I didn’t need to set the alarm as I’d been kept awake for most of the night so I stormed back again in the direction of the council offices at first light.
I wanted to discuss with them their noise abatement policy as I had been woken around midnight by an unruly bunch of rowdy louts, probably high on Shisha and bubble tea, tooting car horns, blowing whistles and banging drums, until the early hours of the morning.
It sounded like the whole of Agadir had taken to the streets with Klaxons, whistles and flags but why?
Had ‘The Donald’ put an unpopular 25% levy on dates and black olives? Or much worse, had the Taliban moved in and taken over the town?
No, far from it, he explained, this had been celebration…
At one end of the beach, in the town, a huge fan zone had been set up to cater for thousands of fans to congregate to watch the semifinal of the African Cup of Nations, which Morocco has been hosting. Last night, the national team made it to the final by beating Nigeria on penalties so, that was why, what sounded like, the whole of Morocco took to the streets in celebration.
The councillor explained to me that they had not won this trophy for 50 years, since back in 1976, so everyone had perhaps got a little over- exuberant and this had led to high spirits and the noisy, unprecedented outpouring of jubilant behaviour.
He asked when I would be heading home as the final was on Sunday and that if they won the final, then the council offices would probably be closed on the Monday. I informed him that I would be leaving on Saturday so this would avoid any possibility of further complaints.
I left thinking that the Six Nations starts next month and this sort of abundance of excessive exuberance wouldn’t be tolerated back home.
‘Revelry’ seemed an apt choice here, enjoy a live version from Reading & Leeds festival back in 2009, the year Ireland 🇮🇪 won the grand slam and the triple crown but I bet they didn’t go banging on about it…
Trouble sleeping? You are obviously not drinking enough!
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