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.