 55!
Additionally there’s Said (in the red below) who’s a young lad from around the corner and Mohammed (in the blue). They are helping with the gratting, though Said would seem to have been placed as “cleaner upper” in the general scheme of things. It’s amazing how hieracrchies are developed so quickly!
Material delivery at 27 Zkak Rouah.
We are currently laying plaster on the floors to cover the ancient tiling, thus protecting it from marauding workers who see nothing wrong in smashing it to pieces...and looking sorry about it afterwards, if you're lucky. Thus I've learnt how to mix and lay plaster, which is more difficult and tiring than it initially, looks. Somehow it's very satisfying doing such manual work and I'm looking forward to moving on to building walls, laying plumbing and blowing the house up with mangled electrical wires.
We reckon on a year of work, so the whole thing is remarkably like being on a middle aged YTS program. Of course we're adding complication by trying to put in a grey water system, water saving devices and solar energy, but I'm looking forward to that as well.
Despite being techno phobic to a degree that anything more sophisticated than a mug and spoon makes me sweat with angst, with any luck we'll be linking to "experts" for significant help...and then when we begin the build in Xaouen, we'll be focusing upon low technologies...I knew there was an underlying reason that I felt so comfortable in the "Third World".
You know somwtimes Finn, you need a kick up the back side to spurr you in to action , and I got this with the visit of grandad and grandma Eve, who’ve been here recently. There I was like a rabbit in headlights, unable to get going because Tazi wasn’t exactly what I wanted. Then your grandparents visited and we had to decide to do something.
Grandparents visiting...actually that's grandma.The first thing was we were far from sure if they’d even like Fez. Fortunately they loved it. Then of course were the questions as to what exactly we were going to do here? I couldn’t face them filled with doubt, so the only thing was to say that we’d decided to start Tazi. It scares the life out of me doing something I don’t believe in, but there you go. Choices have been made...now get on with it and do the best you can!!!
So we started and found a small team...start small, especially if you’ve no real idea what the hell you’re doing! As I say it’s all been a steep learning curve and one I’m enjoying. We’ve got a team of four working initially and they include;
Abderahmans' up at the top of the ladder, can you see him?.Abdulrahim our mason and general right hand man. He’s a good old school mualem, which is to say artisan. He was trained by his father who would, as he says, literaly beat him if he made a mistake as an apprentice, he even showed me his scars to prove it!!! It’s good to have him on board and it’s great that he also speaks some French. However I have a sneaky suspicion that he might be, how can say this, begining to feel too comfortable as the right hand man, but so far so good..and watch this space.
Then there’s Mustapha, our decapeur, that is our guy who strips our wooden doors and windows.
Mustapha is very camp and very lovely. He lives with his mother and is married but his wife lives in Marrakesh, which they are both very happy about. He works slowly but steadilly, never gets in too much of a sweat and asked if he could start work earlier as his mother wanted him home earlier for dinner! He’s aged about 55!Additionally there’s Said (in the red below) who’s a young lad from around the corner and Mohammed (in the blue). They are helping with the gratting, though Said would seem to have been placed as “cleaner upper” in the general scheme of things. It’s amazing how hieracrchies are developed so quickly!
Material delivery at 27 Zkak Rouah.We are currently laying plaster on the floors to cover the ancient tiling, thus protecting it from marauding workers who see nothing wrong in smashing it to pieces...and looking sorry about it afterwards, if you're lucky. Thus I've learnt how to mix and lay plaster, which is more difficult and tiring than it initially, looks. Somehow it's very satisfying doing such manual work and I'm looking forward to moving on to building walls, laying plumbing and blowing the house up with mangled electrical wires.
We reckon on a year of work, so the whole thing is remarkably like being on a middle aged YTS program. Of course we're adding complication by trying to put in a grey water system, water saving devices and solar energy, but I'm looking forward to that as well.
Despite being techno phobic to a degree that anything more sophisticated than a mug and spoon makes me sweat with angst, with any luck we'll be linking to "experts" for significant help...and then when we begin the build in Xaouen, we'll be focusing upon low technologies...I knew there was an underlying reason that I felt so comfortable in the "Third World".
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