Friday Bloody Black Friday.

I hate the idea of things that come from the US of A. Halloween and trick or treating has swept over here. The Yanks had the joys of Thanksgiving. That's their holiday celebration that hasn't moved over here.

I do object to Black Friday. It's the American concept that Thanksgiving is over so we need to start planning and ordering gifts for Christmas.

Do we? Do we really?

5 years ago no one had heard of Black Friday.

Last year I heard of the Black Friday weekend.

This year I have already seen " our Black Friday weekend that must end on Wednesday"

Lidl have just advertised that their Black Friday will be not Thursday.

Tesco has advertised their "Black Friday fortnight " deal.

 

....correct me if I'm wrong....but isn't Friday...well one day? forgetting the fact that cyber Monday, it's slightly dodgy cousin, also gets a mention in passing but isn't quite as popular.

 

Economists have already said that things that are bought on Black Friday have been available at cheaper prices before AND after the date so what is the point?

Are we all such lemmings that we need to be told when to buy gifts?

.....oh yes we do. How many times have we heard that their might be a power cut......so everyone goes all zombie apocalypse and empties the shelves in Tescos......" There's going to be a power cut.....we had better buy a dozen tins of kidney beans and some fois gras otherwise we may never survive"

Whilst I don't recommend the " what's left at the petrol station on Christmas Eve" kind of last minute shopping......people.....you do have free will...especially if the adverts tell you that you do.

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Ricks cafe Casablanca - Tipsy Greenock woman refused service.

We had decided that Monday was Casablanca day. A 1 hour trip on a train and goodness only knows what at the end of it.

The day started with a chorus of alarms in the dark as we wanted to be up and on the 8:30 train. Breakfast at 7am sadly did not follow as there were no Riad staff around so we went back to the nice cafe where we had an omelette yesterday...and repeated our order.

 

The nice man who Sheena had spoken to in the train station phone stall yesterday who had vowed that his store was open at 7:30 had been sadly mistaken in his attempt at telling the time and selling a SIM card to my one and only, now that she had her passport with her. ( don't know how spies get away with it in movies....sorry Mr Bourne but we need to see your passport before we issue you a Burner phone)

Upstairs on the train with a bit of shared Harlan Cobens newest novel to listen to was nice.

Casablanca station is nice and modern as the city is the business capital of Morocco and its affluence shows.

Sun was hot but not too hot with a few clouds in the sky

A nice taxi driver offered to show us everything that Casablanca had to offer but we declined and instead got a ride up to the Hassan 2 Mosque, the only Mosque in the world to let in non Muslims. I do love the concept of Mohammed 5 and Hassan 2. I can almost hear the voice of the late James Alexander Gordon reading the footy results.

It was quite intimidating to look at as we approached.

U

Pictures do not do the place justice.

Although the beauty of my wife neatly matches it.

Morrocan marble and granite, with a hit of Murano glass in the chandeliers, the building was a masterpiece of arches, dark and light.

Then we went downstairs.

A pool that has alledgedly never been used.

We sat and had a coffee outside waiting to gather our thoughts as to how to walk to the medina as I observed the danger of Moroccos roads as an old bloke was knocked off his motorbike in front of the cafe

But we walked on as Sheena bought loads of fine threads from a shop in the medina as we trudged through the scales and fish heads in the road as we traveled in land.

Then we found Ricks Cafe. Yes, I know, Hollywood fiction becomes Casablanca reality.

We weren't actually hungry at this point so we found a couple of stools at the bar and ordered a vodka martini and a mohito for the lady.

No music on a Monday...apparently it was Sam's day off.

So we slipped quite gently into another, very nice round of cocktails.

Sheena asked for a third round but had to have it pointed out that All the other patrons had left as the staff geared up for dinner .

We decided to head back to Rabat and so returned to the train station.

Another hour in the company of Harlan Coben passed happily.

We walked back up Mo.V. To see if we could find something in a zebra print for a present.

We went out to the Riad Kalaa, our hotels sister hotel for dinner. Luckily tonight's salad did not have the surprise "I'm a celebrity " chicken factor. Last nights had a texture that I feel uncomfortable repeating and thinking about still give me a cold sweats.

Worse still was the fact that Sheena tried it, thought it tasted weird....yet still put the plate next to mine and said nothing.

