Monday, November 22, 2010

Diving Monday + Cupcakes

Tomorrow, William turns 5 but we held his party yesterday (Sunday)  at UP's, the local Cine/Bowling/Food Court complex - which took 8 years to build, bankrupted the developer, who is now in court for fraud as the former owner of Western Union - from which he apparently used funds to build UP's....

It's all reads a bit like a Peter Mayle story -swop Caribbean for South of France, but I, for one am very grateful for his selfless community sacrifices and the kiddies 'Jimmy Jungles' play area - saviour of parents. The party was fabulous, enjoyed by William's entire class of exceptionally noisy 5 year olds and their parents - most of whom were all looking & feeling a bit fragile after a very good grown-up party the night before.  Being new to the island, and not (yet) invited - I of course was being Uber Mummy, icing cupcakes on a Saturday night, and hence was feeling Red Bull energetic on a Sunday, which is unusual really.

William and his self-declared future wife, Asia (another Saffa)
Anyway, today I'm clapped  - clearly the price for perfection but also after 8 hours of diving and being on a very choppy boat, but we did finally qualify today - and what complete fun it was. Up until now we had pretty much had private lessons, and very quiet and sedate dives in calm waters. Today was completely different. We had a boat-load of Other People, all Americans down for Thanksgiving holidays ( I found out today, to my horror, that the school CLOSES for 2 days for Thanksgiving. Most of the kids are either British or Other, and only a very small minority is American - but over 60% of the teachers are American - being an International School with the IB Programme. Damn).

But back to diving: We've also had high winds, rain and an actual cold front (a relative term) so today was really horrible weather, but this did not dampen the spirits of our dive boat and the 12 people on it. 

We had 2 DM's - a very mad Italian and an insane Brit -  who were so rackety and up for fun, that I did wonder for a minute or two. But good old PADI achtungness, never lets you down and we had excellent dives, in fairly trying conditions (panicky newbies, lost fins, broken masks, crappy O rings - and then finally -  lost toursists). We saw three sharks - the first one as I put my face into the water on getting in and still had my snorkel on and a subsequent 3 after that. It went downhill from there. When we got to the bottom (40 ft) even the DM's had to admit it was one of the biggest nursery sharks they had seen - wallowing about 10 metres in front of us, eyeing us out with their horrible little eyes. Anyway after Tyler had buddy-signed that it was probably not a good idea for me to dig holes with my nails into his arm (blood...) I calmed down a bit and remembered to breathe again. I'm now so over sharks...

A feature of here is 'Rendevous' (ie collected and dropped off from our yacht or boat). So, when it came time to drop off some of our very fun guests from Pittsburgh - they couldn't remember the name of their boat (this after several Red Stripes). So to cut a long story short, we drove (is this the right word?) around looking for their charter, which took a looooonnnng time, but provided a fascinating, albeit wet & windswept guided tour of Peter & Norman island inlets, moorings and sounds.

We finally got back at 4pm (usually back by lunch-time)  and then had to go racing off to pick up the kids from school (only an hour late). Thank heavens for after-care and a small community who "know the Dawsons always dive on a Monday" so knew we hadn't abadoned the children (tempting as this often seems).

I'm also starting to plan quite vigourously - my 10 day trip 'off-island' to London & Joburg. I can't even begin to tell you the logisitics necessary for this. Needless to say, yet another vast cast is necessary - mainly from the Phillipines, but also a few new friends and some solid back-up from a good team in the office. It all feels a little bit too soon, although I'm so looking forward to seeing everyone again. I feel like I've only just left - in fact there must even be a few people who never knew I had even left in the first place.

I leave Friday 26th - am in London on Saturday for Xmas shopping, get into Joburg on Sunday morning & am back in London again, the following Sunday. Return to the West Indies on Wednesday 8th Dec with my Mother, who is spending a month with us over Christmas.

If I feel tired now, how do you think I'll be by Friday?  When you all see me back in Joburg or London, looking so laid-back - it's actually going to pure sleep deprivation and an overdose of cupcake baking.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

The Zoo has arrived

Mimi & Jasmine have finally got here - 6 weeks later than originally expected and with a whole lot more drama - which went from Saga to Epic, after Tyler spent TWO DAYS in Puerto Rico trrying to get them out of customs. The animals are fine and happy, it seems, in their new home. We, however, are shattered and still recovering.

