Thursday, July 30, 2009

1st Year Anniversary








Thank you to everyone who has reminded me we have been here a year - yesterday!

So, my observations are:-

Time really does fly, even on Caribbean time, as it were.

Anything you want must be preceded by 'Gimme'. Just forget 'please may I have' - you might as well be speaking Chinese.

There is no fresh bread first thing.

Everyone knows more about your child's safety than you. Just accept it and be grateful.

Nothing is mine, Tom, Dick or Harry's. It is mine own, Tom's own, Dick's own etc.

The news channel frequently shows news from 5+ years ago.

It is impossible to tell which bottle has tonic, soda or lemonade in as they
are all marked Quenchi.

Sell by dates mean nothing.

No-one uses their real name.

Everyone is related.

The most popular dance consists of allowing any man to gyrate his hips against yours even though you haven't a clue who it is behind you. Sometimes it is a pleasant surprise and sometimes....

If you don't eat chicken you better go vegetarian.

Anything nice and new in the supermarket, (ok, chocolate and unusual biscuits) will be sold out in a few days. Panic buy.

The Fort Young Hotel uses tinned pineapple to make Pina Coladas.

Everyone knows your salary - don't forget everyone is related - even in the bank.

The cost of buying a small fish & chips is the same as buying small fish & chips with an extra of fish on the side, which is really big fish and chips but if you ask for that it costs more. Confused, you will be.

Education should be added to the dinner party 'no go' topics of religion & politics - all of which are discussed at length by those who know the least.

Pretty much everyone looks out for you, I think.

You don't go 'to' somewhere, you go 'by' somewhere.

Cheese triangles (because of their shape funnily enough) are called cheese cubes.

Having the same meal at the same restaurant will rarely ever cost the same.

Everyone's whites are always spotless whites. Persil should really just run all their advertising campaigns from here.

No-one will iron in the rain.

Transport is the word used for car, bike, motorbike, truck etc, so it could be a BMW or a moped coming to pick you up.

The cost of duty for parcels in the Post Office bears no reality whatsoever to the value of the item. The cashier never has any change either.

The loo seat is never freezing cold.

Yes, you can live without buying any new clothes for anyone for a whole year.

Getting up at 6am is easy peasy Japaneasy when it's warm.

The beauty of the place never fails to take your breath away and neither do the sunsets.

Everyone will eventually turn up and if they don't it's because some relation is sick or has died.

An avocado is called a pear - pronounced 'peeeer'.

Cheese puffs are corn curls.

Bleach rules. Wise to get shares in Clorox.

The Chinese restaurants are real Chinese. Fab.

The merits and demerits and cost of buying something in a shop are often discussed at length but result in 'we don't have that though/we can't sell the last one in stock/suggest you try down the road'.

The dustbin men are saints - think stinking, rotten, hot, mouldy, dog chewed piles of waste.

All pulses are called peas.

Always give way to the buses on the mountain.

Wave to everyone and never admit you don't know anyone when clearly they have met you several times.

No-one likes to get their hair wet.

Hair and nail styles change practically daily.

The word 'respect' is part of most confrontations.

The breeze is warm and pleasant.

The views are undescribable.

The beaches are magnificent.

My friends are great!



Yeah, we're there.
So, come on, what (are) you waiting for?

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

International Cricket




Well cricket finally came to Dominica and we decided to take everyone as we've never actually been in the Stadium although we can see quite clearly down upon it. Well, I bought the tickets and the lady said, in a warning tone, the party stand is for people who don't watch cricket - great, that's me. So I really haven't a clue what when on. There was a swimming pool for the kids to splash about it, a very loud band and a bar. The bar consisted of 'he who shouts the loudest gets served'. This resulted in the lady behind me getting either a) so frustrated by my quiet '2 beers please' requests or b) she realised I had absolutely no hope in hell of ever getting served at the bar. The latter was true - the conversations were all shouts and everyone knew everyone else and everyone was stealing everyone elses order from the poor guys serving. Complete and utter chaos. So, back to the lady behind me, who simply treated me like a helpless toddler and took over my order and secured my drinks. So cheers to her.

Secondly, thanks to all the people who took pictures of us including Woody & Celia.

Also, Celia took the picture of Sisserou Villa and Lodge from the stadium and the spectacular mural we now have adjoinging the two properties and surrounding the pool.

Busy

I am getting so much grief for the picture of my Dad still lingering there so here we go....School finished, YIPEE, the kids are now in a really fun Summer Camp - Irie Eco - fun activities including free play (yeah!!) and day trips and not a sign of 'Phonics is Fun' anywhere. Summer holidays are summer holidays for children - the clues are in the words you know....they are going to do a week at Art Camp too...lucky guys.

Anyway, we had a fun week off altogether recently in Calibishie...it's Melrose Place crossed with Desperate Housewives but a very pretty Melrose Place nonetheless and reality TV is on your doorstep, quite literally.

Up there we found a fab bakery - real bread and real cakes, obviously most of them involving chocolate...anyway I rang the number:-

Hello is this the bakery?

Uh?

You know bread?

Oh yeah.

And cakes?

Yeah but I'm at the bus stop now.

Ok, but can I order some naan bread and chocolate cake plse?

Yes but you will have to ring back for the cake.

So I can order the bread now and the cake later - cool, I
will have some onion bread and some naan bread and I will
ring back about the cake order.

Yeah man, no problem.

When's a good time to ring back?

Later.

Yeah, I know later, but later - this evening?

September would be better...


Anyway, his bread is fantastic, impossible to find the bakery of course and yes, it's half way up a mountain, like everywhere, but definitely worth persevering.