Week 8 Villa
Beez Neez now Chy Whella
Big Bear and Pepe Millard
Sat 16 May 2020 23:57
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Week Eight at Sleeping Indian, Jolly
Harbour
    Sunday the 10th of May.
The day began early with a wonderful two-hour video call from Miffy,
Rachel, Andrew and Edward, OH how it really cheered us both up but, it also
highlighted that underneath all our busy-bee-ness how much we are missing all
our family and friends. Boiled eggs and a handsome win for me at backgammon was
all the comfort Bear could offer. Huh. For a
change I got a picture of the chef in delivery mode,
and the usuals - my perfect trio, Bear settled and a better look at his egg event.
 It rained heavily
enough to shroud Sleeping Indian Hill, and continued on and off all day.
Bear decided we needed a change, a break and a battery charge so he suggested we
hire a car for a week to go exploring for tiles etc. The
chap at Pineapple Car Hire answered the telephone sounding somewhat glum but
soon cheered up when he heard I was a customer. Nine o’clock on the
morrow then all done. Roast chicken and all
the trimmings with a glass of vino. I settled to write last weeks blog and Bear
set up a VPN as we are both fed up with the cable TV here....
  Monday the 11th. We
jumped up and were soon driving to Furniture Warehouse to see how much it would
be to change the kitchen countertop (still in my bid to eradicate anything to do
with brown). Short answer “No”. The sheet of counter, cutting and fitting comes
to two thousand and sixty six pounds, we simply cannot justify that so sadly it
was crossed off the list. Bear went in search of filters for the fridge and I
fell for a little vanity unity for the front bedroom.
Other than the new air con and a lick of paint I felt the room was not being
treated fairly enough. Bear called me just then......
  What do you
think to this sink ??? That’s a definite
wow and goes beautifully with the teal theme in our room and a no-brainer
compared to the current sink. Can I have it for my
sixtieth birthday ??? I won’t waste the old one I’ll make it a feature in the
front garden and grow cacti in it. Mmmm. We
didn’t buy but everything went in my workbook and pictures were taken. By the
end of the day lurve struck and we went back later in the week.
 Next was Mi Casa to look at tiles where we picked a soft grey for the staircase.
  If I can’t have a new kitchen work
surface then I’ll re-tile the splashback. We found a couple of trendy tiles that would almost work as a blend between what
we have and the soon-to-be-white cupboards – but not quite up to scratch, will
keep looking.
  Next, Town House to get a ‘proper’
sized pedal bin and after rummaging around upstairs we found two little tables for the patio – everyone needs a little
gopping so I snuck two candle lanterns to the trolley but Bear forgot the
bin...... Utterly impractical as it gets so hot during the day the candles will
simply melt but did that stop me ??? We did see a really lovely dining set and
coffee tables that got entered into my workbook. Bear stopped at a couple of
‘boys’ shops where he bought plumbing bits, enough for today let’s have a treat in the form of KFC, oooo
naughty.
Tuesday the 12th.
....
Wednesday the 13th.
....Both days spent searching through our list of shops. I bought Bear
a bell for his bike, we picked up loads more plumbing stuff for the outside
shower including the new showerhead, and lots little necessaries.
  Thursday the 14th.
We began by going back to Town House to buy the dining set we had seen,
the coffee tables and the decent sized bin, so love a big bin. We found VEG the
nearest equivalent to B&Q. The front door section
was the most impressive for me and I lost Bear in the maze
of ‘blue stuff’ for ages. I spent the time in the air conditioned tile
room that is undergoing a massive overhaul. I did find a rather lovely
splashback set and will await the skippers approval.
 We spent the next couple of hours in
the ginormous Epicurean and spent far too much on treats.......including a naughty cake for Bear’s birthday eve and an apple
turnover for me. Sitting at the cane dining table I am so pleased we are
replacing it, far too wiggly.....
 Friday the 15th.
