Project time

A couple of pics, one of trio of Mali masks I picked up to enhance wall space and a nice shot from my friend Johnny of the main salon or comfort zone of the house soon to be surpassed I hope by the Berber Basement!!



After the well deserved break/rest/work whatever you want to call it, escaping from the medina hothouse in August was on relection a bloody good idea. For one thing as mentioned it was getting unfeasibly hot so much so I was looking for a rainy respite in England which of course didnt fail me as I had a week of nothing else. Also going back to the Costa da Luz it was the height of the summer, i really recommend all you anti Costas to try the west coast of Spain for a REAL unblemished coastline and long may it continue, and so the beaches were nicely packed and the chiringitas or late night beach bars were buzzing.

I stayed with my friend Sina who kindly is babysitting my spanish furniture but its becoming to look quite comfortable in its new home so I guess it can stay put for a while yet as the Fes house is getting fuller anyway. It was nice to drive the Merc around as well taking long trips into the stunning Andalucian countryside cruising to Granada for instance just for fun. A week back in England with the family was suffice filling up on curries, fry ups and fish and chips before flying out to join a yacht in Nice for an eight day charter.

The real highlight of the month here as I had to shake off my culinary cobwebs,I hadnt cooked professionly for a year, kit out a galley from scratch, help train two stewardess who had not chartered before whilst also giving cooking tips to the crew chef. After a few days of settling in it was water off a ducks back and the guest family and friends aboard were having the time of their life and i was cooking up a storm on my unlimited budget. It was real nice to dip my toes back into this rareified atmosphere as far removed from Medina life as is possible, and left with promises from the crew to come and visit.

With a hefty paypacket in hand I returned to Fes with a focused head on to tackle the last major project in the house namely the celler or basement area. Within a day I had Ben stripping the two cedar doors and organising the plumber and electrician, builder and zellige to finish wiring and plumbing the fountain before tiling begins. This should only take a few days and then we can paint out the whole room and drape/tent the ceiling to get an Arabian nights feel and carpet and cushion the floor and fix the light fittings and voila we have another functioning room.