I will get her back for this, oh yes, will get her back.

We went with the safety of a fine skewered kebab and a bottle of Casablanca beer.

Ah well, you must remember this, a kiss is just a kiss and a day trip to Casablanca was a very nice experience.

 

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My life in Rabat - day 1( dodgy dirham dealing Dave)

Started with a lay in ...a dog free lay in on the comfy bed.

Breakfast in the hotel was nice. Some lovely home cooked bread and pancakes followed by coffee and orange juice....then off to see the city.

Quiet.

Just as I like it. The boss wandered south through the medina....struggling to find a shop of any name.

Then we smelt it. The street selling wares of the sea......and other fine foods. Turn left onto Mohammed V......what happened to the first four?

We started to find retail experiences....but sadly no beaureau de chance to convert our fine fine Brexit leaving pounds. Sheena spoke to many people asking where she could find money so that she could buy their fine wares and was greeted by shakes of the head. One stall holder couldn't even look at her as she mentioned Sterling)

Finally, a man pointed up ahead and said man near the bank. Confused....we strode purposefully ahead.

Dodgy dirham dealing Dave sought us out like bees to honey.

There we were and he was peeling wads of dirham out of his pocket with his friendly minder at hand. £100....should be about 1150 dirham...Dave peeled off 1100 and counted them out. We thought a deal was about to be done. He counted them out again...and beautifully paled one into his other hand...what! A change in exchange rate....we questioned the deal ....this time he beautifully palmed 200 into his other hand...down to 900 in less than a minute. Sadly for Dave and his minder, the deal folded....much like his wad of notes.

We walked on. What else could possibly happen?

This place looks quite nice. Must be important...man police and soldiers out front......then we heard it. The bullhorn.....at the front of a mass of protesters heading for the parliament building where we were standing in front of...we headed for a side street....where serendipitously....we found the only open currency exchange shop in Rabat. Result. Never fear Cinderella, you shall have some lunch. We found somewhere nice to sit and ordered Diet Coke. 20 minutes later, the waitress said she didn't have any...by that stage the desire for orange juice and a cheese omelette kicked in.

We moved on. Past the parliament building where the dregs of any protest were still thrashing about. We found the train station and booked tickets to Casablanca on Monday and the wield Little blue town in the north on Wednesday. This will involve a train journey and a bus journey to get there....and back.

Went on and found nice church.

Headed east towards tomb of Mohammed V.

 

Stopped for a mint tea ( no sugar) looking towards Sale. Bit like Buda and Pest with a different river. Had asked for cola light....again no cola light.

Made the mistake of finding a nice Souk with non hassling locals so felt OK. Wife bought a light cover for downstairs bathroom.

Bought a pair of slippers.

Many nice side streets

Headed back to the Riad, thought we try to buy some cola lite. Turned away from many small corner shops. Thought we had found some in a fridge in a shop......the man we think said that he couldn't sell any to us???

Wife went for a lay down, I went back out for a walk.

Didn't find a Hammam for us to go to.

Didn't find a restaurant near the hotel that was open.

Found the beach. Having walked through loads of cemeteries, crossed a busy road, walked through a boulevard of thousands of mopeds and bikes to get to Rabat plage....autocorrect changed it to plague....which might be more applicable. A dirty rock strewn place that my tootsies won't be treading in.

I did however, find a carrefour and thus 4 bottles of cola light for my princess.

Came back to find her watching bake off.

Went to roof.

Quite nice and peaceful up here

Time for another Gn'T before we head out.

Up early tomorrow.

Casablanca beckons.

Traveling by train...... First class of course.

 

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Rabat here we come

Enjoying a well earned rest with H.I.O. ( her inside ofthedoors) in Rabat. Nice to get on a flight with the great unwashed again.

From "don't touch me" Dave who decided to get up during the flight safety instructions to do something and ignoring the nice flight attendant who tapped him on the shoulder only to get a torrent of abuse.

Firstly we met a nice Asian man who had his family spread all over the plane. ......who tried to explain to my wife that she had the wrong seat.

I've never tried to do that so he had little chance.

I also love the concept of cabin luggage...which really should be a nice big handbag or computer can but has morphed into..."let's all bring a ruddy small to medium sized suitcase"

Depending on when you get on...depends on how close the afore mentioned bag is to your seat.

