The next decade....what's in store?
Musings of a yamfooted traveller still trying to shake off those last 20 pounds as she treks across the Caribbean
I went to BNS Liguanea this morning. I had got up, washed up, barely did anything to my hair, threw on a washed out shirt and my jeans (which are slowly disintegrating!). So in short, I really did nothing to me. (As usual I hear you say....so true!)
I am at the teller (the line moved quickly today) and another guy who works over at Customer Service who is very friendly and who I say more than just the "can I have my balance please" to, was walking by the teller and stopped to say hello. So I said hello and he said "how are you?" and I said "fine" and he said "I can see that". But I didn't hear so I said "sorry?" And then in tandem, two of them repeated what the CS guy said.
Dem lie you see!
But you ever wonder what people see when they look at you? Do you see what I see? That would be fun....looking at oneself through the lens of another person. If only it was a matter of switching glasses...if you wear glasses. That would be kewl, init?
Went to the hospital to return an item I had borrowed from the goodly doc today. On the way downstairs, I saw a nursing student from Northern Caribbean University (the uni is based in central Jamaica). She came in the lift (that's elevator to the Americans) with me, so as I am known to do, I said hello and asked her why she chose nursing.
She said "it's the next best thing."
I said "you mean next best to being a doctor?".
She said yes, then she said "mediocrity".
I had by this began to ask her why she didn't go ahead and do medicine. So the "mediocrity" tag was referring to herself.
So I said "oh, you were mediocre. Why?"
She said "I don't know....I guess I'm just lazy sometimes." I said to her "I certainly can identify with that."
My undergraduate degree was just that. Mediocre. Still, I ended up with an Upper Second Class Honours which I don't think I deserved because I did diddly squat. Anyway, and older, wiser Yamfoot decided to aim for higher heights when she did the masters 12 years later. The aim was a distinction, and the aim was achieved. Did I mention that myself and Safari were two out of only 14 students out of about 150 who got distinctions?
If there is hope for me, then there is hope for this young nursing student. I just hope she turns out to be a super nurse, and is then motivated to go on to study medicine. But I just thought it was good that she was so honest with herself. You gotta own your problems, faults, etc.
Go and get your juck! OK, maybe that's not the way to say it to convince you to go.
You may have read that two priests who were not Jamaican, were shot dead in downtown Kingston, from one single bullet. The theory is that it was a stray bullet. These priests are part of a group called Missionaries of the Poor who do great work for poor Jamaicans as well as people with HIV/AIDS. So who would want to kill them, right?
Well the bullet went through the head of one, into the other. Father Richard HoLung, who, apart from being a priest is also a producer of a musical event called Father HoLung & Friends, has written an article in today's Gleaner talking about the killings and that they forgive the gunman/men.
I guess that's what it means to be a priest. Forgive them Lord, for they know not what they do. I wonder how the shooter feels when he hears all of the news surrounding the killing? Probably nothing. He is probably numb with anger, rage and fury, all directed at life and those who participate in it.
Claude from the Blogland went to visit the compound. Here is his story
I tell you....my dreams are real funny. Sometimes they reflect what is happening in real life. I think this one does. It was when I was watching the weather tonight that I remembered what I dreamt last night. It involved a flight, food and the weatherman...
Those of you who live in Jamaica know Evan, right? He's head of the Meteorological service I think and he comes on the TV with local weather. Well, I dreamt that I had a flight on American Airlines. It was due, according to the ticket, to leave Kingston at 12:32.
At around 12:00 noon, I found myself in the dream to be at Evan's house, where a nice soiree was going on. Lots of lovely food; beautiful house set on lovely hilly lawns, great company. I don't wear a watch normally (the battery is dead and it hasn't been one of the priorities in the expense department) and so when I found out the time I said to myself "lawks, ah miss di damn flight". So I quickly found Evan.
Fortunately, the house was not far from the airport. The dream had now moved to Barbados by the way. Yes...mimicking the travelling that I do. So Evan dropped me at the airport in good time. I found it strange that I had no luggage. I mean, if I'm going on American, it's most probably for a flight to Miami. Right? Then of course I would have to have luggage, so I can put all my shopping in! But anyway, I only had hand luggage with me.
