Wednesday 1 January 2014

bright and shiny


Happy New Year!

May 2014 bring good things :
health, happiness and prosperity - if that is what you want
or thinness and wisdom if you would prefer them.
This is the year I am going to conquer my fear of ironing.
Oh yes!

We have just got back from five days in Marrakech
and there is so much to tell you about
that I am not sure where to start.


It is a place of overwhelming industry and hustle.
Everywhere you look there is movement,
a swirling energy of bicycles, donkey carts, motor bikes,
horse drawn caleches, large taxis, small taxis,
barrows of extraordinary ingenuity.
You can stand on the outside, looking nervous,
or you can plunge in with your fingers crossed.

The riad that we stayed in was being renovated.
Work started at 8am and went on until 11pm.
It was all around us: plastering, painting,
scaffolding, soldering, gilding, electrical wires.
It could have been an inconvenience of noise and dust
but it felt like a privilege to watch the craftsmen
absorbed in their trades, transforming the space,
creating beauty.


I will tell you all about it
but now I must dash...
I have to find my keys
which I put in a safe place
just before we left.

Aaaargh.

12 comments:

  1. Oh that looks amazing! The colours - the gold! Looking forward to the next instalment :)

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  2. Happy New Year Alice - what a sensible twixtmas time to take a trip!

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  3. Looking forward to reading all about your trip. Happy New Year to you too Alice.

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  4. Looks fabulous! Happy New Year!

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  5. Happy new year, Alice! I have just this minute come from the ironing board and an activity I find productive in more ways than one!

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  6. Have you looked in the freezer?

    Love Marrakech!

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  7. perhaps they are at the bottom of the ironing pile...... happy new year Alice x

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  8. Hope you found the keys!! Sounds as though you had a lovely if very busy all around you time away. Happy New Year. xx

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  9. Happy new year Alice, am looking forward to hearing about your trip x

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  10. Can't wait. For you to find the keys. And for pictures, of course. Happy New Year, may it bring you ironing superpower!

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