I was reading my book in bed late last night when a message came through on the family chat from Ally; he was letting us know that there has been an earthquake in Marrakesh (where he and Cat are on holiday.) He wanted us to know before we saw it on the news so that we wouldn’t worry too much, which was very thoughtful. He and Cat are fine but their hotel has large cracks on its walls, so they were going to sleep under the stars on a double sun lounger. They sheltered in a doorway when they felt the earthquake, which was 7.2 magnitude, then went outside with the other hotel guests. When I looked on the news websites it said that there were no casualties, however when I checked again in the morning there were sadly 600 casualties, which rose during the day to more than 2000 deaths. How terrible.
Ally and Cat FaceTimed me in the morning which was reassuring; their hotel is just outside Marrakesh and is still operating, so they are going to stay put and follow instructions from their airline; they are due to fly home on Monday.
Meanwhile at Casa Anderson today was meant to be the peak of the heatwave, and it was very hot. Hot and muggy; the washing was hung out for hours but still felt a little bit damp when I brought it in. Even the interior of the house, with its thick sandstone walls, has heated up significantly. The cats were mostly just lounging around the back room and the garden, as was I. But there was a unique occurrence just after lunch, when I was spending some time in my hammock. Flora approached me and spoke loudly to me, and I patted my knee to encourage her to jump up - which she never does, because she hates the unstable feeling of the hammock moving. But this time she did! And after a bit of shifting about she settled down on my legs, relaxed but not sleeping as she listened to the sounds of birds and various rustling and creaking noises in the trees. At one point we both watched in fascination as a squirrel descended from one of the trees and scurrying up another. The only problem was that Flora’s weight on my knee joints eventually made them feel as if they were bent backwards; I didn’t move because it was so nice to have here there, but when she eventually jumped down to the ground I couldn’t bend my knees at all for a painful few minutes!
After dinner I heard the pattering noise of rain on the window which quickly turned into a heavy but brief downpour. I was surprised because rain was not forecast until tomorrow afternoon. I heard the cat flap clicking and in came Flora, with her fur absolutely soaked! She was miaowing very loudly, I think that she had been very much caught by surprise! I gave her a rub down, for which she was not at all grateful. I went outside later to check on the weather and the darkening sky was clear, but it did feel a little fresher, so I’m hoping for a cooler night’s sleep.
Ally and Cat FaceTimed me in the morning which was reassuring; their hotel is just outside Marrakesh and is still operating, so they are going to stay put and follow instructions from their airline; they are due to fly home on Monday.
Meanwhile at Casa Anderson today was meant to be the peak of the heatwave, and it was very hot. Hot and muggy; the washing was hung out for hours but still felt a little bit damp when I brought it in. Even the interior of the house, with its thick sandstone walls, has heated up significantly. The cats were mostly just lounging around the back room and the garden, as was I. But there was a unique occurrence just after lunch, when I was spending some time in my hammock. Flora approached me and spoke loudly to me, and I patted my knee to encourage her to jump up - which she never does, because she hates the unstable feeling of the hammock moving. But this time she did! And after a bit of shifting about she settled down on my legs, relaxed but not sleeping as she listened to the sounds of birds and various rustling and creaking noises in the trees. At one point we both watched in fascination as a squirrel descended from one of the trees and scurrying up another. The only problem was that Flora’s weight on my knee joints eventually made them feel as if they were bent backwards; I didn’t move because it was so nice to have here there, but when she eventually jumped down to the ground I couldn’t bend my knees at all for a painful few minutes!
After dinner I heard the pattering noise of rain on the window which quickly turned into a heavy but brief downpour. I was surprised because rain was not forecast until tomorrow afternoon. I heard the cat flap clicking and in came Flora, with her fur absolutely soaked! She was miaowing very loudly, I think that she had been very much caught by surprise! I gave her a rub down, for which she was not at all grateful. I went outside later to check on the weather and the darkening sky was clear, but it did feel a little fresher, so I’m hoping for a cooler night’s sleep.
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