The Ball 2010

Arriving in Fez… lost. Looking for the road to Azrou. Wrong turn here, wrong turn there.

Two young lads on a moped flagging us down.
“Follow us”, they said.
We did.

So here we are driving across town through Fez rush hour, in the dark, following two lads on the slowest moped in town. Thankfully slow, as it just happened to have no lights on. But they got us to our destination: –’s.

We were promptly invited into –’s parents house where Christian and Andrew kicked off into an argument, followed quickly with a hug to make-up.
“Sorry,” we apologised for our public scrap.
“No problem at all,” came the answer. We were assured that this was the way things happened here too.

In any case we got a real insight into Moroccan culture; fantastic mint tea, home-made dinner eaten with hands for cutlery. And after dinner, –’s father produced the quote of the night:
“The world is round. The Ball is round.”
Despite language problems we were able to make each other understood through the common language of football.

In case you’re wondering why there are no photos illustrating the story, it turns out that the Fez police take a very dim view of Moroccans associating with visitors. We were told that locals have to register their friendships with the police so as not to be mistaken for unofficial tour guides. Which means we have to protect the anonymity of the people in this story. So, instead, here’s a picture of a camel which we dedicate to all bureaucracy when it fails to distinguish between the sensible and the ridiculous:

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