Holiday time

( Part 47 )

While living in Anguilla we were also able to see the famous annual Boat Race, which lasts for a whole week. Unfortunately, we were not able to attend the entire race as we didn’t know it was taking place. Public message around was that due to the coronavirus, all events were cancelled. Even on the internet, nothing could be found. By chance, I came across information that it was taking place that day, and we decided, to at least see that one. It was supposed to start at 12 noon, but of course it started at 12:30, as Anguilians always have time 😉. We met some friends who had done the races, and it turned out that the biggest boats would be racing at 3pm, followed by the prize giving, and of course the party. As per standard, the second round was also delayed an hour, but who cares. The important thing is that they sailed at all.

Boat Race

Vacations ongoing, but some duties are calling. 10th August was the day to register children for their first year of secondary school. In our system, it would have been grade 7. We went around noon. A queue like for meat. We just paid the registration fee and gave up. We drove up to the ATM to take out money because some sort of hurricane was forming and in such cases it’s good to have cash with you so you don’t starve to death 😜. It happens that on a normal day there is not enough money at the ATM, so you don’t have to take risks during a hurricane. We got back to the school before closing time. The queue was smaller and everything went quickly. My daughter qualified for Band 1, i.e. the best class, as did my eldest son. I’m bursting with pride 😌. What can I say, it’s clear who they inherited their genes from: cleverness, wisdom and intelligence, not to mention the rest 😉. From me, of course, if any of you had any hesitation with the answer 😉😆.

Towards the end of the school holiday, we also started ours. We decided to explore Anguilla (you know, we didn’t have much of options due to the ban on leaving the island), along, across and diagonally. We started from the West End. We drove to the tip of the island and arrived at Sherrick Bay. A beautiful white beach. A remote location. The views beautiful. Unfortunately, we returned home as the sun 🌞 was very strong. In the following days we visited more beaches. The sun was so tiring that the news that another storm was coming and there would be at least some wind made us happy.

“Forest”

We also went to a beach with a ‘forest’ next by. Finally, something other than just sand and water. A beautiful view, if you ask me. Admittedly, it’s still a long way from the mountains, but the sheer scenery of paths, trees and vegetation, brings joy to my heart. We decided to explore the whole island this summer, because we didn’t know how much longer we would be living in Anguilla. Things started to go uncomfortable at my husband’s job. We started planning our return, just in case we were suddenly out of work. Somehow we needed to get off this island. To take all our possessions of life, which travel with us from place to place, continent to continent, plus an additionally a dog. To our 17-square metre “apartment”. It’s hard to imagine how we’re all going to fit in there with all our belongings and the dog. After thinking about it for a while, for me, that wasn’t a real problem, but instead the children’s school.

At the end of the summer holidays, we decided that we were moving out of that house, because it was impossible to function like that. There had been no hot water for 2 months. It was nice of the GM to offer us a place in a hotel, but we made the decision to move straight to another home. I can’t hide the fact that the temptation was huge because we would get the best presidential villa with its own pool. The problem turned out to be the owner of the house. Instead of replacing the boiler, he started sending my husband text messages with psalms. No words.

We finished our holiday by visiting the other side of the island. It was hard to get there with our little car 🚗. The regular road already finished and was getting worse, and unfortunately our “jeep” would not survive it. So we left it on the road and continued on our feet. There is a mountain that we climbed to see the surroundings. Anguilla conquered 🙂 Goal achieved. I can say that I have explored Anguilla the length and breadth of the island. On the last day of the holiday, we went to a French bakery for our favourite tarts. Unfortunately, around noon, it wasn’t much left, so we took whatever was there. As we were leaving, Suzan, the owner, stopped us, and packed some more pizzas and quiché in different flavours to go for us, so we had lunch already too. How this Mary takes care of us. A week ago, a lady paid for our shopping, i.e. we went up to the checkout and the employee told us it was already paid for. And here such a package. We spent the rest of the day on the beach 🏝.

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