And why, dear lord do people think that the seatbelt sign doesn't actually apply to them as the plane is still raining height?

That, and why do we all stand up at Olympic qualifying speeds just so we can all get our "bags" down and stand hunched in an awkward position as we wait for 147 like minded people to attempt the same thing on the way out.

 

But it's alright.

After a 15 minute taxi ride, I'm lying on top of a memory foam mattresses bed waiting for sleep.

Can't wait for a good walkabout tomorrow.

Bobby.

 

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Why do we have to dumb language down for people with a short....

.....attention span?

Sorry!

It could be you!

The inability to read a whole sentence do we need to shorten things so that we keep people interested?

We merge words so that we can work with the Twitter limited symbol generation.

My daughter said that she wanted time to "chillax" this summer.

Even as I type, my autocorrect tells me that to "chillax" is only SO wrong.

To chill and ro relax! Is it just me or are they not actually the same thing?

Can I chill when I am working flat out?

Can I relax when I am not chilling....what is the opposite of chilling...please don't make up another merged word to describe it.....

The resulting chillax sounds like the murder weapon in a Scandinavian murder novel.

Which brings me sadly to Brexit.

Why for Britain to make a decision to leave the EEC do we have to abbreviate words?

Is it because the leave campaign is targeting young voters who gave no idea about financial security and history and base their opinions on what the Kardashians think.......apparently Kim wants to stay in but Khloe wants to leave, Caitlin Jenner can't decide.........

For those who want to remain....I think I did hear someone mention the Bremain campaign......but it was probably someone from the leave campaign looking for balance or a journalist who should have their credentials removed and not returned till they complete a proper novel.

I worry for the for the beauty that is the English language and wait to hear that words like jurisprudence becomes jupru........the end is night people.

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ISIS F.C, violence and Euro 2016

When it comes to terrorism, the best thing about it is the things that we, the public never get to hear about. The work of the police and other agencies stops loads of possible terrorist attacks everyday but they never make the news. People do work that we never know about so that we can go about our lives with a little less fear.

ISIS or IS as we now seem to call them....(.are they trying to be fashionable and hip with the kids by shortening their names....does it make them more popular on Twitter ...soz ...lol IS ...) like making statements so staging a football event for 24 countries to travel to France and move about on a daily basis for a month in a country where they managed to commit the Paris atrocities must be a policing nightmare, a fact that would take up all of Europes policing to keep the fans safe.....

......"what was that you say....some fans don't want to be safe?"

Riots in the street, pubs set on fire, fighting in sections of the ground, people fighting people from other countries...or sometimes their own country, flares thrown onto the pitch....that one gets me....... I can't see the point in that....how do you manage to smuggle those in?

 

So rather than worry about where the next idiotic act of organised terrorism comes from, the police and authorities are spending their resources stopping the people they are trying to protect from beating merry hell out of eachother.

What does this prove?

Is football violence a European problem....the World Cups in South Africa and Brazil weren't like this?

Does having 24 teams invited to one country bring a lot of old nationalistic hatred and old rivalries that the 8 country competition never did?

Is the qualification for the knockout stages going to be based on fan arrests rather than points and goal difference...looking forward to seeing the addition to league tables next season.

Does Interpol have their own version of the Panini sticker book where they swop pictures, I'll swop you 5 Muslim extremists for thirty Russian ultras....

I don't envy the authorities in France and across Europe their jobs this month.

Remember we don't talk about air safety everyday......only when mechanical or electrical failure causes a plane crash that could have been picked up by a mechanic or electrician who missed some small detail.

Let's have a football tournament where we are NOT talking about terrorism ....or events around the pitch.... In case you have been arrested, hospitalised, extradited from France or are currently hidden away planning other disruptions....there is actually some impressive football going on....but you were probably never interested in the first place.

 

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Country to Country

What does a middle aged bloke do to keep himself happy? Why turn up at the O2 Arena for three days of country music, that's what.

I decided to drive in and park the car...meet the wife who was in London anyway working. Thomas Rhett, Dwight Yoakam and Miranda Lambert opened Friday night plus Chalie Esten from Nashville doing a couple of songs on the mini stage.

Little bBig Town were sensational.

Thomas Rhett opened up proceedings.

