De Perros y Limones

Home

Bibi is still a puppy in so many ways.
I really like this one
Dora the Explorer

We made it.  It’s unbelievably hot.   The patterns of the days have changed dramatically in every sense but were grateful to be home because we thought we weren’t going to be allowed to leave Morocco…

So we get to the ferry port to be surrounded by a range of cars and motorhomes from all over Europe, all of whom are very keen to get home.  We get to the x-ray machine that looks through vehicles, climb back in and wait our turn in line to leave.  Suddenly three men order us out of the car and tell us to get the dogs out into the searing heat.  They seem concerned at something underneath the car and are busy getting onto the floor to bang their screwdrivers against the chassis behind the driver’s seat.   Okay.

More men arrive, as do the two sniffer dogs that Luna goes absolutely mental at.  Lots of people are staring at us.   It’s bloody hot.  We’re told to get all of our luggage out of the van whilst, all the time, men with screwdrivers are banging the undercarriage and trying to uproot the fittings inside.  Erm.  Every other car or van or mobile home is allowed to continue on its way to the docks.   I’m told to put the car back onto the x-ray ramp again.  Sonalee is standing in the heat with four dogs with a petrified look upon her face.

We have no idea of what the Hell is going on.  

The second x-ray is followed by seats being taken out, carpets rolled up and yet more men swarming  all over the car.  One of them bangs his head quite badly.  It is now seriously hot and we’re just wondering what to think.   The men are getting annoyed now.  They have an earnest discussion.  The two of us are thinking back to a jokey conversation we had on the road concerning a prison that we passed.

A tall man comes over to the group.  More banging with screwdrivers.  It is at this point that the rising panic in the two of us is fully on the rampage.  I have visions of the car being cut in half, the two of us in jail for god only knows what and the dogs being taken away and shot.   I’m sure Sonalee is thinking the same.  This is Morocco, not Spain or England.  

The tall man comes over and talks in English, “there is something in there” he says, to which I reply, “Something?  Like what?  Something alive?”  He looks as bemused as I feel.   This conversation goes on for a while in the heat.  He finally says, “It is like a bottle of something, we have not seen this on this model of car”.   Sonalee hears this and shouts out, “It’s that stuff they told us about!”  Realisation dawns on me, I rush to the fuel cap, open it up and yell, “It’s this!”  

The tall man, who I am sure had a gun because most  of them do, takes one look at what I’m frantically pointing at and shouts out something in a language I don’t understand.   The men slope off as it is explained to them by yet another man. 

It was the adblue.  It’s a liquid that is injected into the diesel as it leaves the exhaust to make it cleaner.  Most new diesel cars have it.

The tall man tells us we can leave for the docks.  Another man asks if everything is okay so we lie and say yes.  We pack up the car with everything again and attempt to leave without looking like we’d just gone through an hour of mental torture.   We fail abysmally as we start shaking with relief. 

Dear Mother of God!     

Boarding the ferry, waiting for the rest of the impressive looking trucks that have been converted into serious mobile homes and driven by a plethora of French crusties is tedious, not harrowing.  We have to stay on the deck because the four cages that we paid for aren’t there.   We don’t care.  We’re going home!

So, we made it.  In all it was about 14 hours door to door.   The day after was a write-off because all of us had spent far too much time in the sun on the journey.   Plus it was 40 degrees in the village, something we’re still struggling to deal with.  

Ah. The garden might need a bit of work

Over the next few days we rediscovered our friends in the village, caught up with some of the gossip about people like Jose Marie, Marie Jose (no, really), some of the Antonios and some of the Maries.   We also discovered our Spanish has pretty much gone.   Such a shame after we worked quite hard at it before we left.  

Water Break

Luna is back in the campo where she belongs and she is loving it.   She often takes her own sweet-arsed time in coming home from walkies whilst we worry and fret.  After six months of only being inhabited by some stray cats the house was a bit, well, minging.  And the garden!   Wow.  Luckily our friend Ken had ejected the cats before we had arrived otherwise it could have been an interesting encounter for our hounds.

Did I mention that it is insanely hot at the moment? 

We left Bibi behind, which was a sad moment but our neighbour is being really nice and looking out for her.  She awaits our return.  Which might be problematic given that normal ferries are nowhere near being ready to return. 

And we found, somehow, someone to house sit for a week.  An English bloke touring Europe and stuck on one of the Balearic islands for months.  He is coming over so we can visit my god-daughter and family up north near Valencia.   Can’t wait.  We’ll be without the dogs for the first time in over a year.   

And I have finally finished my course!   I await the result, of course but it is done!   And I couldn’t have done it without the help of friends who gave their time to critique my draft work.   I am so grateful to them, so thank you Mark, Andy, Kate and Frank.     I’m still umming and ahhing over the choice of my next course – Will it be a Diploma in cryptozoology or vampirology?    It’s on facebook so it must be legit!

We have come home during a time of pandemic.  Everyone wears a mask, without fail.    Social distancing can be hit and miss, in Bar Chico especially and things are quite quiet everywhere we go. 

  And it is really really hot.     

We read stuff about the effects of the pandemic and how it is affecting people’s livelihoods and we know how fortunate we are right now.   It will be a shit time for many people here and back in the UK.   But we take solace in the normal things here, like half a bottle of gin poured into your Gin and Tonic, everyone saying hello to you in the street and the ham.  Oh, the ham!   And the wine!  Oh, the wine!   And the salted cod!  Oh, the salted cod!    And me banging my head against the low doorframes!  Oh, the pain!

In these very uncertain times, I guess that’s all any of us can do.

Hasta Luego, Inshallah

Ayubowan

Paul

PS Madness seems appropriate.  They were very very good.

PPS Pompey lost in the play offs.  Again.

Dante
Luna looking like she is being naughty

Paul

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