No escaping the bouncy castles

Sunday 12 September


We have now been on the island for 2 weeks, and what a long week it has been. Time seems to be slower here, longer, heavier. A week feels about a month.We are all pleased it is the weekend.

William went to his first birthday party yesterday – there was even a bouncy castle (grimly roped up to all kinds of poles because of the wind and soggy ground after a night of torrential rain). Five year old parties seem to have a universal ubiquity to them, and this one was no exception. I was however impressed by the endless Pimms for the parents, and several magnums of champagne, which everyone quaffed down in plastic cups.

Last night we also had the Woodfields and Jermyns around for a braai. Tyler and I had spent most of Friday foraging (local term for food shopping) and came up with local beef T Bones, local beef spareribs and chicken drumsticks. We also found arugula (big treat) and went American-stylee with corn and potato salad. We redeemed ourselves with Tyler’s chocolate pavlova (but with blueberries, not raspberries!). We have a very basic kitchen and are really looking forward to our container arriving with our stuff – which will still take months.

We’ve managed to get all the Start Up done however – all we are waiting for now is our landline and internet connection at home. The level of petty bureaucracy on a small island is mind-blowing, but we havn’t taken to the rum (in a big way) just yet and we still think most of it is quite charming. We also need to buy 2 cars. We are currently looking at a Jeep Cherokee for me, and a Ford Durango (V8!!) for T.

We’ve also started to put out our social feelers. We’ve had dinner at Red Rock, the restaurant where Tyler is going to be executive chef (starting Tuesday) which is really lovely and the food good.  I’ve met with my new company, and am just waiting for all my Belonger papers to come through, and then I will start working.

We are also starting to find things on the radar now. Right next door to my new office is a great home store, where I’ve met a group of Cedar Mums – including a great South African girl who has been living here for 2 years (Jane Chatsworthy) and opposite my office is a brilliant French deli – where we had saucisson baguettes and a glass of French wine for lunch on Wednesday (not quite Assagi, but not half bad either).

The boys are getting into a routine with school and are settling into Spanish (Hola Mama, hasta la vista) PE, serious lunch boxes and all things new. We’ve been going to the beach most days after school which we can continue to do, as I’m only working until 3pm. The boys snorkel for hours because the water is like a tepid bath and we come home when the sun sets. After supper it’s frog-hunting and yesterday, much to all the boys delight, they found a snake. Nothing on the island is venomous, so I’m reasonably chilled about all of this – particularly since Tyler and his little friends used to go in for tarantula-teasing when they were kids.

I’ve now not read a newspaper for 2 weeks, nor seen any television (I hear a sharp intake of breath from the SA-side!). Yesterday I treated myself to ‘This Week’ (31 July) and August Elle, which had all the winter fashions in it. Since I’ve almost not stopped wearing either my shorts or vest-tops since we got here – it could have been from another planet. I think the feeling is described as being discombobulated. It’s not a bad feeling, just weirdly disconnected – bobbing along on our little watery island, zooming up and down steep hills. A strangely small life.  Quite likeable, but very different.

We seem to have a lot of time. I guess there’s not much sitting in traffic jams or other time- wasting things. We read at night and fall into these long, deep sleeps under our mosquito net, which leaves one feeling saturated in the morning.  We are definitely getting Kindles and iPads. Gadgets like that are made for places like this, where our primary distractions are either the weather and the local to-ings and fro-ings. The irony, I suppose, is that we now have more time for everything.

I cannot wait to get our home internet and feel like I will only settle when I get this.  I’m dying to Skype, update my blog, get news feeds from the New York Times and all other normal, Wordly things.  Everyone here also lives on email.

It seems like the more one feels disconnected, the more connected one wants to be.