Morning Finn,
Actually I’ve no
idea when you’ll be reading this and in fact I’m writing this in Dushanbe,
Tajikistan, though more about that later…probably in another blog entry. 
We had a couple
from Barcelona who stayed at Dar Finn and Greg is a photographer. He’d been
taking some quite lovely shots around town and I voiced the opportunity for us
to take a walk around Fez late at night when the streets are empty and the
light transforms the medina with a golden hue.
If I’m honest
the more I thought of it, the more I regretted making the offer. Generally I
only walk the evening streets after a night out, sometimes a little the worse
for wear. It’s always beautiful, I always feel relatively safe and I almost
always wonder why I haven’t taken my camera out to capture it. But wondering
round the night time streets to or from a friends house on my own and taking a
tourist with me are quite different things and suddenly the chance of it all
going wrong, us getting lost at best or mugged at worst, seeped in to my
anxieties.
Of course I
couldn’t have been more wrong. The streets were evocative and everyone we met
was amazingly friendly. It gave a real opportunity to simply stop and talk with
people whether it was this pigeon keeper, who invited us (yes that’s you and
me) to his house for pigeon pastille, or and to see the medina in a way any of
us rarely do. It was beautiful, evocative and more or less empty.
Of course there
were times when it felt a bit risqué, mostly though because it was something of
a first, but also because some of the streets I’m less used to, notably in
R’Cif, change so dramatically at night when so many shops are closed. What it
did show, which Greg emphasised was that it could be a very viable tour. I’ve
been thinking of developing something additional for TAF (www.toursaroundfez.com
) and this could be perfect.
In fact, on
that, whilst here I’ve been thinking about what to develop when I get back. The
thing is that to expand the marketing and product design/identity of Dar Finn
requires time and attention, which I won’t be able to give it if I return to
start up Xaouen immediately this consultancy ends, even if that would be my
preference. In addition to that we have a massive opportunity with TAF, given
that it is currently a unique product in Fez and we are in the Lonely Planet.
It would be a real miss not to build on this.
On top of that,
having spent so much time away from you this year already and with some more to
come in June, it simply feels too much, moving over to focus on Xaouen, which
would demand at least 3 days a week away.
So I am thinking of focussing on
marketing Dar Finn and managing Tours Around Fez and seeing where we are come
the winter when, though it will be colder, it will be a good time to landscape
the farm as well as giving me the time to really research what, how and with
whom I am going to develop the project. Don’t get me
wrong Finn, it still excites me more than anything, but the logic is there.
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