Hello Nan!

My Nan, out there on the West Coast of England has just got her very own email address and has learned how to read the blog. Not bad for someone in their mid-eighties just introduced to the wonders of technology. This post is dedicated to her and my Farver who she reads the posts to every day. Hi Nan! We miss you!

Nan called today as she was worried about her son (Lisa's Dad) who arrived here in Nassau with a nasty case of Bronchitis that was quickly slipping in to Pneumonia as it tends to do with him. Not to worry. On Saturday Lisa emailed a Doctor (the office was closed) referred to her by a friend and after a quick phone conversation with Dad - antibiotics were on their way to a local pharmacy. He saved the day!

So Nan - Dad is feeling much better today and got in a good fish. Doesn't he look relaxed?



Mum was amused that Emily agreed to be Mark's slave for the day today when negotiating a 2nd Klondike bar yesterday. She took pictures of them disposing of a dead body. At least she thought it looked like a dead body - it is actually the endless stream of Sea Grape leaves that reproduce like gerbils in our front garden.

Emmy's Home!

Emily arrive home yesterday and brought Nanny and Granddad (Lisa's Mum and Dad) with her. After British breakfast this morning at the Cricket Club and a tour around Fort Charlotte we have spent the day relaxing on the patio. We managed to open our first coconut from our tree! Now Dad is teaching us how to fish (using the rods that it cost him $150 to get on as over-sized luggage...eek!). More tomorrow.





Colonel is happy that Emily is home too!!!

The road to South Africa starts here.

It is 2 years and 4 months until the opening game of the next World Cup in South Africa and one of the first qualifying games was played in Nassau yesterday. The contest was the Bahamas Vs British Virgin Islands for the privilege of meeting Jamaica in the next round. Anyone who knows football/soccer knows this is an occasion not to be taken lightly and so we decided to go along for the historic event.

Our preparations included applying some sun lotion, getting there early to beat the crowds and ensuring we had some vitals to munch on to keep the excitement at bay. As we drove to the game through typical Nassau traffic we came across our favorite peanut seller at a set of traffic lights. These guys stand by the lights and wander up and down the cars selling bags of peanuts for a dollar. We were first to the lights so knew we had plenty of time for the purchase and called over our man. “Do you have change for a $20?” Lisa asked. “Sure man” – at this he threw our bag of nuts in the window and proceeded to pull out an array of “singles”. He seemed to have as many pockets as our change: yep, 19! Every few seconds he would throw another greenback in the window while the lights changed.



I don’t know if it was really worth the $1 to him with no other sales at this stop but he seemed to be happy enough. As we careened off ahead of other irate drivers we could still hear “our man”, “You guys from England? I was brought up in Brixton”. From Brixton to Nassau selling peanuts – that must be quite a story.

Anyway on to the match. It was quite a formal affair with teams being led out by local dignitaries, a VIP box and national anthems (the BVI anthem is God Save the Queen). Although the crowd was not like Hampden Park – there was around 1000 there – they were enthusiastic and noisy (a Junkanoo band even showed up). The game was torrid with the Bahamas playing with a strong wind in their favor in the first half. Although they had most of the pressure they could not get the opening strike. So no goals meant the teams retired for their half time cup of tea knowing that the wind would be telling in the second period. Surprisingly the Bahamas took the lead at the start of the second half and actually looked comfortable. But BVI upped their game and got an equaliser with 20 minutes to go. BVI had a giant captain and for the rest of the game he would swing his leg to cannon the ball towards goal from all distances and angles. Fortunately for the home side there was no more scoring and we need to wait for the return leg to decide the outcome. You see, these contests are settled home and away only in this case both legs will be played in Nassau as the BVI pitch (I guess they only have one) is being dug up at present. So everyone retired to local hostelries to discuss the game and await final counter of Sunday.



This game marked the beauty of football. Here in a far flung corner was the first embrionic steps to World Cup glory. The fans, players and officials were all ready to enjoy the "beautiful game" ....and they did, although I don't think the Bahamas will play in a World Cup final.......but you never know.

Speed

Our car speedometer is in Kilometers.
We never know how fast we are going!

Good thing there is no road where you can go more than 35mph!

For more Wordless Wednesday fun visit 5 Minutes for Mom.

Nothing wrong with Harry's plumbing...

Harry has 27 siblings. That's our plumber.

As with most tradesmen, he came to us through a recommendation - that's the reliable way in the Bahamas. He and his company have been with us since the dark days when we only had the ocean for washing and ablutions. But until today we had only met his son, Andrew, who had done several marvelous jobs for us. Andrew is one of five (4 boys and 1 girl) who have all been trained by their father ("they start to learn on their 10th birthday"). Today Harry was here to help us out with a persistent toilet problem (no more detail necessary here) and got talkin'.

He was born on Eleuthra (one of the outlying islands), the 27th child of a brood of 28. His mother was a large, strapping lady while his father was a small, hard working man and they began having children when she was 13. She was effectively pregnant from adolescence through middle age. Other than the stunning natural beauty of Eleuthra there is obviously not much to do there. The family was hard working but struggled with such a large family. They lived in the sparsest of dwellings – 6 boys to room no bigger than a pantry. The oldest son managed to get to Nassau and pick up a trade. He returned to pass on the vital skills and thus the others began to strive. Now several of the family have a variety of building skills to their name and many live on New Providence Island. Harry has one of the most successful plumbing businesses on the island built on hard work and great customer service. But Harry has not forgotten the upbringing by his hardy parents or how tough and yet beautiful life was on Eleuthra.

I guess there’s a moral tale in here somewhere about hard graft and good fortune - but suffice to say that our plumber is a nice guy and has an interesting story. By the way, Harry wouldn’t take payment for the job he did today – “just buy me lunch”. Deal!

The Kids

Emily is having a great time at her Grandparent's house. She was with all the kids for the annual Nanny Easter Egg Hunt.



Victoria (Cousin Sally's daughter), Maggie (Sister Michelle's daughter) and Emily in their matching Easter dresses.



The girls plus Joseph (on Victoria's lap), lovely Jack (Sister Michelle's) and baby Tommy (Sister Michelle's).

When your children are around you every day you know they are growing - but you don't always think of them as growing up. The Easter picture email from Granddad included this photo and since she has been gone for a week we saw this picture with fresh eyes. Let me tell you... Emily looks so grown up.