Reached to the airport, still very concerned and almost resigned to having to get the flight the next day. I trot up to the counter, only to find out that the flight had been delayed to 2:17pm! Also, apparently I had gone to the airport earlier and checked in my luggage! How di hell I didn't remember that is beyond me.
Well it's a dream, silly! It's ok to forget these things.
But seriously, I've been forgetting one or two things lately. One of them which is still in the recesses of my mind, is the manager for the BWIA airport operations in Kingston, who I know and even asked for by name when I travelled earlier this month. So far, I have got the last name, but the first name still escapes me and I will not ask my sister. I will remember it. I WILL!
****NEWS FLASH*****
I just remember the first name while reading over the blog! The ole brain still has it! No mind that it took me three or so weeks to remember!
That's how long it will take me to be elsewhere in the Caribbean.
See the pitter patter of my yamfeet here..... making its slow exit out of this hellhole they call Jamaica. When will they come walking back in here? Who knows.
Global Voices online, which is a blog that seeks to involve speakers from around the world in its international effort to diversify the conversations taking place online (lawks, I hope I got that right!) featured an online conversation Georgia Popplewell had with Nicholas Laughlin.
The interview is quite interesting, focusing on Caribbean bloggers and this whole seemingly new blogging phenomenon (boy, that word look like it spell tres wrong).
You should really read all of the interview to get the essence of it, but for those lazy ones reading (ah jes jokin'....lawks!) you can click below for the relevant bits....
GP: While several Caribbean bloggers do use handles, I'm sure a good part of their audience knows very well who they are - they're probably more nicknames than Salam Pax-like pseudonyms. But what you've been doing lately and what you were doing in the early part of your career as a blogger is certainly citizen journalism.
NL: Which brings us to this crucial point - both your blog/podcast and my blog are run by people who are, in their professional lives, journalists (of a sort).
GP: That's true. But why aren't more journalists blogging?
NL: Aren't they? Imran Khan in Guyana has worked as a journalist. Keifel Agostini, who now blogs from Tennessee, used to write for the Trinidad Guardian.
GP: You're right. Ryan Naraine is a sports journalist and tech writer. Michelle MacDonald (EDITOR'S NOTE**that should be McDonald) from Jamaica also does quite a bit of cricket journalism. Another trend I've noticed in certain territories - Bermuda, Belize-is expatriate bloggers.
NL: It's also worth noting that many Caribbean bloggers don't actually live in the region. Ryan Naraine and Free Trinidad in New York, for example.
The previews this week for Donald's The Apprentice had said that something would happen that never happened before. I didn't see the clip just before the show started, so didn't know what to expect.
Both teams had to create an interactive sales experience in a sporting goods store. The aim was to increase average revenue. Capital Edge team did golf and increased revenue in their store by a whopping 74%. Excel did baseball and DECREASED revenue by 34%.
Now you know The Donald likes money. So don't make him lose money. Well is not him, but the sports store. So he was mad. Hopping mad.
For those of you who don't normally watch, what happens is that he asks the Project Manager of the losing team to choose two people to bring back in the Boardroom, then they and The Donald argue about who should be fired. His two side kicks who this week were Carolyn and Bill (who won the first year), each contribute their two cents.
The Donald told three members of the team to go back to the suite and told all remaining four, including the Project Manager, to remain. They thrashed it out. The main point was it was a sales task and they failed.......badly.
The Donald said never had any team lost so badly. Then the dreaded "you're fired" came, to all four. The beauty queen Jen looked like she was about to cry. Then all four squeezed up in a taxi. We didn't see what their reaction was. Maybe they decided not to put them in the spotlight too much.
This show tonight taught that you're never safe in the business world, unless, maybe, you own your own business!
The lotto was J$40m for last Wednesday's draw, so I bought a couple numbers. I also bought Cash Pot. There are three Cash Pot games per day. It picks just one number, and you can wager various amounts on each number. So I might pick 22 as the number that will be drawn in a particular game. If I wager $10 on it, I will receive $260.
