Xmas 2006

Christmas was not that cold, and definitely not white. J and M had chosen the most ENORMOUS chicken which we had late afternoon, highlight according to J is the orange drizzle cake with icecream AND custard all at once!! Note the great Christmas tree, which had the right shape! Big and little Ms had an epic adventure getting it in the car, it only just fit, and little M had a serious encounter with the mud we were parked in. Goodness knows how we will get it to the disposal point! But it looks great, and takes up most of the lounge room.

Kids maxed out on playmobil for gifts which has the advantage of many small packages. Went to some neighbours for Xmas eve, another neighbours for morning champagne and nibbles, then lunch with a friend at our place, little M did a spot of rollerskating and that was it. Very relaxing! Could have been warmer to be in Oz!!
Merry Christmas to you all.

And it was good!!

So as intimated below R after a certain amount of pressure succumbed to booking the birthday party of a lifetime for me. Happy camper, better than the last 2 years which have been respectively spent being violently ill (gift was R taking kids out for the day so I could be violently ill in peace) and at the School winter fete. Life doesnt get much more exciting than that!! So Marrakesh a great improvement. Sadly it was cold, but everything else was great. Kids had a fabulous time, we had a fabulous time, amazingly R bought not one but two carpets in a fit of something that I am still not sure I understand.


Spices were great, food was great, snake men were not great nor henna women (these are all serious hasslers in the market), little M drove the horse and cart, J swam in the unheated swimming pool (!!) the souks were amazing, a real labyrinth, not for the faint hearted and really only a bargain for those of us beleagured with pounds and english prices. But a great deal of good hearted fun. Bought some unbelievably beautiful pottery - photo soon. And scarves (of course) and spices, and some basic tunics and ..... it was FUN. So R has lots of credits for the next years (or to make up for the last 20 years on which he has forgotten). Highly recommended for a short break - we loved it.

40th Birthday

After a certain amount of pain and suffering (on R's part) we all headed off to Marrakech for big M's 40th. She didnt want to spend it in Cambridge or England and became alarmed (and somewhat violent) by my suggestion that we go to bath...so Marrakech it is. The sales people I booked the Riad (small hotel) through were very helpful and persuasive, so I booked a 4 room riad just for us. Just as well as it turned out later.
Renee came with us and Edda was going to come too, but her advanced stage of pregnancy intervened and she was forced to pull out...
Arrived in the dark and had an exciting taxi ride into the old city...our Riad is in the Medina, so we had to get out and walk a fair way (I had to carry little M who was getting tired, so I got tired too!). Kids had a deal of trouble choosing which of the rooms they were going to stay in, but dad and mum knew straight away which room they were having when they saw it! Some delicate negotiations went on between J and M but a compromise was made and all settled in.

Went out for a wander to the Djemaa el Fna (central square) where we bought jelaba's (see picture) for the kids and the stall holder tried to give them kittens...this plagued us for the whole trip as the kids kept wanting to go and see the kittens and Mum and Dad were forced to fight off the shop owner each time, desperate to sell us something else.