Saturday, February 26, 2011

It's hard to move from the balcony, somedays....

Click here to watch the movie on You Tube


I’ve just deleted my blog written last night, as being far to deep and silly, wittering on about my growing happiness with life generally.

Suffice to say I’m currently sitting on the balcony, contemplating whether to take the children to the beach (the weather is a bit patchy today).  I could do with some snoozing on a lounger, reading the Sunday Times from last week. But at the same time, a lovely lazy day at home could also be nice. Maybe bake some cookies, sort out the study, make cushion covers. Things like that. Or maybe I'll just carry on sitting on the balcony, have another cup of tea, read the paper here. Seems like a good compromise.

After trailing children around beauty salons and hairdressers last Saturday morning, we scrubbed up (ha ha – joke) and ferried off to Tyler's new hangout  where he is Sous Chef – for the Rotary Club gala bash at Scrub Island, and a very swishy and fun affair it was. Met the man himself, Richard Branson, who was as he always appears – scruffy, twinkly and bright and we chatted about South Africa and moving here. As you do.

The highlight of the weekend was the gorgeous spa on Sunday morning, which Tyler treated me to, and the best massage I think I’ve ever had. After that it took me about 3 hours to wake up and get myself back to Tortola and reality, cooking the Sunday Roast and washing up. As one does.

This week was a lightning speed half term, as we had to give up days that had been lost during the hurricane and flooding sagas’s at the beginning of last term. We went to Marina Cay, a lovely little island with an interesting history, which is still a bit of a time warp. A rather charming movie was made of it in the fifties with John Cassavetes and Sidney Poitier .  We did the usual football, sailing clubs, piano lessons, lunches. Tyler has been getting up at 4:30am, so we are completely zonked by 9pm in the evening and try hard not to go to bed.

It’s all rather humdrum,  in a high-speed island type of a way. You can be in a mad rush to pick up the kids because you’re late – but the car in front of you stops to chat to friends – so there you go – you’re late, but “wotchya gawna d’yaboudit?’ ‘Nuttin. This place grows on one.

Maybe starting to go a tad native? Probably time to get back to London & Johannesburg soon!

Friday, February 18, 2011

It's the weeeekend , babeeee

It's Friday afternoon, after a good week in the islands.  The daily squall is open us, and once it passes over - I've watched it come in over the sea from St Croix - I'm off to take the boys to swim some laps in the Nanny Cay pool, as we worry a bit about their swimming (sploshing in the sea is not equal to a few lengths of crawl & backstroke). One has to work quite hard on the competitive side of things here, it all being a bit laid back (unless it's tennis or sailing). I'm still transitioning to my Dragon Mother persona, though one has to be pretty single-minded here to get even close.

After a quiet weekend last week and 2 exceptionally abstemious weeks, tomorrow is a Big Night Out. Whilst the annual 'Rotary Gala Dinner Dance' may not sound like the height of sophistication, this is apparently the social event of the year - attended by the Great & the Good, including the uncrowned prince of the BVI, Richard Branson.

I've managed to squeeze into a 6 year old dress,  borrowed some nail varnish and am having the hair done. What's even more exciting is that it's been held on Scrub Island (although this does mean  unfortunately that Tyler gets to do two back-to-back double shifts -7am to 11pm) so we're going to stay overnight on Saturday, and have a nano-weekend break, WITHOUT THE KIDS!  Just the very thought of someone else making the beds and cooking the dinner is enough to get me into a complete froth of excitment.

Only other big news is that we have added 4 chicks to our menagerie, got to see the Christmas pantomime (Cinderella) and finally got our Christmas presents sent from Cape Town.

It's half-term on Monday, and  we're off  with a couple of mums & kids to a little island called Marina Cay, for the day.

I think I may almost be happy.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

The New Normal




Live Webcam at the Soggy Dollar Bar, Jost van Dyke.
Bit like those ones you get at watering holes in the Kruger Park, but different animals
 It has been a bit of a while since I last wrote. Sorry!  Despite the fact that all you think we do is laze around beaches drinking ‘Dark & Stormies’ and making sure the children are having an idyllic childhood – we also have to sit in offices/kitchens, deal with the appalling banks here (no inter-bank transfers, for example) and get to grips with the tsunami of homework ( the lifecycle of the coconut tree being the latest).  Shopping, however,  is a finite activity -  maybe two trips a week  to the supermarket. Everything else comes via the mail.

Anyhow now that we’ve been here for 5 months (feels more like 5 years) we are really getting into some routine, helped very much by Tyler switching to day shifts, with only about 2 nights a week – which has been fantastic. He’s even had the past two Saturday’s off. For the past few weeks we’ve been having lots of all the new normal.  Most importantly, we’ve started to relax a bit now and we are actually starting to have some fun. The past weekend was a good case in point.

On Friday evening we all met up at The Dove , which is ‘the’ local restaurant & bar, once you’ve eaten through the menu a few times,  one doesn’t really worry too much about the food anymore. Tyler joined us after his shift about midnight, and we managed to catch up with just about everyone we know.  I was introduced to the partner who is opening up the new Ernst & Young office here.  I suppose it was just a matter of time, really.

Saturday was spent with Tyler and the boys and some friends at Smugglers Cove, watching the boys chuck coconut shells into the sea, find the good sailing ones, and then making sails (sea grape leaves) to race the boats.

Now Sunday was definetly how you all think we live here all the time. I even said at one stage during the course of the day, that if my SA friends could see me now, they would be convinced that we had all been lost to the Lord of the Underworld (who just coincidentally happens to be Osiris) forever.

A group of us including grown-ups, teenagers and kids went bumping off on this big speed boat (the ‘FrolicKing”) to Jost van Dyke Island to the famous Soggy Dollar bar where there is only white sand, turquoise water, palm trees and a bar and no jetty. One therefore has to jump off the boat and swim to the bar  which is why your dollars and a few other things get soggy. Quite a novel way to start the day off – which is then spent sitting on the beach watching other people jump off their boats.

The Soggy Dollar is also the place where the ‘Painkiller’ cocktail was invented, and unfortunately they are very, very good. After a lovely day watching people jumping off boats & driking Painkillers, we decided to go off to another island – in fact a boat called the Willy T (no clicking on this link for anyone under 18 years) which is moored off Norman Island – to finish off the day, picking Tyler up from Nanny Cay, along the way. Thank goodness, a sober person.

I must paint a small picture here. Sunday was Superbowl Sunday and Sunday was also, well, Sunday. By the time we zoomed up in the FrolicKing to the  ‘Willy T’ – everyone had spent a long day on various islands doing what we had. Not sure what it is, but there is something about mooring a boat in the middle of the sea which has a strange effect on people.  Hang on to your woman and lives, basically. As Jane C screamed  "THIS is definetly the portal to the underworld."  In fact many people did look like those slimy, scary creatures in ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ (well particularly by 6pm in the evening anyway).  It was all very funny but totally, totally  Evil.

Somehow we managed to get home and still cook the Sunday Roast and get the children into bed. To be honest, one really cannot have that kind of day too often – we’ll all be spending the school fees on rehab. Not to mention possibly leaving kids on deserted islands and getting lost at sea.

So it’s back to the Monday to Thursday AA Club Soda Club and being responsible citizens again. Until the next time!