Bird of Paradise Fledges

Yesterday was Blue Monday, the day of the year when people are most unhappy. Xmas is over and the finances are feeling the repercussions, it's cold, summer seems a long way away, and you have to go back to the routine of work. So it was a very fitting day to leave all that behind and fly out to the sun.
We flew Manchester - Marrakesh and it is one of the idiocies of current transport pricing that the taxis at each end cost us twice the cost of the flights.
It was raining in Marrakesh. That stopped as we came out of the Atlas but there was a fierce wind and rubbish blowing about in circles. This was about midnight but by the time we were out somewhat late this morning not only was it a fine sunny day with no trace of wind but the streets had been cleaned up and one public spirited guy was burning the plastic bags which had built up in the gutter.
The weather has been exceptionally warm this year. I was going to say good because you may remember that last winter I was reporting rain and roads washed out and bridges washed away but we are never satisfied and the worry this year is that there has  been no rain at all whilst we were in Britain and this is going to cause major problems for  the water supply and that already the pressure is running low at peak times as though it were summer.
I was heartened that the cacti I had planted just before leaving seemed to be thriving as were the patio plants but the really pleasing thing was that the Bird of Paradise plant I have had for 2 years has at last flowered; at least one of them has , the other is still sulking. The downside is that last nights gales have dumped much of the Sahara on my terrace, patio and pool.

Part of the Sahara blown into the pool.