I bought 22 and some other numbers and played all three draws. 22 won! I had only wagered $20 on each number so only won $520.
The important point is this though. With the Cash Pot and lottery tickets I bought yesterday, I spent $480. It meant that I made back all that I spent.....and then some! Of course I bought the same set of numbers again today, so I didn't get back all of the $520.
Winning.....it feels good.
If you've been reading long enough, you may have heard me mention that I watch Days of Our Lives. That's the only soap opera I watch. No General Hospital, no Guiding Light, no Bold and the Beautiful, no Y & R.
Now one time when I went to Barbados, Princess P warned me that the DOOL they show there is way old. Not sure if it has improved now, but back then, you saw Hope with poofy hair, Alice was still young.....you know then that version was old. So apparently Bajans like their DOOL.
When I was coming back from there, I read the newspaper. In it was a letter from one David Brown.
Here's what it said....
DAYS OF OUR LIVES VIEWERS DESERVE BETTER
I am writing this letter on behalf of the Days of Our lives family. We are asking CBC-TV-8 management to treat us a litter better when they are showing the programme on evenings.
My first concern is that most evenings the programme starts after the scheduled 6 pm and then it finishes about 6:45pm or 6:50pm; then to show a five-minute music video leading up to the lottery draws.
Secondly, since we get about 40 ads during the programme, you are depriving us of much of the show which is years behind.
I know the ads make money, but, please, you need to do a bit better. I personally would suggest that you give us two programmes - the regular at 6pm and another one at 8:00am after the Mornin' Barbados show.
I think this will make a lot of us happy because the way you are treating us, we are really vex.
You lucky he didn't say "blue vex". But I thought this was hilarious! But you know, when you have a favourite TV show, it does hurt when they do crap like this and you don't get the full thing.
I think I prefer being away from Jamaica for my birthday, generally speaking. I'm able to do anything I want to do. However, this birthday last Saturday was spent well, so it wasn't the usual 'ho hum' kind of birthday that one could have had.
As you know, my friend 'Galliwasp' tied the knot on Saturday. That was a 10 am affair and by the time we got done with the reception, it was about 3:00pm. Came home, relaxed and then went by her parents' house where the newlyweds had invited people to.
What that did was allow people who could not come for the morning part, to share with the couple in the evening. Also, because weddings are expensive ventures, not everybody could be invited to the morning session, so they had an opportunity to be with the couple on their special day....(and my special day too!).
Great idea, don't ya think?
You know, my brother was commenting the other day at the other wedding we went to, how cynical he is of weddings, having seen many marriages go off track and all vows go through the window after a short time. Me too. I look at a couple interacting and I form my opinion about the future health of their relationship.
I haven't been wrong too often. I have a good feeling about this one.
When you get to my age (ha!) you have to spread out the celebration, so it continued into Sunday and the family went to brunch at a hotel called the Terra Nova. Mucho mucho food (Camp....help me out, ah fuhget what food is in Spanish....alimiento?). There were all types of salad, including a nice seafood salad, a lot of meat like lamb and pork and curry chicken, and plenty plenty more (I walked on by), breakfast type stuff like ackee & saltfish, callaloo, dumplings and bammy, plus cheeses, smoked seafood, breads, desserts and fruit.
The service was moderate. Our main waiter Hewen was quite interactive and not stiff, so that was pleasant enough.
The one draw back was this. The Terra Nova is an old style hotel. Previously, brunch was served on the verandah so you had that nice country house feel to it. They've since moved it into a square room, which is a kind of air conditioned tent. The tent is not the problem. The problem is that you're in a great hall kind of place, like a banquet hall, and so it is not intimate. And anybody who there with si-maddy them not supposed to be with....well, there is no hiding place. The room is too open.
There were also people there dressed to the nines, while others were in denim shorts. They should have a standardized dress code, evern if it is 'no shorts allowed'. Jamaica's culture is such that shorts is not fashionable wear, no care if is Oscar de la Renta or Versace.
The rounding out of the birthday weekend was a solo flight to see flightplan.
Wow!
On the spur of the moment, I went to see this movie alone tonight. A friend of mine told me she had seen it this past week, and said she wouldn't tell me about the ending. Good thing she didn't. I had seen the trailer and it looked interesting. Man, was it ever!