Bear’s Birthday. Sadly, his special day had to begin with an unpleasant
task – to go and tackle The Alien about being double-charged our community bills
(part of the whopping bill of last week). I chose to pop in to see Lady Ronnie
and sign our contract and Bear appeared soon after having been told to go “in on
Monday”....... Growling. Bear drove back but I wanted to bimble to get in some
stomps, en route I picked some bougainvillea to make cuttings. Once back I set
about the boy’s birthday party treats and settled on
the bed to wait for Family Quiz time. A first for us.
   At one o’clock we waited excitedly
but nothing happened, a quick message to Kate – we had been left off the list
that would have told us the event had been put back an hour. We munched at our
treats and at two (seven in the evening UK time Stuart (nephew) appeared. In
total there were six sets of nieces and nephews and Team Tinson (led by Kate
daughter). Bear’s sister Cecily provided the entertainment. We had been sent an
instructional email during the week that told us which App to download and how
we had to have a mobile ready beside the IPad or laptop. Too much for the
Falmouth Duo. Twenty minutes or hilarious instructions from Stuart to his mum
and the mood was set for great fun. When we left in 2008 the first IPhone had
been out about six months, Skype was in its infancy and Facebook was very new to
us. Today, I was watching Bear chat to both his sisters and as people spoke they
were seen in one of the screen boxes. Incredible.
During a break between rounds Kate produced a chocolate
birthday cake complete with candles and Stuart
conducted twenty people (including two babies) in singing ‘Happy
Birthday’ to Bear. How fantastic and he got to blow his candles out in a
‘virtual’ way. So touching and we cannot thank everyone enough. What a special
memory for the last in his sixtieth decade.
  After we had come third and were
chatting to folks there was a knock on the door. Our new
dining set and two coffee tables arrived a day early. (Town house are
closing tomorrow as a mark of respect for a close family friend who had passed
away). Not without incident as Bear had to take the front door off to get the
delivery in. Quite pleased with the table (complete with drawer underneath) and
chairs, in came the twinkly placemats to complete the look. The coffee tables look at bit odd with their rubbed gold look
but that will soon be changed to grey.......
Time to cook Bear his birthday steak,
new potatoes and salad. What a very different birthday full of fun and
laughter.
  Saturday the 16th.
After breakfast and a win at backgammon for me, we had a visit from Amy
(Starry Horizons). After expertly parking her dinghy on the dock she
hopped up the steps and handed over some home-made sweet bread in the shape of a
knot. Tasty indeed. We showed her the total chaos about the villa and then
settled to chat - keeping up our social distancing of course. It made for a
lovely change, a great catch-up and time flew. There is a low pressure off
Florida that is delaying the decision to leave Antigua so we may enjoy another
visit. As Amy was leaving Mr. Kingbird flew in. I asked him not to disappoint
and threw a little piece of bacon rind in the air, great catch, then Mrs. came
in and she caught on the wing as well. We said our farewells and thought it was
high time that we got something done on our ‘in day’ as most of the shops we
need close on a Saturday but all open on a Sunday – seems odd but there we are.
First job for me was to organise a new larder. An
indoor air con box was set up to the left of the cooker and was soon quite
orderly with the tall storage and dry goods. A trimmed down outdoor air con box
to the far right became the tin cupboard. The lid placed on the top became the
parking place of condiments, sauces etc. Why ??? So the tall cupboard and all
the door fronts can go on their ‘oliday to be sprayed, hopefully next week
sometime.
   We took the glass from the old dining
table and set it on the patio table, dressed with the
Malaysian elephant placemats. Bear settled to eat his birthday tart (too full last night) and I was delighted to
see what I call Bear’s Mickey Mouse Eared cacti have begun sprouting roots so I spent a couple of hours potting them,
ready for the sink display ?? yes
indeed.
 A very welcome sight at dusk was
the fogger. Since lockdown the mosquito population
have been having a real party as no weekly fogging has been happening. Not many
on the patio but it only takes one or two to become a pesky
nuisance.
Other news. A massive fleet of yachts
have left to cross to Europe. A ship has loaded seventeen boats to take them
home from St John’s and we now only have two cases of Covid-19 left over on the
island – very good news.
ALL IN ALL PLENTY OF IDEAS
PINGING ABOUT
A GOOD BREAK FROM DOING AND FUN
FINDING |