Awesome




Sunbeam - a Tortola Sloop (that's Sunny Jim waving) on Sunday

 
This is a quick post, as I'm squeezing it in amongst work and choosing fabric for the new sitting room, as our laptop at home has died (of exhaustion, I think). Bit of a disaster to say the least, but help is hopefully soon on the way in the form of a new one. One good reason to be a hop, skip & jump away from the US.

We had a lovely weekend, even though Tyler worked pretty much all of it. He didn't work either Friday or Saturday night so maybe Bill Marriott had read my rant. Saturday was the usual (sailing) and Sunday was also the usual (sailing) but this time on Tortola Sloops, the traditional boats built here all out of wood. James & Georgie sailed in a classics regatta off Little Thatch and had a great time. All very 'Swallows and Amazon'ish". Just as well the boys really like sailing, although I suppose there's also surfing. It would be a bit dire for all if they didn't like either of these!

On Sunday we loaded up the two cars and went over to the new house. It was a lovely evening so we stayed for sundowners at a little beach bar and watched the fishermen come in. Idyllic, really.

We're about to go off-line as we have a seriously busy 10 days ahead of us - moving and also working on the bakery. We are both on leave next week and the next time I post, we should be in the new house.

Totally awesome (as James would say).

PS: I'm going to be back in London on the 15th March and in SA until the 24th. 

Move on up

Temptation

So much is on the go this week that this post could also be called "Lots of Balls in the Air" but since the blog statistics show that the post called "Hurricane Paula & the Sex Pistols" has been by far the most well-read blog of all time, I'm a bit reluctant, given the pervie possibilties.

In a nutshell: The (new) Bakery Factory in new premises looks like it is on track and will be open 1 April. Plans are busy been drawn up ready for approval, mainly for the DTI, so we can order the ovens. This also means we are on a two month critical path.  Arggghhhhh.

We are also looking at a bigger abode, because as sweet as our little house is now - it's a shoebox in the suburbs (Tortola's equivalent). Not the stuff of dreams.  Can't say too much (this is an island) except that a large kitchen, double garage, laundry, voluminous sitting room, family room, library, four bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms and sooooo much space to make a middle-aged woman who is inclined towards fantasy interior decoration, weep. It's also in one of the most beautiful parts of the island with a lovely local community and the best surfing. What's not to love you ask yourselves (or rather, "how can they afford this?"). Answer: Bitch driveway. It fulfills all my Everest fantasies, except it would be on a daily basis as opposed to that once-in-a-lifetime experience. I think (know) we'll have to run shuttle services for the cleaner and babysitters. I'm actually going to need that Hummer.

Carrot Bay

Next new big thing: William started his 'proper' sailing lessons today. Tyler said watching the squabs of six year olds trying to drag their little dinghies out of the water and de-rig was so sweet as they fell over themselves and everything else.  James (aged 10) may be sailing his first competitive regatta with the RBVIYC over on St Thomas (US Virgin Islands) this weekend, which will mean he will leave on Friday afternoon and return Sunday evening. He's thrilled but we're a bit apprehensive - it being the first time that one of our "babies" has travelled without us.

Clearly we need to start shifting the gears going forward, as IF we were to move to the new house - it would involve the boys tootling around on their bikes a lot, surfing on their own down in the bay (see above) and getting themselves home. Mr Caribbean Man has also said he'll 'machettee' some space for them around the house too, as well as build them a tree house. It's really, really no longer Parktown North.

If you'd like a good laugh and also some insight into what it's really like to live in the Caribbean read this from my neighbour India Hicks.

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.