I won't give it away, in case you haven't seen it. All I can say is never underestimate a mother's intuition.
Speaking of flight plan, I need one of my own.......
Ho Hum.
That was what a fella who was being introduced to me at Galliwasp's house last night said, the moment he set eyes on me. So I'm thinking that maybe he saw my picture in the Gleaner publication Hospitality Jamaica, or maybe he has seen me at cricket.
Anyway, he went inside to get food, came back out very confident of where he knew my face from. "I know where it's from.......the #67 bus".
Shock and horror! I was stumped, really I was. Do you know that I last took a 67 bus in 1985 when I was in Upper Sixth?
We discussed where he would get off and that the 67 bus was a real social gathering. There would be girls from St Hugh's, boys and girls from Wolmers', occasionally some George's boys, and Campion College girls and boys. So at end of school time on a week day, the bus would have pure schoolers. Everybody would be chatting, and you'd say 'hi' to whoever was coming on to the bus because you knew them. Nice lime.
Last night, some of the people there were saying that the fact that he remembered me from OVER 20 YEARS AGO!!!! could either be looked at as a positive thing or not so positive thing. Of course I am choosing the positive thing....that I've kept myself so well and stress free, that I look as young as I did 20 years ago.
I mentioned the other such incident in the Pegasus a couple months ago? Did I? Well, I am walking down the lobby and a girl passes me and says "Hi Michelle", so I say "hi" back, very enthusiastically of course. Then, because I really didn't know who she was, I said "could you remind me of your name please". She told me, but it still did not ring a bell. Unashamed, I asked "remind me from where again....the ole brain not working so well these days". She laughed and said "from St George's Primary".
Sh*t!! I left there in 1977. That is 28 years ago! Then she says to me "you haven't changed one bit Michelle".
Yeah. Still plump. But at least I'm not so overweight that them don't recognize me.
Compared to the last two years, this year's birthday (which is Saturday by the way in case y'all fuhget) is going to be very low keyed and not totally self centred.
I mentioned a few weeks ago that my good friend Galliwasp chose my birthday to get married. Ok....so it was just a coincidence, but it means that I will never forget her anniversary and hopefully she'll never forget my birthday! So that is at 10:00am tomorrow. Then in the evening, she is having a drink up at her house for her after-wedding bash, so will be going to that.
It therefore means that my birthday celebration will be on Sunday morning, with the family going to brunch at Terra Nova. Much has been written about the brunch in recent times, so we're going to test it out and see.
Not sure if I will be able to get in the gym class at 2:30. The last morning wedding I went to was supposed to have started at 9am and I thought I had lots of time to get to the class at 2:30. However, it started about 9:30, and I ended up getting to the class at 3:15pm. The class goes until a bit after 4 so I still got in a fair bit of exercise. I went and told the teacher today that I may not come because of the wedding, and also threw in the fact that it was my birthday. She asked me how old I was and I told her I'd be 39. She's 41.
I'll tell you a story about age in the next post.....
I been on a couple weight loss blogs lately and I see a lot of people have pictures of themselves, even their faces. I will still keep my face a mystery, but I've decided that I'll show you some pichas of my obese body (so the BMI chart says.....Yamfoot is obese)
These two pictures show what a difference ten years makes. In the 1994 picture to the left, it had been a year since I returned from my first stint in the UK, where I lost 20 pounds in three months and weighed about 170 pounds. I'd like to get back to this size. The January 2004 picture was taken at 229 pounds in Orlando.
The ones below are the Swimsuit Illustrated ones.....me in swimsuit. The Nov 2003 one was taken on a boat in Grenada. The May 2004 one was taken at Holiday Inn, as was the May 2005 one. I can make out subtle changes in the shape of my legs, which have become less cellulite ridden, for which I am extremely grateful. I have Pilates to thank for that.
Just finished watching the second Bridget Jones movie (Bridget Jones and the Edge of Reason I think it's called).
Did you see it? No?