To cut a long,boring story very short - after being extorted by the vet in SA the animals were finally put on a plane to fly in transit via Madrid & San Juan (Puerto Rico) and then to Tortola. They had every permit, injection, blood test, visa, expert permit, CITES certificate, travel document, inter-continental permission, vaccination and anything else that anyone could possibly think of  and charge us for, all of which had involved a cast of hundreds. An entire industry, we discovered makes a good living from transporting pets.They were of course, meant to stay in TRANSIT until the BVI vet cleared them into Tortola.

All hell, of course, broke loose, when some dimwit brought them through customs into hallowed US ground - and you could hear the klaxons from here - as everyone kicked into gear to deal with illegal aliens without the right papers. You can only imagine. Tyler was literally running around the island for 24 hours having to get a whole set of new tests, innoculations & papers to get them out of quarantine and back on track. What a nightmare. He finally had to pretty much charter a little plane to fly back to Tortola and arrived back 24 hours later than planned.

Do not even begin to ask howmuch this all cost. On top of the original flight. On top of 2.5 month worth of Hilton-priced boarding fees. Oi.

Anyhow, life is getting back to normal. Jasmine is almost back to her original screech level and James and I had to rescue Mimi from the next door neighbours in the dark tonight, with James jumping over 3 metre high fences, like a hero.

And of course they make so much mess, I could cry, but there you go. I suppose you cannot put a price on family.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Where is the goddess in domestic?

Spray Flowers Peg BagDespite more mud-slides, death-defying roads and Caribbean efficiency that makes South Africa look like Switzerland, the biggest shock to the system has undoubtedly been on the domestic front.

Being practically a single parent these days, I just cannot believe how unbelievably tedious domestic work actually is. I realize now why you have to have mugs which say 'Yummy Mummy', because if you don’t remind yourself  how fab you are doing a crap job, nobody else will sure as hell give it a nano-seconds thought.

As Tyler was not working during October and I was, we were still in SA-mode (ie Tyler did Domestic and I did Bread Winning). Since Halloween Weekend, the new Family Dawson has kicked in (ie Tyler works 16 hour days and I’m now a housewife). This is one of the reasons we moved here, remember?

As we sank deeper into domestic chaos, I realized with some trepidation, that the house was now my job. Having not swung a broom since living in London 13 years ago, this was a bit worrying.

I’ve always rather fancied the idea of dabbling in housework, inspired by reading too many Home & Gardens with Cath Kitson rose-sprigged peg baskets and Martha Stewart’s uber domestic gorgeousness. So after the initial disbelief and denial had worn off, I picked myself up, put together my little bucket of cleaning goodies, made lots of lists and proceeded to try and get some level of order back into the house and our lives, feeling very Marie Antionettish about it all.

Well. What a *#$ng crock that all is. Domestic work is relentless, boring, dirty and most depressingly – completely thankless. I kept feeling like a heroine everytime I remembered to switch on the dishwasher or make a bed – expecting at least some applause and acknowledgment. Then I started getting a bit Type A about it all and wanted it all sparkling and started jumping up at 10pm to wipe down the paintwork. I even started to feel a little sanctimonious, in fact.

Until that is, I forgot to wash the children’s school clothes over the weekend – and they had to go off on Monday morning – with filthy khaki shorts, even filthier white T shirts (PE) and disgusting white socks. Oh, the shame.

Now I’m beginning to see how some of all this time we seem to have here gets used up. Housework.

However, help is on the way. Marielle the lovely lady from the Phillipines will be starting this week to help out a bit. No heckling from the peanut gallery, thank you.

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Whirlwind (not to be confused with tropical storm)

Master of Evil, Skeleton and Ghoul
Goodness the past two weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind as we really settled into island life. This place makes our Joburg social life look like an occasional OAP outing.

Last weekend was of course Halloween, and we actually managed three parties - drinks with the Jermyns on Friday in costume, Cedar School Big Party at Nanny Cay on Saturday and then Trick or Treating around our estate (dubbed Harney's Hill or Lego Land, depending on whether you like lawyers or not) and then a good 'after-party' at our neighbours - which required more eating and drinking. I think even the children were Halloweened-out after 72 hours festing.
The Mad Chef
















James got his first surf board, and we were off last Sunday morning to Josiah's Bay, with Tyler trying to teach him. Considering that the last time was at Plett on a very large 'softie' board in a few ripples - the transition to a real board with real waves, was quite something. Here is a picture of Cameron (son of local boss) on the board which we have brought  for James. Please note that Cameron is ranked No 3 in the Caribbean and James still has some way to go!  

