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- - - 2007 Hurricane Season - - -

- Overcast but Comfy
  • From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
  • Date: Wed, 23 Apr 2008 12:22:44 EDT
Another gorgeous day in paradise with an odd haze towards the south making the horizon a tad fuzzy. Of course I just woke up, maybe it's me.  (Note, an hour later, I notice it is STILL fuzzy on the horizon).
 
81 degrees with slight to moderate winds, a bit overcast but comfy.
 
Hurricane names for 2008 are:
 
Arthur
   Bertha
      Cristobal
        Dolly
            Edouard
                Fay
                    Gustav
                        Hanna
                            Ike
                                Josephine
                                    Kyle
                                        Laura
                                            Marco
                                                Nana
                                                    Omar
                                                        Paloma
                                                            Rene
                                                                Sally
                                                                    Teddy
                                                                        Vicky
                                                                            Wilfred
 
We've already had BERTHA hit us years ago, in July, I think it was 1996,  but I guess she didn't do enough damage to be retired.   But I do remember her well, as I had my uninsured boat at the time (but I took refuge ashore) only a fool stays on their boat during a hurricane and mama didn't raise me a fool...  If you are a big old cruise ship, you can outrun a hurricane, but unless you can, don't.
 
Sunday morning we had 2 accidents, minutes apart,  involving 5 cars at Brandywine Bay. Did I read that right?  Good heavens, is that a sign of too many cars on our roads or too many idiot drivers?
 
I know I see a lot of folks trying to cause wrecks. My pet peeves are BIG TRUCKS and their drivers. It seems to ME that if a BIG TRUCK is coming around a blind curve and overtaking your lane, he should HONK long and loud before the turn and give you a chance to run and hide.
 
Several times I have been on these switchbacks, only to have a BIG TRUCK suddenly appear in my lane, forcing me off the road and speeding my heart up to triple pace!  A few times, I've almost ruined perfectly good undies!  Makes me wonder if these BIG TRUCKS have properly trained drivers. This also goes for those big oversized SUVS that are becoming so common here, if they intend to take over your lane, seems to me they should HONK loud and clear before hand so you know, something BIG is about to run you down.
 
My other pet peeve is TAXIS. The cruise ship business seems to have brought egotistical taxi drivers out of the wood works. (My friend referred to them as snakes coming out of the woods...)  They stop in the middle of the road, blocking traffic and very often blocking parking lot entrances, driveways and turn-offs to other roads. They don't want to pull off cause it takes 10 seconds out of their time.
 
A few times I've nearly been killed at the Frenchman's Cay bridge intersection. The Cay road has the Stop signs, the cars exiting the bridge and coming onto the Cay (turning left or right) have the right away. BUt here comes some oversized taxi, barrelin down the road, with his mirror brushing by the Stop Sign,1/2 inch away, which  he thoroughly ignores, catching anyone coming off thebridge total unaware (it's a blind corner!)
 
Recently this happened (again) to me and I wanted to yell at the taxi driver that he was supposed to STOP (isn't that what the STOP sign is for?) but instead he yelled at me for being in the way!  I guess those STOP signs are just put up for decoration. Maybe we need new STOP signs that read "STOP!  unless you are a TAXI!" 
 
I don't know of any new traffic laws that exempt taxis from obeying the rules of the road, but drive around the island for a day and make a list of all the taxi infractions and you will need a BIG thick pad of paper and several pens (cause you will run out of ink!) 
 
The buses hauling the tourist cargo seem to think, that they can block in parking lots and block entire roads. Time and time again, I have gotten stuck for 5-15 minutes, because taxis are parked in the road in both lanes, not allowing any traffic to pass in either direction.
 
I went into a grocery store, came out and the road had so many taxis parked on it, I couldn't get out of the parking lot at Sopers Hole. I politely asked a taxi driver to move so I could leave, and he told me off. He was the one illegally parked while I was legally parked, wishing to depart. Something wrong with this picture.
 
Makes me miss my boat life even more, back then I didn't even own a car. Walked everywhere or hitchhiked and because I lived on a boat, I rarely shopped anyhow except for bare necessities, many which couldn't be found half the time anyhow (at least in those days!)  Once in a great while I splurged on a taxi bu tfinding their rates pretty awful, it was very RARE.
 
