Dunelm1's Blog

Dinner with Bill and Peggy

only 2 more of these!

 Sunday 28th Feb…That’s Jean in the water above!  Spent the day at Almond Beach (see pic below) We had a few clouds today but no rain so far this holiday. West Indies cricket reached all time low with defeat by Zimbabwe today. There is a general indifference to cricket here – so different to years ago. Kids all play football.    

Saturday 27th Feb….my regular readers will be expecting  rugby summary, but I thought about discussing the weather today which has been very hot and sunny. Perfect for beach, swimming and a boat ride up the caribbean coast. Only 3 days left and rather depressingly the agent phoned today about departure arrangements. We’re eating on the beach tonight and tomorrow we are meeting Bill and Peggy Williams for a meal. PS Jean rather liked the game today and keeps muttering something about 3 tries…..     

  Fri 26th Feb…..Just watched the rugby in a local pub with no other than Bill Williams.  We were hopeful when Shane scored his brilliant try but it was not to be. Wales played all the rugby and France fed on the errors and the only  Frenchman   in the packed pub agreed with me.    Beach BBQ tonight – had some great Bajan food last night.         

enjoying the local cuisine

orchid world

Thursday 25th Feb      I may have missed a day, but the sun is still shining on the righteous! Went on the obligatory Island Tour todayand saw the tropical lushness of the interior and the rugged Atlantic Coast. The bushes and trees are very colourful, but there is a general absence of birds and animals – no gulls for example – compared with other islands. Everyone is breathing a sigh of relief as the sea has calmed down and we can all resume beach walks etc. Paradise is never perfect as there are now jellyfish on Sandy Lane Beach = they certainly have expensive tastes.        

Nice mixture

Wed 17th Feb                    

Arrived Tuesday 16th 3.15 local time. Made it to the hotel in time to see magnificent sunset – just like the one below. The locals reckon there was a good green flash – we took their word for it. Pleasantly surprised by hotel room. Having found a really reasonable deal on the internet from some firm we had never heard of we were expecting cattle class accommodation but no! – suite with new bathroom and spa bath, and terrace 10 metres from pool.  So tell all your friends – go to the Holiday Place for big savings on hols!!                   

Thurs 18th   Long walk before breakfast and swim in sea. I’m enjoying arguably the best cricket book ever – Harold Larwood – sitting under a palm tree on the beach –  Mum is reading her ‘Silent Boy’  Both excellent Xmas presents. One drawback this time is the height of the tides and the slight roughness of the sea. We have been unable to do our usual beach walk. The locals reckon its due to the earthquake – a sort of mini sunami. Anyway its better today so were heading off in a minute to try our luck – take some money I think in case we have to get the bus back. Just spent 1 hour trying to correct family page pics – think I’ve got too much technology and not quite enough skill!                  

Friday 19th  Sampled really good Local cooking last night – superb fish called Mali-mali. We deserved it having walked 6 miles yesterday! Plenty of swimming in the sea today, the water seems very warm even for here. Strange mixture is Barbados. Tourism is the main industry and the are multimillion houses, plush hotels and mega rich residents. But of course it’s not like that for the average guy here and the state of the infrastructure and the roads is terrible except in the vicinity of the posh hotels and condominiums.  For us on all-inclusive it’s absolute bliss, we have a 6 o’clock rule for the bar, but some of our residents havent got the hang of  this am/pm thing.                 

Sat 20th Feb. Had a great beach BBQ last night and ate right next to the sea. Somewhat jaded this morning, but still went to Holetown Carnival. This is only about half a mile from the hotel and is the place where the Brits first landed in B’dos in early 17th century. A few pics of the carnival.           

Sun 21st Feb. Another hard day at the office – spent most of it at one of the sister hotel beaches for swimming and lunch. Some coastal walking as well. More Bajan cooking tonight.            

Mon 22nd Feb. Energetic day walking early and swimming. Coastal walk late afternoon before watching sunset (below). Sea is still rather rough – it is most unusual for the west coast. You can put away the hankies now reader(s)          

Tuesday 23rd Feb         

Almond Beach, Dover

tonight's sunset

Went to Dover (a lot of places here have English names). Beach, swim, lunch and back in bus. Sunset in half an hour and then we will eat tonight ‘Fine Dining’ by the waters edge. One week gone already!            

Holetown from a/c mall roof!

Part of parade

           

vintage tractors

 

view from the room

                     

                

               

              

             

 

 

             

               

 

            

   

 Festival Parade