November 2008; The builds go on...and so does the rain!

Well Finn, and so here we go, on and on and on. A never ending cycle of destruction with the promise of actually creating something beautiful that we'll all be proud of in the end. It's a year ago since we came over here as a family and a year since you got sick.

With the amount of rain we've had here again this month, I'm praying that you won't get sick again, tho we are struggling with your skin as you've had a terrible exzcma type thing, with which you are ever so accommodating, but for which we have to put tons of cream on you each night. This makes you scream, and scream.

I can't tell if it's hurting you and I fear it is...there is so much pain in this. Are we doing the right thing, does this cream hurt you and we haven't worked it out? Is it doing any good and is there something else that we should be doing. Fortunately we've got a paediatrician in the same block as us, but all she says is that we just have to try and do our best, try to limit what it isn't to find out what it is? Jesus it's so hit and miss.

These are the times I wish we were in UK, when I wish I could just do a normal 09.00 - 17.00, and ensure that you have immediate access to services I trust and providers that i understand perfectly. But we're here, and for all that, I only hope that it's worth it for all of us in the long run.

The rain that seems to have set in for weeks now, is causing havoc with our builds. It feels like something closer to fighting in the trenches in northern France than developing an eco tourism project in north africa. At Tazi we're still struggling with the drains and Twatty is proving a right....Twat! We are now regularly discussing getting rid of him when he doesn't turn up and then he does and we think better the devil you know, especially if he just gets on a finishes the job. Then he doesn't turn up again and the cycle continues.

Razi and Beccie delve in to the depths of Tazi.

We've a good team at Tazi lead by our Mwalem mason Razi, who's been with us since May/June. He fills me with the confidence of someone who knows what they are doing and as importantly he seems a pretty straight guy. He advises us, we listen, discuss and we make decisions. I'm glad we've got him.
Hamid, a break in yatter to do a bit of work.

Over at 813, I refound a guy called Hamid who's also a mason, but somehow doesn't fill me with the same confidence. The problem is he talks too much, he simply doesn't let up and I'd rather he just got on with the job.

The difficulty is you can't say, could you please shut up and just work, as this upsets them..well would certainly upset him...and as we've learnt, ego massage and damage limitation are part and parcel of managing a team of builders here. NEVER, never criticise a mwalem, and NEVER infront of other workers. If you do that, it's at best a week of sulking, and probably industrial sabotage, and at worst, they simply walk off...tho there have been times when we've had workers leave and realised...god it's better now they've gone!

Building on the ground floor at 813.

But Hamid, well we had him working with us before at Tazi. Then there was an issue with the neighbours (which? ......Shameless of course!!) who said something to the tune that questions his parenthood and the professional role undertaken by his mother in servicing the needs of men in Fez, and of course he exploded. In the course of the episode that involved the caid with tazi, he was the fall guy.

There was no particular reason for this other than that he wasn't in the room when we were discussing fault and allocating blamb, and as is so often the case here in Morocco, apart from it always being the fault of someone else, when something goes wrong, it is ALWAYS the fault of the poor bastard who isn't present!

Thus the Caid picked up on Hamid and told me to get rid of him. I felt terrible, but I needed the Caid and whilst I didn't want to support the Fall Guy System, that's how it works and so Hamid had to go!

I met him in the street a few months later and he asked if there was any work...I had to think about it. He talks and talks and his work is...Ok, at times better than that, but rarely anything else. However here it was again, a case of better the devil you know, than the pot luck of one you don't. So Hamid is back and we'll see how that works out...I just wish he'd stop talking.

Driss on the lower terrace at 813.

I also managed to get hold of an old Mwalem called Driss. Driss is pretty old school, and his work is excellent, but god he's slow. there have been times when I've gone with him to look at his work and asked if there was anything else? What? No of course not, that's it..but I'll be back tomorrow! Which for the present I can live with.

There's a great difference between working on a house for ourselves and one that has airs of being a hotel (sic maison D'hote???). With 813, I can just get on with the work only concerned that it's good enough for us. No need for perenial on suite bedroom, we can just have a bathroom on each landing. No worry about masses of zelig...we don't want any. It's almost fun, the neighbours are gentle, and yes I am enjoying it, tho it would be nice if it stopped raining!

I have to say Finn, I don't think I've met anyone who loves his tea as much as you do. Clearly there's something of the Irish navey in you ..where's that from then?

Suffice to say that despite the rain, things are going OK. It's well and truely winter, cold and wet and difficult to believe that we're in Africa and not the west midlands...hey ho!