The Simple Life is Hard Work

Just to make things more fun, Tyler fell off his scooter bike yesterday and is now known as the "Limping Chef'.  Lots of 'owieees' and a badly dented rented bike, ups the anti just a little bit more.

I thought I would post my shopping list from  yesterday.  Hyde Park, it is not:

1. Large roll non-stick gauze
2. 1 hospital size pack of clinical gauze
3. 5 boxes antiseptic cream
4. 5 rolls Micropore
5. 20 pound sack chicken feed
6. 3 yards shade cloth (for veg patch)
7. 10 pots (couldn't help myself because was at the garden centre anyway) unidentified pretty flowering plants
8. 3 Bottles of cheap South African wine (to keep me happy)
9. 6 X Heineken
10. 6 X O'Douls (to keep Tyler happy)
11. 1 box Orea 'Funstix; (to keep boys happy)
12. 1 gallon Clorox (bleach) to keep cleaner happy. Her nickname is The Chlorox Queen, as she bleaches everything in sight

The rest of the weekend was spent applying all these things so at least the house is clean, the clothes are washed, we've had enough of a social drinks out  in the dying hours of Sunday evening for me not to feel too martyrish. I think I'm going to have to moonlight in the office this week, I have so much to do by Saturday.

Daytripper

Little Thatch

I've got a new term for our Caribbean Lexicon - "Billionaire Days". Bit like "Queen for the Day" - but with more toys.

Believe me when I say that our lives on a day to day basis, are  fairly normal, humdrum and even maybe a tad 'suburban', though I do struggle a little bit with that one - as there really is nothing faintly suburban about this place. However, our daily routine is much the same as Johannesburg - just with lots of  housework, terrible roads, no shops, trillions of yachts and heartbreaking scenery all around one.

And then sometimes, just to make up for it all, we have these 'killer' days - where you just have to pinch yourself to see if it's real.  This past Sunday was such a day. We were invited to have lunch on 'Little Thatch' - a private island, just down the drag. So off we went, black eyes and all, joining the local party at the 'Jolly Roger' dock to be picked up by the island 'rib' (rubber ducky) loading up with the ubiquitous cooler boxes full of wine and Caprisuns - and then zooming off to paradise.  Half of the excitment is all the logistics and all that boaty-nautical stuff which I'm beginning to love. It's deeply glam.

As much as our Wickedly Good Day a few weeks ago on Joost & the Willie T  represets how the world views Caribbean rackety living, so Little Thatch was kind of how I vaquely imagined our lives would be on Tortola. Ha ha ha. This beautiful little house on a white stretch of palm-lined beach etc etc. Anyway we dont live like that, but we do get to play occasionaly like that and have a perfect day, without all the fuss of having to actually be a billionnaire.

I'm starting to learn a few rules here: Never ask people what they do for a living - many reply with a blank look. Never assume that people are employees - they tend to own the place. I could go on, but I wont -  I'll reserve this for dinner parties in Johannesburg, where I'm back in 10 days time.

I'm so looking forward to some shopping and friends, but rather dreading the 20 hours flight.  I guess it will all seem like Pluto again and places like Little Thatch,  a mirage.  I also wont be hopping into my G5, like some others we know. That will be me in Economy Class with my iPod on max, feverishly wondering how I can make my first million, which should be just enough to buy a little pondok-with -a -view on Tortola. 

Smiling & Waving (with a sad post note)

When my camera returns form the States after being fixed, I’m going to be like everyone else and do short blogs with lots of pictures! I feel very old-school in that I compose these long, detailed missives, when everybody else writes in Tweet-speak and sticks to the Face Book formula. I’ve forgotten yet another Face Book password, so I officially resign on that front. I' also starting to really get back into cooking & creating, so I may chuck some of that in as well. I think our lives in the islands are starting to become fairly predictable.

During some particularly trying times last year – my favourite expression, taken from ‘Madgascar’ I think, was “just smile & wave boys, smile & wave”. This was done through gritted teeth whilst not resorting to physical violence. Can’t say I’m missing any of that, but for some reason this morning – it came to mind again.

