it’s a warm april afternoon in marrakech.

helen and i are sitting at an outdoor table near the main square, our suitcases and bags piled all around us, eating lunch before our flight. our table is on an outside corner, next to the main street and a small side street.

i look up from my meal to see two peacocks in a bike basket right next to me.

i am so astonished that it feels a little surreal and i keep staring, as if to assure myself that they really are peacocks.

the peacocks are sitting in a basket on the back of the bike. they are facing the back and their feathers are stretched across the bike seat and over the handlebars.

there is a little old man in a rumpled suit, holding the bicycle upright and talking to two policeman. i have no idea what any of them are saying but the policeman look rather astonished themselves.

the peacocks look remarkably calm, given that they are sitting on the back of a bicycle and there are people and noise and commotion all around them. they do not, however, look very happy.

as the man leaves the policemen and walks around the corner with his bicycle, some children stop him to look at the peacocks. as he walks off again, they look a little ruffled (the peacocks, not the children), and i see the man reach his hand back and gently, lovingly, absentmindedly pet them as he walks off with his precious cargo.

it was the most unexpectedly delightful scene.

i’m sorry i don’t have a picture, but you can see why i might have forgotten to pull my iphone out. it’s not every day that you look up from your lunch to see peacocks in a bicycle basket.