De Perros y Limones

Double Lockdown

With the end of Ramadan we thought that we might see a little bit of loosening of the restrictions that we face here in Rabat.  Alas, it did not last long.  A few days after we joyously bought some beer from the offy once again, we were faced with heavy artillery on the cliffs near us, extra coppers parked up on the entrance to the beach and some larger, older and more decorated senior officers telling  us that we couldn’t walk the dogs in the evening.

This was quickly followed by a cavalry unit patrolling the beach itself ( so big that even Luna was careful not to annoy),   busloads of rozzers around our local shops as well as armed ones guarding each road entrance to the estate that we live on.  The king was staying in his residence next door to us.  Great. 

The week before had seen dozens of labourers clearing brush, pruning trees and fixing the somewhat temperamental street lighting around here.  We should have guessed, really.  I mean, we have had loads of experience of disruption, a cleaning up and coppers looking busy from our time in Sri Lanka where no inconvenience was considered too much to accommodate one smug and self-important politician. 

The local shopkeepers do look much more cheerful, I have to say.  Three busloads of cops who obviously live in quarters and so never bring lunch with them.  Hello!  Happy Days!    We can still drive to the supermarket but it does take a bit longer thanks to even more roadblocks to check papers.  As ever, the police are very definite, very bored-looking and also very friendly. 

Luna in full flight

We don’t know if it was coincidence or not but the sight of  a lovely and friendly street dog lying dead on the beach confirmed that loads of poison had been put down around here to clear the number of stray cats and dogs.  That’s shit. 

You can see why we called her Bibi if you know your Star Wars

All of this means that Luna has been put out somewhat.  We can’t let her wander around on her own as she used to because it just isn’t safe, what with trying  to invade the royal palace as she has done a few times now.  We aren’t particularly worried about her when she does that except we don’t want her taken by any of the royal family who will then find out that, whilst very cute, she is a total pain in the arse.   That could mean trouble for us, trouble we don’t need right now.

The Irrepressible Luna

Well, extra trouble.

Some extra trouble has arrived in the form of another dog who kept following us around.  Bibi.  Very cute.  Very friendly.  Very lost.  She looked pregnant so we took her to the vet.  He said she was running a high temperature and we would have to wait a week until any proper testing could be done.  On the morning of her next appointment we found her distressed in the front yard – she won’t come into the house yet– and suddenly suffering a miscarriage. 

Urgh.  A gelatinous blob covered in blood on the floor.  We think she may have had one the evening  before in the back yard because the others all came back licking their lips – they’d probably eaten what her body had ejected.  Another miscarriage in the van on the way to the vets and then we gladly gave her to the professionals to look after.  The poor little thing.

This is the game where Bindi digs up the beach and is surprised by the water that appears. Every time. Every day.

We got her back three days later and she looked awful.  We’ve fed her up a bit since but she still looks rough.  The other four are not sure about her.  She is wearing a cone that is freaking  out Bindi who runs away from her.  We are going to have to leave Bibi here when we return home, hopefully soon.  We have a nice neighbour and a security guard who likes dogs so we think she will be fed whilst we’re away – as long as we leave food of course.  

  • Colin the one-clawed crab. As cool as f..
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underwater art

She’s lucky in some ways that we’re still here.  We put our name down for a Spanish Embassy arranged ferry for last week.  During the phone call to pay for it, Sonalee ran out of credit on her phone.  Could we reach them back?  Of course we couldn’t.  So here we are, till the end of the school year, which is 8 working days away.  What to do?

Actually we don’t mind too much.  Yeah, of course we are utterly sick to the back teeth of lockdown – and definitely not a lockdown like the UK – and being told what we can and can’t do.  The never-ending sameness of the days, the lack of being able to buy bacon (that might just be me) and that general feeling of doing something wrong when we leave the house.  It gets to you. 

I’m not too proud to admit some depression.  For two days of a long weekend I was pretty much catatonic, just lying there on the sofa or the bed feeling utterly morose and unsure of why I was just feeling really shit mentally.  I know there’s millions of other people much worse off than I am but I couldn’t help but get a bit overwhelmed by it all.   I stopped doing some of the things that keep you well like exercising and eating properly.  I’m getting  back gradually. 

Sonalee has had some similar feelings, I know.  Plus she has the added knowledge that she has to live with me, that I am her ‘catch’ in her romantic life.  I know, right?  Hah, she’s stuck with me because I have witnesses that I don’t need to pay!  And photos and stuff!   Let her get out of that one! 

I’m calling this ‘sneaker lines’

Ahem.  Anyway, so we have another doggy that we cannot keep.  Do you remember when we said that about Bindi?  And then Luna?  Look what happened there.  I know, 3 dogs is eccentric.  4 is insane.  5?  We are definitely into completely gone over the edge of reason here.    But she is a cutey.  We think she was dumped into this area of wealthy residents when her previous owners found out she was pregnant.  If anyone wants a really sweet doggie, please let us know.  Please!  

