Most houses, villas, riads, or apartments in Morocco (in my experience) do not have gas. Generally, the gas hob is connected to a gas bottle stashed in a nearby cupboard in the kitchen. This will also be the case for the L’Amandier Villas. It’s not a problem in the slightest and not really something you think about. Apart from possible forward thinking to have a spare full bottle in case of it running out at inopportune moments…

Hmmm.

Good advice.

I should listen to myself. It was a cheese sandwich for me last night…

It was actually the first time I had run out of gas. I discovered that I needed a spanner to release the bottle. I also discovered that a spanner is not something the guardian of the apartment block has. I hoped the provider of gas bottles would have one. The first shop I tried was out of gas supplies for the day. As a result, I unexpectedly discovered a small market only 5 minutes walk away from my home. Here was a guy with fresh looking vegetables neatly displayed and a rack of gas bottles. Hurrah!

He would not give me a full bottle without the immediate exchange of the empty bottle. The lack of a spanner had obviously prevented my bringing the empty. The compromise was that he gave me a gas-bottle-carrying-trolley and a shiny new spanner. I set off for home in the heat, pulling the trolley behind me.

Having wrestled the empty bottle free of attachments and into the trolley, I retraced my steps back to the market. Satisfied that I had an exchange bottle, the guy sold me a full one. Into the trolley it went. I never realised how heavy gas is! Now kerbs and steps became an issue on the way back to my apartment. I enlisted the help of the guardian to get the bottle into my building and confidently rode the lift, whilst pouring with sweat. Did I mention that it is hot here at the moment?? And then my confidence got knocked off its perch and I’m sad to admit that the plastic security seal defeated me.  After taking a moment to swallow my pride, I trudged downstairs, put on my best helpless smile and appealed to the guardian and his friends who were sitting under a tree; no doubt putting the world to rights.

How could they resist? I was expertly connected within a couple of minutes.

Once more I put on my flip flops and hauled the trolley and the spanner back to the market. And finally home again. I don’t mind telling you I had to put the air conditioning on and lie down to recover for a full 15 minutes.

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