Journal Entries
Can we be over protective?
Posted Nov 9, 2009
Sometimes you are brought to reality with a jolt.
Last week I was disturbed (but not overtly annoyed) by the sound of 'builders and welders' and - as I had surmised - there was yet another flat having a cage welded around balcony entrance to the front door. People here (in Casablanca) live in prisons - bars on the windows, bars on the doors all treble locked and bolted.
BUT
It now transpires that the work was not just done for the mortal fear of burglars, it was done to protect their five-year-old daughter from climbing on top of the washing machine (which lives on the balcony) and jumping over the wall into the yard below.
The Moroccan 'prison bar' syndrome is a particular bête noir of mine. The bars are never included in the design of new buildings and within weeks of a perfectly acceptable building being occupied, it is ruined by the addition of 'bars' all different for each and every flat.
One can debate the pros and cons of the need for bars on windows on the upper floors of blocks of flats for 'security' reasons. Arguing the toss is a complete waste of time, but you can do it if you have nothing better to do for a few hours.
But there is another reason given (by otherwise perfectly intelligent Moroccans), and that is that the children will jump out of the windows if there are no bars on them. You can point out that in Britain, the States and countries where few windows have bars other than prisons, one does not read daily reports of thousands of children all leaping to their deaths. It will also be a waste of breath and effort - Moroccan children are 'different' and would all jump straight out of the window were there no bars on them.
So - the five-year-old daughter of our neighbour was 'safe' and could play to her heart's content, which she did - protected from all danger. She played and on Saturday she was playing with some of the other children on the landing.
Somehow she fell down the stairwell. She was dead before she hit the ground floor as she smashed her head open on the baluster wall of the floor below.
Now the balustrade to the stairs and the landing is a 1m high block wall, not easy for a five-year-old to just 'fall over', not easy for anyone to just fall over so quite how or why she climbed on top of it and fell off will remain a mystery and I don't think anyone has (or will bother to) ask the other children 'what happened' nor (rather more to the point), 'counsel' them and one suspects that one or more of them will be quite traumatised by the event.
The 'shock' to me is the stark reality that the children are over protected and don't understand danger. I seriously wonder whether the iron cage in which the child had been living actually contributed to her premature death.
Benshasha children get the odd cuts, bruises and broken bones but not one has died (in the ten years that I have known it) of an 'accident'. They all know danger too well from birth. When we go to the beach with (up to) 27 children, we have (so far) not lost one, and the eight/nine-year-olds look after the babies and teach them about danger - the sea, the rocks and the things amongst the rocks that can really hurt you.
I shiver in terror as I vainly try and keep an eye on them all, but still believe that 'over protection' is worse and more dangerous in the long run.
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Latest reply: Nov 9, 2009
Another Tale of the F&CO
Posted Oct 8, 2009
Apart from the fact that my mouth felt like the bottom of a bird cage all yesterday and I woke up with an absolutely STINKING cold today, all was well until I tried to fill in the form for a replacement passport - the old one expired some time ago and I never got round to doing anything about it.
I am not 'good' with forms, especially British embassy type ones but I thought I was doing quite well, with few mishaps other than the fact that one is expected to write the address and telephone numbers of people to be contacted in case of an emergency (you dying) in a font smaller than 6, and got to the penultimate section, This the last section the applicant has to fill in, and I signed it with a satisfied flourish (using Quink Ink with a Parker pen) in the 52.5 x 11.5 mm yellow box ONLY to read after it (where every other of the previous seven sections says continue to section .....
Important - Keep within the border
Failure to comply with this instruction will invalidate the application.
There are seventeen characters to my 'name' and 52.5 x 11.5 is barely enough to write 'John Smith'.
So - all the way back to Rabat for a new form (because the consulate here is not allowed to give them to you for some reason) and then try and find some unsuspecting British passport holder here who has known me for five years!!
There isn't anyone.
Oh well, I didn't really want to go to England in November, even though it would have been an expenses paid trip. Now I have a cast iron excuse not to.
Discuss this Journal entry [9]
Latest reply: Oct 8, 2009
Man on the Moon
Posted Aug 29, 2009
It hasn't yet, but it must fuel conspiracy theorists' case that the piece of 'moon-rock' given to the Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum, turns out to be a piece of coal!
What about the other 100 bits that Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin gave away to heads of state on their victory tour?
It's mighty odd and can't just have been because NaASA thought that Willem Drees was a bit of a dumbo.
Anyone got any theories (or possible explanation)?
Discuss this Journal entry [13]
Latest reply: Aug 29, 2009
Curiouser and couriouser
Posted Aug 28, 2009
On Nov 13, 2008 I wrote a journal entry: "Is there a hidden meaning?
Not for the first time there is a BBC headline that reads:
'Motorcyclist dies after accident'
followed by:
"A male motorcyclist has died following an accident on the Old Holywood Road in Belfast. It happened at about 2040 GMT on Wednesday. No other vehicles were involved."
Today, Aug 29, 2009 I read the BBC headline:
'Motorcyclist killed in accident'
Followed by:
A man has died in an accident on a road on the outskirts of east Belfast, the police have said. The man was riding a motorcycle and it is understood this was the only vehicle involved in the crash.
Can anyone suggest a reason why Northern Irish male motorcyclists killing themselves in accidents in which no other vehicles or people are involved warrants headline status with Auntie?
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Latest reply: Aug 28, 2009
Casa Bars
Posted Jul 11, 2009
A lovely thing happened down at 'The Garage' slate club (one of the less reputable drinking establishments in Casablanca)the other night.
Mohammed-the-Bar dutifully locked up the premises at 10:30 pm, omitting to notice that Ahmed-the-Alkie had drunk himself into a stupor and was fast asleep under a table in the far corner of the bar.
When Mohammed arrived to open up at 8:30 in the morning he was a little surprised to find that the lights were on and even more surprised to find Ahmed completely comatose, lying ON the bar having drunk the contents of nearly all the bottles of spirits.
To give Mohammed-the-Bar his due, he did call an ambulance and Ahmed-the-Alkie was 'stomach-pumped' and lives to argue the toss as to whether he is legally liable for what he drank.
Discuss this Journal entry [9]
Latest reply: Jul 11, 2009
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