It's very strange to have had something which I've done every year for the last 28 years turn into "just another Tuesday." Nothing here - save for the odd shop selling inflatable Santa Clauses - would give away there was anything special about today. The Mosques started at the given hour so that gave ideal opportunites to telephone people back home and tell them all about it. Probably equally as mind-mangling to have someone wish you a Happy Christmas with the sound of Muezzin in the background. Perhaps some had indulged in some Christmas excesses because at least two of them burped with their microphones on.

We had hoped the lack of power in the street would afford us a little peace and quiet in the afternoon, but they've probably got their own generators or something as they went on despite the black out.

The day was spent figuring out how much the staff are making from us each day for the little breakfasts and things they have to pay for. One was put out when we explained we'd already paid for breakfast in the morning. The sketch centering around the purchase of two bottles of wine for the evening caused Brian some agitation. We ended up paying 45dh per bottle of local plonk - plus 10dh for the motorcycle to bring it to us. All this was calculated on the fly when we asked how much it all came to.

Mad.

We hunted out our own Christmas dinner. We bought two roast chickens (120dh) then added some Moroccan vegetables - grilled aubergines, spinach, little spicey potato thingies - for about 60dh. 20dh for the yoghurts to go on the Christmas pudding (we couldn't find cream) and then 5dh for the bread. That's about £27 in total so we've probably over-spent somewhere. But hey - it's Christmas!

The chicken buying was odd. It turned out - coincidentally, of course - that the cousin of the Chicken-selling shop proprietor happened to own a carpet shop. Which was next door. And - to our astonishment - today was a special 50% reduction on everything day, so we could buy carpets cheaper! Not only that, but the same carpet factory also made shoes and spices - also stocked in the cousin's shop - should we need them. A far cry from KFC: "Would you like a carpet with that"?

The wine was consumed quite swiftly. Our hosts assured us that all Moroccans drank wine like tea (one mouthful, no time for breathing in case it escapes) and that we shouldn't be alarmed that one person consumed a third of a bottle of wine in about seven seconds. Oh no.

They're only trying to get by, I suppose. But it's quite funny watching them squirm when occasionally challenged with fiscal anomalies.

However. Whatever Albert Square managed this must've been easy compared to our dinner. We ate with houseboy 2 and his friend, making four. I'd invited houseboy 1 to dinner but I think houseboy 2 didn't tell him. So when he arrived to discover someone chomping through his dinner (houseboy 2's mate), he was far from happy. There then ensued a huge argument in Arab (every now and then someone saying all was ok and that they were discussing motorbikes) whilst Brian and I chomped politely on our chicken being terribly English, smiling, and trying not to look uncomfortable.

The Christmas pudding was well received by all, though.

Today's very funny thing (we thought) was seeing a low arch into a little back alley and brandishing it a "dwarfed excluder." This was clearly funnier at the time, for some inhalable reason or other.