On the work front last week, the Big Boss came down from London for the week and I actually had to - very nervously - put some pen to paper. My biggest comment about the off-shore business - and lets be frank, it's not exactly a subject of which one speaks too openly - is that you'd better be careful of where you put the decimal points.

We had our first dinner party last Monday evening  - with afore mentioned boss and the local boss (father of surfer wunderkind) plus several others. T whipped up a fabulous meal with our rather limited kitchen (some of you might remember Tylers duck with dark chocolate?) and we drank some Chocolate Block to go with it, and some wonderful NZ Sauvignon Blancs and a Tarte Tatin. We survived, and thankfully everyone was very jolly & drank a fair bit. Tuesday was a bit haggard. 

T is back to work and now has an extra job in the mornings helping out our Delaware-based ICT consultants - so he has gone from nothing to 16 hour days, in one week.  Anyway, this means that we can now start building a bit of a war chest for that bakery.....(and the house, and the yacht and the ...).

The rest of the week just blurred by in a mad dash of driving up and down hills, picking up kids and generally trying to stay on the bus. Had Book Club again on Thursday, which was very enjoyable, at the most beautiful house I've yet seen on the island. This time we all went in a lift club, so no stressful drive-ways. The book was 'Cutting for Stone' by Abraham Verghese, set in Salassie's Ethiopia and a very beautiful book. We alternated between discussing the book and gossiping, both pastimes being very enjoyable. Our group is made up of 1 Irish, 2 South Africans, 1 Zimbabwean (but grew up in the UK), 2 Danes (but 1 grew up in Tanzania and 1 spent lots of time in Egypt)  3 Brits and 1 American/Canadian. That pretty much reflects the island.

On Friday I took the boys to Smugglers Cove after school, and they lolopped around in the water, and I treated myself to a Banana Daiquiri. After that we got DVD's (for me "The Kids are All Right" - with Annette Bening & Julienne Moore - excellent and highly recommended) and Chinese take-aways. The perfect Friday evening really.

Saturday was supercharged. T and I did shopping in the morning and then it was off out of the starting blocks and up a few hills in first gear. The boys went off to a party in the East End and I did the annual 5 mile Run/Walk for Breast Cancer. Considering this is a subject a little dear to my heart this year, it was all quite wonderful with lots of participants and fun.

Then it was zooming over to the other end of the island to pick the boys up and off to the Catholic Church's annual fundraising Curry Night, which might not sound like the most scintalllating night out on the town, but was absolutely fabulous. It is made up of about 15 different 'countries' all cooking their national curries with condiments and bits to go with - Jamaica, Trinidad, Guyana, Phillipines, Domenican Republic, St Lucia etc etc even with a joint table this year from Ghana & Nigeria - all dressed up in national costume and serving the most delicious food one has ever eaten. Everyone dashes around eating as much they can and then drinking lots of water! I was with Jane and the boys and we had a charming table (all Swiss German - this place is SO multi-cultural it's not even funny, except it is!). The boys disappeared off with many of their little friends and were all spotted at one stage - rather worringly- playing on the harbour wall. 

Today we are in a flood warning again - it hasn't stopped raining for about 24 hours and I'm actually wearing a long sleeved T Shirt tonight (admittedly with shorts). We gave up on trying to get to the beach and went to the movies instead. and watched "Guardians of the Legand" which the boys loved.

We have been sitting in the mists and the frogs tonight are symphonic. This is the tail end of Hurricane Tomas which wrecked havoc over Barbados last week and Haiti this week, which has done a sort of double-back number, and last night gave us Shock & Awe, with lots of thunder and lightning, wind and torrential rain. We apparently have another day or so of this, and then hopefully Hurricane Season (fifth most active since 1857 or something) will almost be over. Needless to say the roads are beyond appalling and we just grind around in low ratio, slipping and sliding all over the palce and trying not to be too much of a girl about it all.