Which remains  my number one pet peeve is we still DON'T have a public bus system. Something simple with small buses, and park-and-ride parking lots. So you could own your own car, but leave it in a public parking area, near your home, hop on the bus, do your ting, then come back, and drive your car home. Many folks here don't want to own cars (me included!) so this would solve a lot of problems for loads of hitchikers as wellas car owners.
 
This should alleviate tons of traffic, particularly since at any given moment on a weekday, it seems over 1/2 the island is stuck in Road Town traffic.
 
I remember my first trip here, back in the dark ages, I rode in a beat up old rusty taxi out of West End. There were 3 taxis when I came off the ferry and they agreed among themselves who got me as the fare.  On the way to town, we passed ONE car and the taxi stopped because he knew the driver and we chatted then went onwards. ONE CAR we passed in ten miles of bumpy driving. Ah those were the days...
 
 
Warm and Pink Regards,
DearMissMermaid.com




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- Boringly Nice!
  • From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
  • Date: Mon, 21 Apr 2008 18:20:58 EDT
Well, our weather has been and plans to be, completely boringly nice!  Just a great time to be on vacation here.
 
Wednesday 4/23
Morning  
Light winds with a slight chop. Small short period wind waves.
Winds: ESE 8 to 11 knots
Seas: ENE 2 feet at 8 sec.
Afternoon 
Light winds with a slight chop. Small short period wind waves.
Winds: SE 8 to 11 knots
Seas: ENE 2 feet at 8 sec. 
 
 
 
 
Accommodations  still available for the MusicFest in May.
 
(hyper links are underlined)
 
Warm and Sunny Regards,
DearMissMermaid.com




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- Dark Side of the Moon
  • From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
  • Date: Mon, 21 Apr 2008 02:34:34 EDT
Sunday was the official Full Moon.  I got up early to write a weather report (Sunday) and the Internet was cranky and crashed. I couldn't get it back up, and called to report it was down. This was met with a long drawn out groan, followed by a hapless operator explaining that GSM phones weren't working either.
 
What that has to do with Internet, I have no idea, as I am seriously techno-challenged.
 
The past few nights I have been up at around 3 am, when the full moon has been passing over the harbor and lighting up the night in this brilliant midnight blue...  Unfortunately, I can't seem to capture it on my camera, but will continue to try.
 
As for the weather, there really hasn't much to report on other than it is perfect or as my cat would say purr-fect! 
 
This was my view at breakfast this morning.
I don't know if life can get any better!
 
I wake up and thank my lucky stars that (A) I woke up alive and (B) I have a view like this over coffee.
 
Life has been a comedy lately. I hit my head a while back and find that I sometimes do things twice and remember once. Like I called my friend twice in 5 minutes and asked her the same question (she pointed this out to me later in the day).  I was incredulous, but checked my two phones, and not only had I called her twice in 5 minutes, but once on each phone.
 
Another friend called and I apologized for not getting certain information to them only to be told I had already emailed it the day before. Oooops!
 
Now if I could remember to use that spell heckler twice...  and did I say two phones?  Oh dear. I must return one.
 
Then a lucky labor of love, my friend was visiting today and noticed that my foot is still swollen up something awful. He massaged it quite vigorously which nearly put me to sleep and made all the swelling go away. Where it went I have no idea, but I feel like I am light on my feet now, no longer dragging around this ball and chain for a foot or fin!
 
I didn't make it to either full moon party, I decided to stay home and  let the foot have a rest, as I am sure dancing on it wouldn't have helped and it felt so wonderful to have that swelling gone.
 
I ran some business errands earlier today and came home wondering why all the furniture was slightly moved and out of place a tad bit. How rowdy can a few cats be?  I know when they are chasing indoor prey, they bang into furniture and shove chairs around, but all the furniture moved? Then I noticed my houseguest  had cleaned the floors!  Holy cow!  What did I ever do to wake up and be so lucky today?
 
While talking to a friend from California, he suggested it was because it was 420.  Now if you want to have some fun type  420 in your Internet search and see what interesting articles come up.
 
Life is good.
 
 
Warm and Bumpy Regards,
DearMissMermaid.com




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- Sufferin spell heckler!
  • From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
  • Date: Sat, 19 Apr 2008 10:35:21 EDT
Lawdy mercy, I was trying to hit that spell heckler button and I hit the send button and POOF my missive below, went out to cyber world with lots of boo-boos.
 
But if you can read it OK, then you crazy like me! 




