Well, well, well. Wonders will never cease. We actually made it Morocco.
After six days of volcano stoppage – predictably now reported as totally unnecessary (but then what would you expect from putting someone in charge who had previously run one of our super efficient people’s railways ?) – a bit of extreme commercial pressure – (ie Willie Walsh about to throw his toys out of the pram and blame the dear Gordon just before an election), and lo, the ash is suddenly not as dangerous as predicted, and Heathrow can open again.
In fact, (and I hate to say anything good about terminal four) the predicted chaos on the first day of opening never happened, and with only an hour or so’s delay, we soared heavenwards with the wonderful Royal Air Maroc.
Though sadly (because of the above-mentioned Willie Walsh) there is no longer any BA presence in north or west Africa, Royal Air Maroc can bring its unique brand of management, uncontested, to our flying. You now have to change in Casablanca if you want to fly to Marrakech. So we were still able to be three hours late, before crawling into bed in the Marrakech Ibis hotel at three o’clock in the morning. Oh joy.
But it was Joy to see young Tommy again at the SPANA clinic in the morning. He is now six months old, and becoming a complete delinquent. He had to have a wee hernia operation a couple of weeks ago, but apart from that, there is little sign of his somewhat dramatic entry into this world. In fact he is a complete menace – bursting with energy and mischief, escaping from his paddock at every opportunity and careering around the grounds, taunting the other residents and generally making a nuisance of himself. I think the French call it ‘joie de vivre’.
But if he escapes once more and eats my precious ‘Chelsea Garden’ – I’ll give him a bit of good old fashioned ‘pour encourager les autres’ and get one of the local mules to give him a good talking to. Got to have him well disciplined and back on the straight and narrow before the British Ambassador comes to open the place in June.
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