Who knows where the time goes

I have been admonished by friends on both continents who know I am back in Morocco for not resuming this blog. Partly I am in agreement with Sandy Denny and inertia has overtaken me, but partly the tech industry keeps putting obstacles in my way by "improving" the service which means I have to relearn every year how to make an entry. It has just taken 40 mins of Beloved's and my time just to sign in. The only stored details were for the artist who, sadly, we haven't seen for 8 years which I am sure predates the computer I am using. Verification involved texts to a phone I thought we no longer had but Beloved had transferred the number to his new(ish) whizzy one. I still can't manage the new photo app so this entry will have no pictures.

Back to the time.

A week ago the clocks changed in all the EU countries The UK reverted to GMT.  Morocco usually has the same time as Britain. 10 years ago when we first started coming it was the same in winter but differed in summer because they stayed on GMT all year. Then they introduced daylight saving time. This caused consternation among locals, who live on sun time measured by the azan anyway, because it meant that schools and government offices started early. Gradually it became standard to move to GMT+1 when the european clocks change but they would move to GMT for Ramadan so that fasting time was not affected. Consequently it was anticipated that the clocks would change here too last week.For some reason very little notice is given of clock changes the announcement coming a couple of days before the change so everyone was shocked when it was announced that the clocks would not change last week but that Morocco would remain on GMT+1 permanently.

A government minister was interviewed on TV last Thursday and gave what we are told was an unconvincing argument that it would lead to energy savings.

We had thought it was impractical because it would mean children going to school in the dark which seemed likely to lead to accidents. The government had an answer for that which has infuriated both teachers and parents. Schools generally have operated 8-12am and 2-6pm. It isn't light here until after 8. So the government has adjusted school hours to 9-1 and 2-6. This means only one hour for lunch. Moroccan schools have no facilities for children to eat in school and in rural areas some pupils live a considerable distance from their school and need the 2 hours to get home and back to eat. The schools have been on holiday this week and do not return until Wednesday so how great an inconvenience it is in practice cannot yet be assessed but demonstrations against the permanent summer time are expected all over the country.