Of course there’s never « just plain sailing » and as such one should always be ready to expect the unexpected….

Only this wasn’t so unexpected….

This means STOP!

On leaving for the Uk just before the end of Ramadan, I had to complete several forms and make several payments to the architects to ensure that we got both the plans and the Roxa, to start building. This was well timed, we had a few weeks before we might start building, despite the advet of the Eid holiday and as such I elt sure that we’d be ready to go, wit building permission in hand, when I got back.

But….oh yes there’s always one, I had a funny feeling about the architects, one that said, watch this space…..and thus when I did get back from UK, and we did begi to build, I discovered that we still didn’t have the Roxa, as the architects were missing a form…arghhhhhh

Off to the Provinces..

And then came the first visit from the Mkadam, firstly from Xaouen, then from Bab Taza, both looking to close us down, but both agreeing, with some “persuasion” to let us continue working…..but the clock was clearly ticking!

I finally received all the appropriate documents from the architect and went to Bab Taza to see if these could assuage the rancor there….only to meet the Caid and be told that I was being taken to court for building without permission…which in Loubar is rather like busting someone for smoking a joint!

Taking a different view..on to the land we go

Anyway, I was of course told to come back in a week – ten days, but to stop building, which I did. But then on returning, I was informed that the elections had retarded everything and thus that I would do better to take the documents to Xaouen where they might be processed…..which I did…

Terracing take time..when done by hand!

 

 

I’m writing this from Ras El Maa, a beautiful part of Xaouen, surrounded by water, green and cool and have just returned from the baladiers office, who have the “dossier”, but are limited in moving forward, due to the election of a new Ras, head of miniciple government ….and in the mean time…now approx a month, building on the land has stopped and winter draws closer.

The only up side, is that we’ve been working on the land, building walls and leveling ground, all of which is needed, but not quite the priority…

Fingers crossed…I’m off to see the head of urban planning!

On the way to Tetouan …it’s all smoke and mirrors

…and here’s the update…nothing can be processed until I’ve changed the use of the land from agricultural to tourism, which means trips to the “Centre Regional d’Investissement” in Tetouan, where I’ve now also been who need all sorts of forms, info on cd rom and, and , and….

Which means we are almost certainly not going to be able to build any further on the house. If I’m honest, this is far from the disaster that I thought it might feel like.

In truth I’m not ready to complete the design of the interior of the house and far too much remains

undecided even on the exterior. This at least gives me the chance to think through a few ideas and to focus upon the land and growing the gardens.

 All in all, things are not that bad, despite the set backs.

And funnily enough, I feel really good about that….wierd…so let’s think, land management, agriculture and all things eco/sustainability…

More of those ideas in the next post!