Sumptuous

Other things have developed whilst on lockdown.  For some reason that I cannot fathom, each time I go into the kitchen I am followed by expectant hounds.  It might be because each time I cooked chicken – every night, let’s not muck about here – they received a small treat.  Which seemed to get bigger each evening.  And now?  Well, now its bloody well expected I give a tithe of cooked meat to the mutts.  There was one night where I genuinely didn’t have any and the look Luna had was one of utter desolation and being let down completely by a total bastard.

What  the Hell has happened to me?  I would never claim to be normal or anything like that but this is getting ridiculous.  I used to lead a life free of dog hair and of being licked in bed each morning (unless it was my lucky day) by a slobbering snout and with a breath that you know had been exploring their nether-regions for some time.  How did it end up that I buy extra chicken just to assuage the guilt of four  (now five) pitiful pairs of eyes? 

Bibi recovering with the cone of shame

In the meantime we are getting ready for the end of the school year.  Anyone who knows me will know I always got a bit emotional about my class leaving me.  It was worse in the UK because of the way that they all go off to different schools.  In Sri Lanka, I knew they would be around so it hurt less.   And it does hurt.  You spend all year with a group of kids, you can’t help but become fond of them – I wouldn’t be a good teacher if I really didn’t care.

This year is different again.  I am a middle and high school teacher of five different classes.  The Home Room thing is nothing  more than a glorified registration class, which is fine but you don’t see them much more than you do your other classes.  The middle school teaching thing is fine, my subject knowledge is good for that age group but I am also a teacher of a high school class – grade 9.  Yeah.

I’m not a high school teacher.  I just don’t know enough science to pass myself off as such.  I am totally reliant on the teacher of the parallel class.  Fortunately she is understanding, generous with her planning,  knows her stuff and doesn’t mind too much about being alongside a muppet.  My head of department is also sympathetic and so my utter bewilderment of the subject at  that level is forgiven by all, including, I suspect, my class.

Which is odd in one way because Sonalee and I took an hour or so helping to prepare my niece to face an interview for Kings’ College.  She was applying to get on  a high school science teacher course!    That she got accepted, to our joy, was not to do with anything I could have said –though it felt good to mention the hours of marking and weekends sat at a laptop – hey, it’s part of the job!

But, back to my classes.  I’m really going to miss my grade 9’s.  Sonalee teaches them English so they know they can’t muck about too much without getting into double trouble.  I really like them, we both do.  I’ve never taught this age group and so it has been a real challenge for me this year – I think it is fair to say I have learned as much as they have. 

Sonalee will teach  them again next year and I won’t because I’m on the dole again after June.  That makes me sad.  I know you’re supposed to be professional and career-orientated in the modern world but I just can’t help some emotions getting in the way of work.   What can I do?  They’re a nice bunch of very different kids who just seem to work together and we laugh a lot.

Beach life!

I like my grade 8’s and grade 6’s but they weren’t taxing my knowledge of science like the high schoolers.  I dunno, it’s weird.  I guess that my grade 9’s just ‘get’ me and my eternal cynicism. 

I know I won’t be completely on the dole because I’ll be coaching football teams next year.  I’d bloody well better be, let me put it that way.  I’m the best fucking coach possible for these kids and I will make sure everyone knows that.   I’ll also be a supply teacher again, probably.  Or Sonalee’s driver – whichever pays more.  Hey, I’ll even sell myself down the docks doing favours for sailors if it is good money! 

Bibi feeling safe

So we’re looking at the Spanish Embassy website regularly to see the next chartered ferries.  We’ve put ourselves down for the last day of term and hopefully it will come to pass.  If it doesn’t well, we can wait for a short time.  But I need bacon.  And ham.  And bacalao!  Oh that salted cod delight, how I miss it!  I want it now!  I need it! 

Ahem.  Yes.   We want to go home.  Of course we do.  We miss our friends and our village.  We miss so many people, one of whom is Maeve in Ireland.  She is in regular video contact with Sonalee but unfortunately she is also in regular sessions of therapy for leukaemia in Dublin.  Maeve was the lady who married us in front of our loved ones in Yorkshire just a few years ago.   She’s just a wonderful person who has been Sonalee’s mate for over twenty years. 

Maeve is battling this terrible thing and yet behaves as if it is a minor inconvenience.  This can be annoying for some- like when she insists on doing trips here and there all over Europe – and uplifting for those of us who need to know she is confident.   During this time of awful news for so many families, Maeve continues to be aware of others that are less fortunate than her. 

We hope she can get through this.   Being unable to fly over there to see her so casually is jarring.  Being able to see her via modern technology has been comforting.   These are strange times.

Brooding menace

And so, we will continue to wish we could be there for Maeve and maybe shed some gentle tears that we cannot.  We will continue to be a repository for lost dogs who need a home and carry on giving a shit when it comes to the students that we teach.  This is what we do.   Apparently.

Ayubowan,

Hasta Luego, inshallah

Paul

PS:  Listen to what Radio 6 has been giving us this week – there are timeless classics and there are timeless classics with bells on ringing  out ‘This is a timeless classic’ !  Plus, surely, the smoothest looking bloke in pop.   And this, one of the greatest ever songs ever in the whole universe ever – I still get goosebumps.  God bless the BBC

Bindi – Princess and Skank. No shame.

Paul

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