This time for very different reasons, thank goodness and quite sweet, at that. As I sat in the 5 minute ‘tail-back’ into Road Town with the 'Swedish House Mafia' blaring happily on the CD (Shakira – the Spanish version, no less – gets firmly replaced once the boys have been dropped off at school) I realized everyone was tooting each other and sticking out their arms to wave good morning as cars joined the queue from various feeder roads – and there you were – a new ‘smile & wave boys’ , just like that.  It was a happy moment.

Lest I bore you with too many bucolic scenes, I had another ‘moment’ last night – as we sat ‘en famille’ after dinner – one child practicing the piano, Tyler reading the newspaper, another child watching CBeebies or something and another one doing their homework – it did feel a bit like a scene out of “Little House on the Prairie’ and my heart swelled, even though I, of course, was doing the washing up, albeit with a very large ‘island-style’ G & T (80% gin 20% tonic) on hand.

All this affirmation has been necessary as Monday was our 6 month anniversary of being here – and man I am really missing my friends, and had a bit of a wobble. It creeps up on ‘ya.

Anyhow I made a big Bobotie and kept myself busy, and tried not to miss everyone too much, and updated my lists and did all the things that you do when trying not to think too much – and the day passed, and the next day arrived and everything was OK.

On the weather forecast this morning, the radio said –“the weather is exactly the same as yesterday. It does have todays date on it, but yep, it’s exactly the same!” You’ve gotta love it.

Postscript: I wrote this blog on Thursday day and unfortunately on Thursday evening I had a car accident. I was on my own coming up the notorious Elevator Road.  I’m OK apart from 2 very black eyes, but the car is probably a write-off. Luckily fully insured. Although we are all a bit shaken up' , it all could have been a lot worse, and everyone has been very sweet and supportive. It's truly a case of what doesn’t kill you, makes you wiser.

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!

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.

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!

Bonds, equities & potato prints

Source: BVI Beacon taken on 20 Jan

For those of you who don't quite know what I do when I sit in the office in the mornings (I think that is everyone?) what I'm really doing is paving the way, through my growing knowledge of the stock market, for my first mega yacht - like the one above..  When we first saw it on Monday morning on the way to school  the boys were jumping up and down screeching "look at the submarine" - which it does look a bit like, or maybe something out of a ropey Austin Powers movie

But  I, of course, knew better.  Because of my job (monitoring the performance of our trusts and mutual funds under investment) I get to do a lot of reading of the Wall Street Journal, Bloombergs, the FT & Yahoo Finance,  which means I'm learning an inordinate about Russian oligarchs, 'Wealth & How to Spend It' and mega yachts. So I just happenend to know that this yacht, called 'A' is the largest mega yacht in the world and belongs to some 30-something year old Russian. You can read all about it in the WSJ link above.  Now, we do get to see our fair share of mega yachts in the 'Hood, but this one really takes the prize for unfettered ostentation and FUness - all $300 million of it. Anyhow, nothing like a little bit of bad taste to brighten up a Monday, and T tells me that they went and scraped it on the Scrub Island dock as well, so that made us feel even better.  





Boys at Sailing Club

 We've had a good week with T still doing day shifts and things getting back to the new normal. Our children are becoming as scheduled as any other global, middle class kidsters - with soccer, sailing, extra maths etc. Luckily we get to chuck it all up and go to Cane Bay Garden on a Friday afternoon - the kids get to play with about 30 of their best friends until the sun sets, and the moms have a few Painkillers or GODW (glass of dry white) and relax a bit. This Friday was extra special, as the fisherman trawlled their nets off the beach, and they had 30 over-excited expat children 'helping' them bring in the fish. This was all happening as the sun was setting. The cruise ships had all gone, there were only 'locals' on the beach and it was so magical that we were all secretively thinking that this was exactly the reason why we put up with island life, for moments like that. Wish I had my camera there.

My solution to digging myself out of  melancholy is usually to get hyper-organised and 'do things'.  In a moment of pure madness, I signed up to run a craft workshop for 5 year olds once a week (WHY?) and now I'm faced with my first one on Wednesday. I'm feeling hugely daunted - flat-out terrified actually, and will understand the psychology of it all at some later stage - but there you go. I'm running a toddlers craft group. Amazing.