I went last year got the two days of concerts and have been looking forward so much to this year. So much so that I bought a second ticket so that I could bring m girls on different nights?

Carrie Underwood played all her hits.

Saturday night was me and the Bear......Maddie and Tae, Sam Hunt, Little Big Town and Carrie Underwood kept us entertained. I was feeling so good, I even bought a pair of cowboy boots....... Need to get some extra cushioning ask my poor tootsies are straight into very hard leather.

s

Sunday was Gabi's turn, we enter in early to make a bit of a day of it. Saw some good new acts on the smaller free stages and Old Dominion on the Radio 2 stage...like them, heard a lot of their stuff.

Chris Stapleton, Casey Musgraves and Eric Church closed the weekend to remember.

Ilona, Bulgarias finest country star....

Gabi found the beer tent part of the day....

Old Dominion who gave us a lesson in American English. ....you don't get Band aids over here....

 

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POLICE AWARE

....don't worry...no plans to be arrested....yet....more concerned with the ability of the ladies that I live with to understand that the blue lights on the front f the dishwasher ...when accompanied by an almost eerie silence do not mean " do nothing, do not approach this device, leave it to the professionals luv, the Sweeney will deal with it....once we've 'ad our dinner...."

Whilst I respect the attempt to stack dishes "tower of Hanoi" style so that they are remarkable vertical and taking up the minimum amount of mums cherished worktop space, the blue lights do in fact mean that

A) the washing cycle of the previous set of dishes that had also Been stacked neatly in a similar manner and that had been entered into the dark cavern which the ladies seem to fear in a Mordor like manner by me.....again.....has now ended and

B) the new tower of joy can now be entered into the darkness for a more than soul cleansing experience.

....ladies...whilst I may apologise for the occasional pair of briefs that float across the room and miss the laundry basket by slipping behind it....please feel free to ask how you can be of service with the dishwasher.

 

I hate to think that, like Master Frodo Baggins, formerly of the Shire, that I alone, have the one ring to rule them all and so am the only one who knows how to opperte a kitchen appliance.

Dear Marge, any clues how I can move this forward?

 

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What a load of rubbish?

Waste.

Paper, bottles, tissues, laddered tights, wax covered cotton buds and so the list goes on. the employ Coke can, the 3/4 full bottle of water that you meant to go back and finish but you can't remember how long ago I u bought it...need I go on.

They all end up in the waste paper keys in our house.

The kitchen has it's own black bag in a big bin look and is constantly filled, emptied and refilled in the end.ess cycle of rubbish and recycling.

So dear Lord, can anyone explain why, when the bin is full, not just full but squashed down tight and then reloaded with unwanted flotsam and jetsam, that the wimmen folk in my house believe that the only thing to do is to keep piling stuff ON TOP of what is already there?

"I could empty that full and overflowing bin that is causing disaster and despair in every upstairs room on the house but I choose to wait for the mysterious work of the lesser spotted bin fairy to empty it." say they who create rubbish.

I have to come round and empty these bins which are in some cases set out like an environmentally NON friendly game of Jenga. So that the recycling circle of life can go on again.

....and whilst I am at it....don't get me on to the used cotton buds that always end up "near to " the upstairs bathroom bin but never actually in it.

Nobody is ever seen missing the bin with the waxed up cotton builds.

 

....but again I can't remember the wedding vows going......Bobby, do you promise to love, cherish, honour and pick cotton buds up from that annoying little bit to the side of the bin but behind the plinths in the bathroom.

Dear fellow waste paper bin empties around the world....I feel your pain.

 

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Storm Jonas

Linked to "can we have a snow day, we are all excited by the 30-40 inches of snow currently landing on the eastern seaboard of the USA. We don't want to appear envious but can you just keep some of the snow and head over the Atlantic. The "storm of a generation" is what storm Jonas is being referred to. Nowadays we seem to have one of those a couple of times a year.

,it would be nice....just to have one day....well a couple of days....all right then, a week at home sitting by the fire worrying if we are going to run out of food, watching the dog go mental in the snow for a couple of minutes.

But no.

Living in the flat south of Englandshire, we don't seem to get the fun (or chaos) that other parts of the U.K. have.

But take a minute just to think of someone else.

As America is covered in snow, flights are cancelled and lives are lost, and all I can think of at this time is......

 

 

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