Francesca found the villa with absolutely no directions, what a clever homing pigeon.  We were met by Urban Jones the caretaker who is delightful.  It is fantastic but up a very steep hill indeed.  Bob didn’t fancy helping everyone up that hill with their luggage so decided that we needed a hire car so asked Urban to take us to the car hire place leaving Francesca at the villa in case of family arrivals.  Bob and I climbed into the front of his truck, and it was a long way up, making the two women with him sit in the open back which seemed a bit unfair.  I asked Urban if one of them was his wife.  He laughed his head off, they were both his daughters.  We stopped by at the police station to pick up the local licence, a prerequisite to hiring a car on Nevis and while the forms were meticulously completed, very slowly as is their wont, we admired the man behind his desk’s colleague who was asleep, very comfortably, across her desk.  As we left I joked with the girls in the back about my error about them being Urban’s wife and, distracted, promptly fell down a hole landing heavily on my knees.  Oops.

We got a car eventually and returned to the villa to await Dunc, Dolley and family.  The water taxi kept coming in, but no Frearson’s son.  Eventually we found out that the airline had lost one of their suitcases and they had therefore missed the taxi.  No problem, Wincent the transport manager was on the case and eventually tracked their progress.  Bob and I dashed off to the supermarket to buy nappies for Avery and essential “get us through the night” toiletries.  They arrived, with Katie too having met her on the water taxi dock much to their mutual surprise and were able to find Francesca in the bar awaiting. We got back from the quick shopping trip, and yes Bob was as grumpy as ever throughout this visit, and there they all were.  Just Pop to come so we all had dinner and then waited like eager puppies waiting for her to arrive. 

Katie is scrupulously honest and, on arrival at St Kitts, when asked if she had anything to declare, explained that she had an enormous quantity of Brussels sprouts. Fortunately they had absolutely no idea what they were and they let her in, probably thinking that she was just a little bit mad. Katie has however been complaining ever since that the sprouts, Christmas gifts, plus Pop and Francesca’s stockings, in her luggage meant that she had no room to bring any clothes. A martyr to the Christmas cause.

Many Carib beers later, and the bar had closed, it transpired, from Wincent, that Pop’s flight had been cancelled for no particular reason and therefore she was still at Antigua airport.  Wincent assured us that she would be met in the morning, if they let her on the flight.  We retired to bed on Windy just a teensy bit perturbed.

Oualie Bay is not very sheltered and waves whack in tossing the boat around as if it is a toy.  Windy has a few problems in the joinery department, a bit arthritic it might be said, and moans and groans like a Captain Pugwash sound effect.  We didn’t get much sleep.

We arose and eagerly went ashore and were delighted to find that we had a full complement awaiting us on the beach.  Pop had arrived after a night on the floor of the airport with just 10 East Caribbean dollars to her name. 

Bob, as duty driver, was required to accompany us to the supermarket for the big Christmas shop.  Pop and Francesca came along and we managed to fill two trolleys most happily but Bob was given strict orders that he could only come in if he behaved.  After a stern look when he started commenting on the amount of water being piled into the trolley, he drifted off, fortunately.

After stuffing the fridge and freezer with out ill gotten gains we had lunch on the villa balcony overlooking the bay and views across to St Kitts.  Grumpa and Granny were then inveigled into swimming duties and spent a fabulous time sploshing in the pool with a very eager Alex and Avery.  They cavorted until their teeth chattered and Grumpa couldn’t take any more.

We’ve been back to the boat to hang out the red light, now christened Roxanne by Francesca, and are back in the villa about to go out to dinner.  I suppose that I shouldn't mention that I tried to walk through the patio doors when I arrived.  Too clean, obviously.