Which raises the question of who I am. From the first night in the Jamaa el fna, when someone called me “Moustache” in the French mode, that has been my main name. But I’ve also been called Ali Baba more than once, and I’ve just been told that I look like a Colombian soccer player of years past, who...

There’s more ➢

I’m interupting the delayed-gratification travelblog briefly to announce a fine sighting: a new collective science blog. What I really like is how it came about, which I learned from Seth Roberts. Executive summary: Seed Magazine rejected a bunch of applicants who wished to join the pantheon at...

There’s more ➢

Last night, after the Berber drumming, we had magic tricks and puzzles. I managed to solve one (and almost solved another) so that this morning at breakfast a young father pointed me out to his children in awed tones as the man who had divined the solution.

Which was nice.

Last night we went for a stroll in search of supper, having said we might come back in half an hour or so. That was a mistake, because this morning Farid the manager said that he had waited for us, and that the custodian had told him that we hadn’t returned until 11.30. Supper was not a mistake. The...

There’s more ➢

The alone-in-a-crowd bit doesn’t work for The Squeeze if there are local children around. They are too curious and she is too generous and the end result is expensive water colours being daubed on expensive paper to the amusement of all concerned. Yesterday it was Mohamed and his pal Moustafa at the...

There’s more ➢