I was at the motorbike workshop 5 minutes early for my 10am appointment  No time for breakfast. But I soon learned (once again) that my up-tight British approach to timekeeping is not quite how things are done here. 

When the guys finally got into action we raced around several Dickensian establishments talking (not me) animatedly to people (men) who do welding and fabrications in every kind of metal. They all addressed the task of designing and customising crash bars with due solemnity and usually finished by shaking their heads. 

Eventually my guy appeared from the depths of a dark, noisome alley triumphantly brandishing an off-the-peg chromed set which he was confident he could adapt to fit. And indeed he could. 

At 2.30 that and a few other jobs were done and Tom's wife's... etc. (let's dignify him with his name: Noureddine) had spent three hours of his life sorting out my problems. And bought me coffee.  And paid for an oil change. And wouldn't accept anything from me.

Next I went to meet Noureddine's chum in the insurance business - Anas - who spent an arduous hour trying to arrange motorbike cover for me. It was a brow-furrowing lengthy task. Maybe because the standard products excluded people of my advanced age, or because of my evident risk-tolerance. Or maybe because my brand of motorbike (Lexmoto) simply doesn't exist in the local underwriters' universe. After an hour he sent me home with a promise to get it sorted out and bring the cover note to me later. 

At 4.30 I was back at Tom's place, having consumed nothing all day except the coffee I guiltily accepted from Noureddine.  Tom rustled up some nursery food and Mehdia's mother and the housekeeper quickly followed up with a delicious fish and noodle dish. 

In between times I slipped away for a guilty beer or two at the country club. But I was called back due to the arrival of Anas with my insurance certificate. The motorbike brand issue had been ingeniously solved by describing it as a "Lexus" (a brand of luxury car near the opposite end of the price spectrum from my little bike). I'm happy with that, in all other respects the bike is accurately described and I'm pretty confident the underwriters couldn't escape liability because of an obvious error at their end. Let's hope it doesn't get put to the test.