Well Bridget is fat, about a size English 12, and she has trouble finding suitable men. The Hugh Grant character she has sworn off after one or two shags. At the end of the first one (Bridget Jones' Diary), she found that she liked Mark Darcy, played by Colin Firth.
So in this second movie, she's in a relationship with him that lasts all of 8 weeks. Then she nearly sleeps with Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant) in Thailand. She doesn't, because she is still thinking about Mark Darcy. After Mark, a Human Rights lawyer helps her get out of jail in Thailand for cocaine smuggling (doan offer to carry nutten fi nubaddy), and she hears how he had to move the earth and the moon to do it, she realizes that she is in love with him.
But while they were broken up, she had resigned herself to being a 33 year old single fat woman, never to find love or anything even close to it.
So I thought of myself. Only I'm not a size 12, but rather an English 16-18. And I'm approaching 40, so I think that's it for me init. Am I worried? Not really, but I sure would like to know what it's like before I die (which could be at 40) to really feel that warm and fuzzy tingling feeling that makes you act kinda stupid even, about a man. I'm sure SmallIslandGirl Amelia could write a book about that!
But anyway, lemme continue roaming, and let my eyes wander. Maybe they'll settle on someone. Just maybe. (But I'm not really looking)
Honestly.
It's freezing tonight. I don't tolerate the cold very well because of the low haeboglobin (dat prolly spell wrong!) and, well, I'm a black woman living in a tropical country.
As you may know, it's been raining here, and this has contributed to the low temperatures. Turbidity struck today and so the water is gone. I'm at pains to understand why after so many years of experience with heavy rain, why the NWC can't develop some piece of equipment to deal with treating waters when the rivers are in spate! There is technology for everything these days!
I'll have to lock up all the windows tonight. Didn't last night and my niece also had the fan on, so I'm feeling a bit flu-y tonight. Even sneezed a few times today. Can't remember the last time I sneezed. Of course I have downed several milligrams of Vitamin C today.
In the hairdressing salon today, a man came in selling June Plum (Pomme Cythere) and Sweet Sop (Sugar Apples). He punctuated most of his sentences with "to God be the glory".
I heard him say how life is good since he got saved recently. But the sad thing is that his baby mother says she is not sending the kids to look for him. He says when he talks to the kids they say they want to come and look for their daddy.
Why people stay so eeeh?
I wonder what he was like before he got saved.
Any of you had that "washed in the blood" experience of getting saved?
Yesterday I felt in the mood for a hair cut. If you know what natty head look like, that's the kind of hair I have without processing. Because that is really really tough to comb....really tough.....I put a texturizer in it. The natural hair has curls that are really very tightly wound. So think of a coil that has almost no space in between each rung. That's how my hair looks when it is natural.
The texturizer stretches out the coil of the curls a little, so it's still curly, but much lighter, and much easier to maintain and look after. Now sometimes, if you leave the texturizer cream on too long when it is being processed, the coils straighten right out. That's what happened to a few of my ends.
There is a hairdresser I go to when I want a hair cut. Nobody else in Jamaica or the Caribbean or England (and I've been to a few in those places) can cut hair as good as Mrs A. NOBODY. Period. She operates a salon called La Claire's on Constant Spring Road near the plazas.
She wasn't there yesterday, so I had to go today. I just sat in the chair, she asked me how I wanted it cut, I spent a couple seconds explaining it to her and then sat back, closed my eyes and listened to Days of Our Lives.
When she was done, she asked an assistant to give me the hand mirror so I could have a 360 degree view of my head. I said "no, no, I don't need to look in the mirror. Whatever Mrs A does will be great". And it was. Even some fo the other hairdressers said it looked great.
Dang she's good. When she was writing up my bill, I told her that I don't let anybody else cut my hair because I know she always does a perfect job. She said thanks and said that made her feel really good. I sent my mother to her one time, because her hairdresser was giving her some non-descript cuts. What Mrs A does is gives you a cut with precision. And it's always even.
So I'm liking my new short hair cut. I went to the gym today, so it all wet and sweaty. Maybe one day when it looking decent I will post a picture.
That is my true weight without my sneakers. I should do like the men do on Biggest Loser and take off all my clothes too!
