Kitchen Capers

You turn your back for a minute and the builders and plasterers are onto the next phase and its me whose playing catch up. They are in the apartment now and mocked up the counters before filling them in with concrete; so i was out frantically getting exact oven and sink measurements so everythig slotted in properly. I then went upstairs to design and measure the main salon kitchen so they would not catch me out next another time:

This morning the legend that is Hassan the toothless Master Builder came back. He is a wizard and true star working twice as fast as the other builders with an incredible eye for detail. He has been brought in by Baccali to build the fireplace a photo of which I pulled from a magazine; its like a Berber oven style. Literally within minutes H had the tiles and plaster off the wall; a foundation laid and the first bricks in place. By mid morning he had the basic shape; quite tricky cos its curved and was restyling my original idea to accomodate two spaces for logs and two separate flues; the man is a genius with bricks.

Ramadan continues to amuse; theres always an edginess in the air; now we are two weeks in it is halfway and people are adjusted to it a bit better. It doesnt help that 3 hours before the end of fast at 3pm the cartmen come out with trays of delicious pastries and croissants and french bread so people can buy them but not eat; apart from yours truly who stocks up to stuff his face back at the house away from prying eyes. Its best on the street to respect Ramadan and not to flaunt the fact that as a Westerner you can smoke; eat and drink whenever its common courtesy; just go to a restaurant where its perfectly aceptable.

Around 5pm the shops start to shut and people get very animated and theres a palpable buzz in the air as the fast is only an hour away; then the gun goes off at 6pm wailing fills the air from the many mosques and the streets are immediately deserted asall families come together for the break fast meal. Two hours later the shops are open everyones well fed and the evening promenade and carousing till past midnight begins. From the house the steady rhythm of all of this is very comforting,amusing,exciting,ennervating and a whole host of other words. Its a very cool place to be and on the nightly promenade I more often than not meet an interesting or eccentric individual with a story to tell or something to sell,it doesnt really matter which, its real life in a real community.

Found one great guy who had trained in historic house restoration by ADER Fes and gave me a leson in Tadelakt and Madlouk, both different finishes for walls and highly decourous. He came round the next day to see the house and quote for the bathroom Tadelakt. Same day went to see the metal man to approve spiral staircase design and pay deposit and check out his artfully welded iron beds, sexy.

Next project is to meet Sinas boss Ingo who arrives for 3 days soon to show him land; Adel has found a guy with 83 hectares thats about 160 acres teeming with olives and a big house on it on the road south to Sefrou for about 4000 euros an hectare; thats a great price by the way under 50 cents a sq m. Its all go.