Helen: Spent today not doing too much - hanging out with the members of the International Batchelors Club of Rodney Marina (basically 7 or 8 guys (from all over the world, Sweden, UK, South Africa) who did the ARC and then never left the marina here - they just hang out on each other's boats (while the owners are away) drinking beer! Joel is a founder member...
So, today we managed laundry (some of Joel's clothes hadn't been washed since Las Palmas and were beginning to grow mould...), bought another case of Piton beer (they give you a discount if you take the old bottles back - why don't they do that everywhere? It'd be an incentive not to litter - perhaps even an incentive to pick up other people's litter), had a lesson in the dinghy (C and Joel both look shell shocked - it took me a couple of attempts to land the dinghy on the dock and to get the hang of reverse. While I was trying this, several people on the dock offered to help - I was all for batting my eyelashes and looking as pathetic as possible to get them to help me...but C said I had to learn for myself so round and round we went til I got it right!), and the last thing we did today was, of all things, call the bloody Inland Revenue and pay them several hundred quid. Honestly, even when you're thousands of miles away they still catch up with you!
Yesterday, however, was a different matter - we hiked the Petit Piton - have a look on google earth - it's an awesome looking mountain - just like you would've drawn when you were a kid (except without the snow) - a really steep triangle covered in lush rain forrest - we were wearing our walking boots, while our guide was in trainers, but I'm glad we were - it's only 2600ft (not even a Munro!) but it was a pretty hard climb - most of the last quarter was vertical using ropes (but no harnesses or safety clips! Wonderful views from the top, but difficult to enjoy them as I was so worried about getting down! It was great to get some exercise...but my legs are paying for it today! After that, Joel drove us home (he's Swedish, and had never driven on the left before - we had to keep reminding him to stay on the left. Interestingly, Sweden used to drive on the left but then one day in the 60s they just changed to drive on the right - how mad is that - wonder if there were many accidents that day!?) We drove past a great sign 'Drive Refreshed' sponsored by Piton beer! Our trusty rental car had the windscreen wipers and indicators on the wrong sides so every time Joel tried to indicate to turn he turned on the wipers - was amusing every time!
One of the most amazing things we saw on the hike was a hummingbird nest - was only about an inch long and an inch deep and had the most minute egg in it - about the size of my little finger nail, or maybe smaller. When we got home, I cooked roast chicken and Christmas pud - decided we'd missed out on a proper Christmas dinner so we had it on Jan 17th. Better late than never!
Right, think that's everything - C's just finished supper - off to St Maarten tomorrow - C just booked a place in St Martin in his best French - glad we don't have to spend long there (just one night before we get on our next boat) as it's v v expensive. Will be sad to leave If Only and Joel (but not all the broken bits on this boat - to flush our toilet you have to join two bare wires together - lots of sparks and smoke!!)
OK, more later
Hxxx
1 comment:
Sounds like things are continuing to improve, which is great. We are getting almost as warm as you over here - last night was the warmest in London since records began! Having said that, I confess that actually it's still cold and grey and generally uninspiring outside. Caro and Mark are off to inspect Glasgow next week - can't believe they have been back so long. We painted Caro's room last week - looks much lighter but you can still see my original drawing on the wall. Take care, Susan xx
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