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- Aloe? Hello?
  • From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
  • Date: Sat, 19 Apr 2008 10:23:19 EDT
Wild temperature swings, from 70 at 3am to 80 at 9am. Might get wet and rainy today!  But for now it's perfect weather for water sports and sailing.
 
Earlier this mornign I wrote this but the internet died before I could get it out:
It's 633am and the neighbor has his jerk-hammer going again. His crew spends all day running a rusty concrete mixer that is in desperate need of oiling, then the next day the owner uses his jerk-hammer to undo what they did.  He typically starts his jerk-hammer at 630 or 700am and runs it until 830am.  This gives him plenty of time to wake up and irritate the entire neighborhood.
 
Tortola:  Where people do as they please!  We'll all be glad when this forever house gets built, but why on earth it takes so much jerk-hammering on a NEW house, just boggles my sleepy brain. But reading plans to build, was never a priority in the islands.

Recently one of his crew left concrete in the hand mixer and it solidified. This is a no-no. Now they can't make anymore concrete until they get the old stuff out.
 
SO for several days now,  someone shows up and bangs on the concrete mixer with a pathetic little hammer. All this does is make a very LOUD sound and dents up the outside of the concrete mixer and does NOTHING to dislodge the concrete inside. 
 
I don't want to work, I want to bang on the drum all day!  Remember that song by Todd Rundgreen?  It was and still is hugely popular here!  It's on  his The Ever Popular Tortured Artist Effect album and is a really catchy tune with a fast rock beat. Check out the album or the video.
 
I don't want to work
I want to bang on the drum all day
I don't want to play
I just want to bang on the drum all day
Ever since I was a tiny boy
I don't want no candy
I don't want no toy
I took a stick and an old coffee can
I bang on that thing 'til I got
Blisters on my hand
Because...
When I get older they think I'm a fool
The teacher told me I should stay after school
She caught me pounding on the desk with ny hands
But my licks were so hot
I made the teacher want to dance
And that's why...
Listen to this
Every day when I get home from work
I feel so frustrated
the boss is a jerk
And I get my sticks and go out to the shed
And I pound on that drum like it was the boss's head
Because..
I can bang on that drum
Hey, you want to bang at it?
I can do this all day!
For hours this guy below bangs away. I wonder how much they pay him to bang on the drum all day.
 
He isn't the least bit rhythmic. He bangs erratically for awhile, spreading out his dents, then he takes a food break.  From what I can tell, he works an hour, then eats breakfast. Then he bangs another hour and then sits down to eat a snack.
 
After another hearty hour of banging unrhythmically on his  concrete drum, he takes a nap. Then he wakes up and bangs some more before he takes a lunch break.
 
After lunch he takes another nap, then bangs on his drum some more, then takes a snack break. After that he bangs on it (not a single chunk of concrete has yet to break lose from all this fruitless banging, but the mixer sure is beat up looking by now!) but he bags away some more.
 
Now he takes a beer break. Yacks with the other crew about how tough his job is, then he gives it a few more bangs and goes home.
 
After about four days of this banging on the drum all day, SOMEBODY noticed the concrete mixer was still full of concrete. Now they have been jerk-hammering at it for a few days. This is a tiny concrete drum, not the truck type!  But it make take until next year to get that mess out of there.
 
I love it here. I must be crazy. When I first came here. My new found friend, a transplant from down island,  said "You must be crazy to live here." 
 
I smiled.
 
He said "If you ain't crazy, then you will be, if you stay here."
 
I smiled.
 
He said "Dems dat not crazy, dey leave here, cause dey say it make dem crazy if dey stay here.  So all we gots now is crazy people living on Tortola."
 
I explaiend to him how I had been sailing the high seas in between taking breaks on St John.
 
He looked at me and said "Oh den you already crazy. You be fine here, mon. "
 
Yeah, I listened to him, but since I was quietly escapting from the world's largest oepn air insane asylum (St John) I wasn't intimidated. Some days me thinks Tortola is a few clowns short of a circus.
 
***********
Don't forget to VOTE for the cat before April 22, and see if we win and can donate $10,000 to the BVI Humane Society!
Aloe Flowers in Bloom
 
 
 
Warm and Silky Skinny Regards,
DearMissMermaid.com




Need a new ride? Check out the largest site for U.S. used car listings at AOL Autos.
 
Warm and Sunny Regards,
DearMissMermaid.com




Need a new ride? Check out the largest site for U.S. used car listings at AOL Autos.

Older reports from the BVI have been moved to another page.

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