J’ai vu quelques oiseaux à Marrakesh. Les oiseaux bulbul se trouvent partout.

Il y a aussi beaucoup de ces oiseaux – un type de moineau.

On a aussi vu des guêpières d’Europe et des cigognes.

Et il y a aussi des oiseaux dans les cages.

Aujourd’hui j’ai vu deux chardonnerets dans deux cages. Je n’aime pas ça.

Ainsi que les oiseaux on a aussi vu des tortues et grenouilles au Jardin Majorelle.

Et les chats.

Les chats.

Les chats.

Les chats.

Et une vielle chatière.

C’est vrai que je suis en chômage.

Et un autre portrait d’une sage femme qui est un peu trop explicite.

On est allé a la mer et on a vu des chameaux sur la route.

Je n’ai pas pris des photos mais voilà deux chameaux qui rentrèront chez nous.

J’ai nagé dans la mer et il y avait des flamants roses dans le coin. Mais je ne les ai pas vus.

On a vu beaucoup de cigognes et guêpiers d’Europe.

Je n’ai pas eu l’occasion de prendre des photos mais voilà des cigognes sur le mur d’un souk.

À Marrakesh il y a beaucoup d’ânes qui travaillent.

Les pauvres.

Apparently the Moroccan police want to speak to me.

When you arrive at Marrakech airport you have to tell them your profession.

I said: Je suis journaliste and they asked me who I worked for.

When I tried to explain that I worked for myself they didn’t seem very happy so I said I had worked for the BBC and Euronews.

Now they have contacted the riad where we are staying asking questions about me. They have even spoken to the owner.

He told me not to worry and that he will keep them at bay.

I’m worried what might happen when our son, who works for the Ministry of Justice, arrives in a few hours!!!

Nous sommes partis en vacances au Maroc. C’est un autre pays francophone.

Il y a le français partout à Marrakesh.

Dans les souks ils vendent les affiches des professions . Journaliste est là mais l’image de la sage femme c’est un peu explicite.

Cette sage femme là, c’est mieux. Mais le comptable me fait penser à quelqu’un.

Il y a aussi Messi qui porte le fez!

This one was in Lourmarin.

As the weather was lovely we went back to one of the loveliest spots we have discovered so far in our stay in the south – Lourmarin.

It is a very picturesque setting to have lunch and a stroll on a Sunday in October.

And the signs for sale in the shops let you know you are en Provence.

When we met a former BBC colleague in Aix recently he told us about a bookshop which had cats roaming around it.

It is called Mon Chat Pitre. So we thought we should visit it.

There were cats everywhere- both real ones and cat-branded products.

There were eight cats in total. They all seemed very happy with their life among the books.

I had to look up the word pitre which means foolish but, it dawned on me afterwards, there is some French word play going on here.

Le chat pitre = le chapitre. The chapter.

Very clever. Chat-peau!

À bientôt.

My elder son is coming for a few days later this month and wants to drive our car.

I rang the insurers to get him added to the policy and the agent was talking to me about la franchise. I worked out that that is the word for the excess.

Then I went to a bookshop and was looking for the last book in the excellent trilogy of crime novels set in Marseille by Jean-Claude Izzo.

The section of bookshops where you find crime fiction is called polar (m) – crime fiction.

Unfortunately, they didn’t have the book I was looking for