But my start weight was in the sneakers, so I guess I have to continue using that figure. It was 213.5 today. The big thing about that was I did NO exercise while I was away, and did not walk up and down as much as I normally do.
Why?
Where I was staying, the main road had no sidewalks and the road was rather narrow. So instead of taking the bus, which would have meant more walking, I took taxis or got a ride.
But I am so pleased that I could go away for 9 days, not starve myself and don't gain any weight.
I am way behind though. I had wanted to be at 203 by 18th October. I guess that's not going to happen, but I have no one to blame but me. You get what you put in, and maybe I have not been putting in enough exercise. Well I KNOW I haven't been putting enough cardio and weights.
Next week. Next week. Soon come. Tomorrow.
May the gods of servers be with us all.
Amen
Well, I tell you. How opinions change. The first time I came here I was not impressed. That was either 1990 or 1991. The source of my dislike was that there were no mountains. No greenery like how I knew it.
Fast forward about nine years when I came back for a weekend while I was living in Grenada. Perhaps it was its contrast to the quiet laidbackness of Grenada, but I had a fantastic time. Princess P ensured that I was well looked after.
So I have been making frequent trips to Barbados since then. I must have gone over 10 by now.
What I like is the ease with which I can get around. Public transportation is great, though I haven't taken it yet on this trip. This is the because the road that I would have to walk up after I get off the bus has no sidewalks, and it narrow. I don't want you all reading that the yamfooted travelling one was squashed in Bimshire.
So today I took a taxi from town. I chose an elderly gentleman from the stand beside the Chefette near the Boardwalk. I figure he wouldn't be able to jump on me, though no such fears are necessary here.
Well, the dear gentleman turns out to be a huge cricket fan. What was on his mind?
1. They should have played Chris Gayle in the World XI match last night. "Oi jes love he" declared Mr Taxi Driver
2. Tell the Jamaican bowlers tomorrow that they must not bowl to Chanderpaul's leg stump because he is very strong on the on-side (Dr D, is ok if you don't understand!)
I shall certainly deliver that message because Jamaica has not managed to win any of the two matches it has played!
I got in yesterday and headed straight up to the ground in Crab Hill in the north. After rain interrupted play, the two spinners pegged back the Windwards (my second team) and we were on our way to victory. Then one of the fast bowlers came back on, picked up a wicket and he obviously got carried away and started to pitch it up short.
Rawl Lewis was in vintage mode (such a nice chappie) and hit everything out of the park. One over went for 23 runs! That pretty much sealed it.
Jamaica must do better against Guyana tomorrow, or else they have no chance of going into the semi finals.
Click here
Be sure to look at images 20 and 23.
As you know, I was just in Antigua (am now in Bimshire).
The check in at the hotel was great, but then it went downhill after that. The hotel had apparently been closed for a month for upgrade and had just reopened that day.
My air conditioning unit stopped working and that happened twice. So they changed me. The mini bar fridge didn't work (still isn't). But I was willing to overlook that, especially with my experience in hotel renovations.
However, the evening of the event I went to cover, I wanted to file my story. There is a dial up connection you can set up, however it was not working.
On my computer are several connections from my travels around the islands. I had one from St Kitts which I tried and it worked. Bingo. But lo and behold, a call to a neighbouring island was billed at US$1.00 per minute! Ludicrous!
Time to test this hotel's service recovery policy. You know what service recovery is? It's what a company does when a customer expresses dissatisfaction.
The night before departure, I filled out a guest comment card and wrote a separate note to the GM to say this cost was ridiculous and as a working journalist (that sounds nice doesn't it) I would appreciate anything he could do to reduce the cost, which having been to Antigua several times I knew to be not anywhere near US$1.00 per minute.
That night, I also filled out my form for room service breakfast and left it at Reception as instructed.
Well, the morning of my departure, 7:30am comes and no breakfast. I wait 15 minutes (as they indicate that that is the time within they will deliver orders). I call the restaurant only to hear that they have not received an order for me. I eventually get it at about 8:15am. Note that the driver was to have picked me up at 8:30am for the airport trip. Had to ask him to come at 9:00am.
