Johnathan, a world class rock climber who is also a property entrepreneur here in Morocco, told me an amusing tale relating to his latest house search in Chaoen. Scouring the medina for something cheap and cheerful to purchase he got more than he bargained for on an inspection.
He was being shown around a less than structurally sound old wreck when suddenly the floor gave way beneath him. Now this is where the rock climbing experience comes in. As he told me when walking along a crevasse that is likely to give way if it opens up, you extend your elbows and this acts as a brace to stop you plummetting to the depths.
Therefore as the floor gave way he instinctively went into rock climb survival mode and found he was dangling elbows akimbo between the beams over the fresh air space that once housed a not so solid floor/ceiling. I would like to have seen the look on the simsaars face as he realised how close he had come to losing a customer and also that the prospective sale had quite literally fallen through ha ha!
So house buying tip no 1 whilst walking on suspect flooring position oneself between the beams with elbows at 90 degrees to to the body, and though you might look as though you are going to break into a Birdie Song dance audition, you may in fact be doing your brittle legs a big favour.
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