"My feet hurt...can we go knee-boarding now ?"

Tillymint.fortescue
Thu 22 Dec 2011 17:47
When you have the perspective of a newly-turned
seven year old, birthday memories still fresh in the mind even though a full 24
hours have passed since the big day, you tend to think every day should be just
as special. "What would you like for breakfast today, Herb ?" "Nothing..can we
go knee-boarding again, please?" (Not a strictly accurate report of events
because, as we all know, seven year olds have not yet mastered the art of saying
please or thank you in any circumstance.... that will take another ten years or
so to perfect). So, along the same theme, "Do you fancy a swim now ?" "No... can
we go knee-boarding again ?" "What about a walk on the beach ?" "No.. my feet
hurt, can we go knee-boarding again? "
While not being one of the planet's most observant
picker-uppers of moods and nuances, I was beginning to sense a theme developing
in the desires of the younger members' aspirations regarding the day's
activities. Jaz had a similar vocabulary and idealised activity schedule, also
without the use of any please / thank you -type words.
No surprise then then that, after a very nice snack
in the Carlisle Bay Hotel open-air restaurant (complete with humming birds,
pigeons and other tropical birds flying around.. a bit like eating in a budgie
cage only without the dangly mirror and bit of cuttle fish jammed into the cage
bars) we ended up doing a reprise of the knee-boarding session. By now,
the newly-qualified veteran boarders of one day's standing were moving onto
tricks. I particularly liked their wrap-around, one-handed,120-degree knee
slides.
With yesterday's white superyacht having scorched
off to some other destination, it was about time we had a blue-hulled superyacht
to look at. Luckily, we only had to wait five minutes for one to turn up, very
classical and understated in its elegance. Not long after, the helicopter
appeared too, to do a photo shoot from all angles for the latest Christmas
card (??), and with the yacht doing the equivalent of 360-degree circles in a
car park, they disappeared over the horizon leaving behind the thought that
maybe "Top Gear" were doing a new series in Antigua.
We are starting to realise the next sail will take
us to our final destination, a scary prospect given talk of drizzle
in England. For now though, the prospect of a freshly-made onion tartlet looms
to be swiftly followed by a refreshing swim and a genoa down to Nelson's
Dockyard. Simples.
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