Naturally, I wrote another note to the GM and when the tray was delivered I asked the server to take it to the GM. On the envelope was the fact that I was leaving at 9:00am.
So I go to check out. The telephone calls are on it as is. So I comment "oh, the GM isn't doing anything about the calls huh". The lady said that he wanted to see me before I left.
After waiting a few minutes on him, he came and was extremely apologetic about all the problems. Then he bowled me over by saying he was quite happy to take off all the telephone charges! I told him I would be quite happy with a 50% reduction but he insisted. Who was I to protest?
So from a point of me thinking that I would write very travel website and tell them about these faults, this hotel's service recovery method ensured that I will always recommend that hotel in Antigua....highly!
Moral of the story....
As a customer, you have the right to express your dissatisfaction. Please do not be afraid to use that right. As a hotel person myself, I would rather hearing that a guest has a problem, than having them checkout and not know. That could be very detrimental to the hotel's reputation.
I don't like to use that term "small islands' because from a Jamaican perspective, it is usually used derogatorily.
But there is nothing negative about these Eastern Caribbean islands I can assure you.
One of the things I like is being able to see the water from most places you are.
This was the view from my hotel room in Antigua (it was a bleak day)
Weddings....they always do that to me.
I hardly cry at funerals, but at weddings, I am so emotional. This morning (9am service) as I read the programme even before anything started (9:30am) I had to wipe a tear from my eye.
I think it is a HUGE, BOLD step for two people to say Yes, I want to be with you for the rest of my natural life. In fact, the Catholic father (Micheal Lewis) said the same thing.
The St George's College massive would know both the priest and the groom - he of the 'full pot' variety. Quite coincidentally, the bride went to both of the schools I went to. (I had met her a couple years ago and made the high school connection but not the primary school connection until this summer).
Lovely, short, interactive church ceremony. The priest had the congregation in stitches. When we left Stella Marris en route for the Pegasus, we were all much the better off for having attended.
The reception was also enjoyable. Nice size, nice food (it was brunch - chicken, callaloo, ackee and saltfish, rice and peas, cheese cake) and I did not eat the chicken, dreary weather but then we were inside so that didn't matter. The bridal party got their pictures in before the heavens opened and showered the event with blessings.
The souvenirs were great, and the wedding cake even greater (I hijacked my niece's own).
After the event which saw me leaving the hotel at circa 2:40pm, I dashed home, changed into gym clothes like I was catching an English train, and drove slowly to the gym. Got into the class at 3:17pm (it started at 2:30) so I got 45 mins of class today which was great because it will be another 10 or so days before I have another one of those. The teacher said to me at the end 'do work Michelle, you know what to do'.
So I gotta do some exercises while I am away. The good thing about Pilates is that you don't wear shoes, so it's not like running or walking where I would need to carry my big buffuto sneakers (Me and my Yamfoots...what yuh 'hexpect'? Is size 11 I wear you know).
Of course I am going to do the exercises, because it's because of them why I was able to wear the size 16 suit today. Lawks mi feel proud. And the thing is that I always lose weight when I travel for cricket, so another 2 pounds guaranteed to be lost while I am away.
OK, I signing off now.
I was packing today, and as is customary during that exercise, I had to try on clothes to make sure I don't carry anything that don't fit. Then you would hear me saying in Antigua or Barbados "but it fit me the last time I wore it". That is no guarantee that it would fit the next time!
Anyway, so I am there trying on, and what I expect to fit, fit. But then they had more room than previously. I even tried on a size 16 pants suit which I bought in foreign last year August which couldn't 'smell' me. Now please note...it's not size 16 X or W. It's a regular size 16 (according to the tag anyway).
So that fit (and will be worn to a wedding tomorrow with my straight hair which Dr D saw today) and I'm thinking 'I just don't get it. I haven't done anything differently eating wise or exercise wise. Maybe is just a fluke.'
Went to the gym as usual this evening and stepped on the scale. 213.something pounds. Was 215 last time. By the time I had sweat out some of it, I was at 212. But I put what I put on the weight slider thingy because I know it's possible that tomorrow I will go and the scale says something else.
This weight thing funny boy.