Well I have to say that life here is always full of contrasts and I think that the main one here has been the weather. We seem to have gone from warm summer to freezing winter overnight! I had a lovely sunny walk up onto a ridge which I had not previously explored with another French volunteer which was a lot of fun. It was also quite an eye opener to look down on Richard Branson's luxury Kasbah, (which is where Virginie works for the Eve Branson foundation) The gardens went on for ever and were a luxuriant green, full of flowers and birdsong with a huge swimming pool and no fewer than two grass tennis courts. It felt a world away from Dar Asni 3 where I am living and Virginie said that I had better not even use the loo - I guess I was looking pretty scruffy in walking kit…!

On Sunday after a lovely breakfast with Latifa (the other housemother) Khadija and Sinead we went off in Latifa's cousin's car to visit the Jardin de Safran - the Saffron Garden near Marrakech. They are just coming to the end of the annual saffron harvest and there were teams of ladies painstakingly plucking the bright orange stamens from the saffron crocuses - no wonder saffron is SO expensive! There was also a lovely collection of herbs and all kinds of fruit trees. There was also the possibility of plunging your feet in water full of different herbs but we reckoned it was far too cold! I am a little worried as the car was registering 10 degrees but to me it could have been zero. I am clearly going to have to toughen up next week! At least we had some saffron tea to warm up.

We then drove up into the mountains up the very beautiful Ourika gorge. It is lined with restaurant gardens and tourist shops and felt very different from the Imlil valley. I even spotted table and chairs in the river as this is where Marrakshis go in the summer to escape the heat. However, we were on a completely different mission to escape the cold but there didn't seem to be a single restaurant that had an 'inside'! We ended up in one that was at least covered and found some sofas to sit on which gave a semblance of warmth. Then we chose our meat from the butcher next door who cut it off the huge carcasses of cow and grilled it over the charcoal (vegetarian friends may wish to stop reading now!) Along with salad, warm bread and chips it was totally delicious! Sinead and I then walked up to some lovely waterfalls, though the path was lined with touristy stalls, cafes and orange juice sellers.

We arrived back in Asni after dark, and in case any of you are getting too envious of what I am up to I have to say that 'rocking and rolling evenings' are not part of my life here. Kahdija and I had spent the weekend on our own here and she clearly and understandably likes her 'space' in the evening so disappeared off to her bedroom by 7.30. There aren't any comfy sofas or cosy rooms so I ended up getting something to eat, filling up my hot water bottle, putting on my pyjamas and getting into bed by 8.15 as that was the warmest place! At least I had borrowed Amy's disc drive so I was able to watch first the Shawshank Redemption on Saturday (for the third time but what a great film) and then The Fugitive on Sunday, which I hadn't seen but really enjoyed. I don't think that I have EVER gone to bed this early and at this rate sitting by the fire with David and a glass of wine watching The Bakeoff at Stoneyknowe is going to be really hitting the high life!

This morning it is sunny again but still really cold out of the sun or in the house as there is no heating at all, but at least the electricity seems to have been sorted and there is always hot water for the moment at least…!