Day 4: Lazy Day

Today is a lazy day. I'm all cleaned out! Time for beer, crisps and relaxation with a good book...probably inside because outside it's 35 degrees and I'm sooooo hot at the moment. All good! Pure unadulterated contentment...Purrrrrr....

As I'm supping my Flag Speciale, I spy sheep in the next field being pestered by an amorous ram without horns (!) I'm certainly seeing life here I don't see in the suburbs of Birmingham.

An  Egret lands on a sheep's back

Egrets amongst the sheep

Amongst the sheep are several Cattle Egrets...they swoop down and land on the sheep's back, then fly onto the grass and walk amongst them ...pretty bizarre behaviour for a bird it would seem, but I'm sure you Twitchers out there will be able to explain it.

The natural life is wonderful around here. So far today we've witnessed a Bunting fly into our store cupboard and then perch on our fridge freezer, chirruping sweetly, a huge 3 inch grasshopper jumping from post to post trying to access the house, and tiny birds (don't know what they are) presumably stalking insects hiding in our car wing mirrors looking for a tasty meal. I'm enjoying slowing down the pace of life and finally having time to notice such wonders of nature.

Bunting perched on the fridge

The largest grasshopper ever?

We've just managed to get a proxy server so we can catch up on a few British TV programmes on our laptops. Tonight it's Corrie with pizza. Not really missing TV but there's a familiarity to the process of becoming engrossed in a programme where everyone speaks English - well, in this case, some form of it anyway ;-)

Hurrah for Corrie!

A little insight into Moroccan culture - at the moment we are trying to strike the balance between friendliness/privacy with our 'guardien', Saïd. He is used to looking after the house and its contents on his own and is very proud of his role and naturally wants to continue to take this responsibility, whereas now we are renting the property we, like most British people, want a degree of privacy. This is an alien concept to most Moroccans as they tend to live in small houses located very close together and are in and out of each other's lives constantly. I'm sure we will work it all out between us as we get on well...but thought I'd mention it as I find it interesting to note the differences between cultures.