IWC 62 Agadir Tuesday Morning

Tales from the poolside.

So, whilst we wait for any news, or a session of the IWC that is not closed to us to accidentally break out, here are a few thoughts from poolside.

They call him Ali Baba.

They call the WDCS Director of Science ‘Ali Baba’ here.

As he wanders the sunny streets – and especially when he visited the local Souk (a vast market-place of high quality fruit and vegetables and much besides) – the local people call out to him ‘Hello’ (or ‘Bonjour’) ‘Ali Babba’, in a good natured/ sort of way.

We believe it is a reference to his beard, as Ali Babba apparently had a famous beard connection.

You may recall the story:

Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves: the beard connection

Once upon a time in Persia there lived two brothers called Ali Baba and Kasim. The first was poor and the other rich and, one day, when Ali Baba was gathering sticks he heard a band of horsemen approaching.

Ali Baba knew they were robbers and he hid up a tree. He knew they were robbers by their evil looks, rough beards and bad language.

Their leader rode up to a mountain side and throwing his arms wide called out the magic words: ‘Sustainable utilisation’ or possibly "Open sesame!"

And so the story begins….

…later in the narrative, one of the robbers disguises himself by shaving off his beard.

This doesn’t entirely explain why bearded westerners gain this epithet but it is a culturally relevant story!

The Evil of Cats

We are sorry – I know many of you are cat lovers - but the WDCS delegation here needs to sleep and the street cats of Agadir – sleek of form, long necked and short furred – have taken up residence in the stairwell of the apartment block where we are lodged.

The stone stairway makes for excellent acoustic enhancement and the caterwauling (note this is entirely the right term here) that goes on for relentless hours through the night is really not helping us gain the three hours that we’ve come to expect at IWC meetings. Cats that are being encouraged to vacate their beloved stairway easily allude their pursuers and move onto higher landings and once (in the middle of the night a scantily clad WDCS delegate has reached the upper tier in pursuit, the darling little fluff balls  heads down the other way to hide in the noxious space under the stairs. All this is made the more interesting because there is no lighting over the 5 flights and the painful unearthly mewing continues despite the ‘chase’. (Disagreements have arisen with another WDCS delegate who loves cats, feeds our fellow residents and just wears earplugs (and of course pyjamas) at night.)

The street cats drink in swimming pools and live in the verdant edges to the apartments and hotel gardens and are fed by tourists and staff in most of Agadir’s restaurants where they are generally welcomed (saves having to mop the floor).

But really they are evil… speaking of which

Back to The Deal (Nothing to report but here’s a thought – with thanks to Sidney.)

"The greatest blunders, like the thickest ropes, are often compounded of a multitude of strands."

Victor Hugo

 An evil cat of Agadir