Beloved pointed out that it is exactly 10 years since we bought the house so I thought I'd reflect on the changes we have noticed in that time.
Phones
When we moved here people still made a living having a booth with a number of payphone land lines. Now everybody has mobiles with internet, mostly on contract. The technology jumped households having individual lines and the use of recharge cards for mobiles is rapidly disappearing. Dongles are consigned to the past.
Metalled roads
There are more and more roads getting metalled. This is causing a decrease in the use of donkeys, a growth in car usage and motorbikes/dockers, an increase in bus and taxi routes and generally more traffic leading to traffic lights and one way systems east of Agadir.
Language usage
More and more people speak English. It was introduced to a wider school curriculum after the current King came to the throne in 2000 and the beneficiaries are now filling jobs in shops and government departments making our life easier although it is harder to evade police speeding fines by feigning non-comprehension as some bright young officer will be summoned to translate. Probably more importantly much signage is now tri-lingual reflecting the introduction of Amazigh languages into the school curriculum from kindergarten up after the Arab Spring.
Electricity is more widespread
As coverage expands so does the sale of fridge freezers (particularly just before Eid) and H
huge screen televisions and satellite dishes.
There is less snow on the Atlas
This is obviously a somewhat subjective assessment of a feature that varies from year to year but there is an accepted consensus that over time the snow (and rain) is decreasing.
Another entirely subjective assessment of my own would be that people seem to be slightly better off and there is a trend towards not working on Friday and perhaps closing for longer at lunch. This could be people becoming more devout but I think it is more likely because they can afford some leisure time rather than having to work all day every day.
Phones
When we moved here people still made a living having a booth with a number of payphone land lines. Now everybody has mobiles with internet, mostly on contract. The technology jumped households having individual lines and the use of recharge cards for mobiles is rapidly disappearing. Dongles are consigned to the past.
Metalled roads
There are more and more roads getting metalled. This is causing a decrease in the use of donkeys, a growth in car usage and motorbikes/dockers, an increase in bus and taxi routes and generally more traffic leading to traffic lights and one way systems east of Agadir.
Language usage
More and more people speak English. It was introduced to a wider school curriculum after the current King came to the throne in 2000 and the beneficiaries are now filling jobs in shops and government departments making our life easier although it is harder to evade police speeding fines by feigning non-comprehension as some bright young officer will be summoned to translate. Probably more importantly much signage is now tri-lingual reflecting the introduction of Amazigh languages into the school curriculum from kindergarten up after the Arab Spring.
Electricity is more widespread
As coverage expands so does the sale of fridge freezers (particularly just before Eid) and H
huge screen televisions and satellite dishes.
There is less snow on the Atlas
This is obviously a somewhat subjective assessment of a feature that varies from year to year but there is an accepted consensus that over time the snow (and rain) is decreasing.
Another entirely subjective assessment of my own would be that people seem to be slightly better off and there is a trend towards not working on Friday and perhaps closing for longer at lunch. This could be people becoming more devout but I think it is more likely because they can afford some leisure time rather than having to work all day every day.
