Sand storm

The Royal Kenz hotel, our home for 14 days.

Yes, I'd recommend it. The view from the other

side is prettier, with the two pools and the

gardens, but it is certainly a contrast to the
view not half a mile away to the north, where we were told many of the local people live. So many unfinished houses do nothing for the ambience of the neighbourhood as you'll see in the second picture.

The weather is still gently warm at this point and we continued to walk up and down the beach, lounge on it and generally catch up on our reading. I had Dissolution by C J Sanson on my e-

reader and though I did not dare take it onto the beach in case sand found its way into the workings, it proved a good idea elsewhere. Light, easy to read even in the brightest sunshine, and very clear text. Wonderful story, too. Must find more of the author's work.

By day four we had discovered that the weather changed around noon. The clear blue skies we woke up to each morning gradually clouded over and the wind increased from noon onwards. This particular day, the wind increased until it drove us into the sheltering arms of the hotel gardens. It was a warm wind, but coming straight off the Sahara and bringing loads of sand with it. The air turned a pale, sandy gold colour and grit got between my teeth and made me wince once or twice when it got between my contacts and me.

As a reflection on working practices, I have to admit that I've been three hours at my computer today and have yet to do any work on my wip. Shocking, isn't it? I began by reading e-mails, then doing three crits for my colleagues at Histfic and then by checking and adding this to my blog. In between I've made cups of tea for dh and self, set the washer going and emptied it twice over and oh yes, did the washing up from breakfast and fed the birds. Before that there were other housekeeping duties too boring to mention - but I swear I am going to do nothing this afternoon but work on my novel. I swear it!