A few photos of where I am..

St Lucia is charming me. I came with hardly any preconceptions, as, before I came, I found it hard to imagine what it would be like, except that it would be hot. Well, it is hot; a no more cold toes, trickles of sweat, warm breeze on the skin, through to the bones kind of hot, and I love it. The highs so far, in no particular order have been; the night time lullaby of tree frogs and cicadas to serenade me to sleep; drinking rum punch in the sea as it rains, hard; the warmth of the sea; the cocoa tea on Pigeon Island with new friends; meeting my new work colleagues, a great bunch (more next time); watching my resident lizard scuttle around (just like ‘Death in Paradise, honestly); discovering the abundance of mangoes, papayas, avocados, coconuts, star fruit, bananas and bread fruits, to name a few, dripping from the trees around every corner; dancing in the street at ‘Jump up’; watching the sun set and laughing with old friends.

St Lucia is undoubtedly a stunningly beautiful place. The downside, there is always one, is the rubbish of mankind; plastic bottles and polystyrene fast food containers in muddy ditches, by the side of the road and even a few on the beach; stray and mangy dogs; poverty and a big drug problem. (notice there are fewer minuses than pluses).

Many things are comfortingly British like driving on the left; the plugs; the language; the supermarket shelves with Waitrose products. The vibe everywhere is relaxed and the people are friendly. There is a lot of tooting of car horns. Already I have tried new foods; green fig salad; St Lucian chocolate (why would you not?!); fried fish; lambi (conch); the cocoa tea. I have been on the bus with the locals, which is actually a minibus, shouting ‘bus stop, driver’.

Having John, Rachel, Madeline and Guy here too has already been brilliant. A long way to go for a long-overdue catch up. Many laughs and a great evening at the famous ‘Jump Up’, in Gros Islet, pronounced ‘grozilay’. Great street food to try, and rum punch and beer on every corner. Then about 8.30 the music really starts pumping out and everyone starts dancing in a heaving, smiling, sweaty Caribbean street party. Apparently, it goes on until about 4 am, but we only managed until 11.30 pm on this occasion. The young local men are rather keen to dance up close, with the rhythm, but why not when I am trying new things? I am not sure my children will approve though. I am trying to say ‘yes!’ to whatever comes my way in a very Shirley Valentine way, so tonight I am going to a BBQ and bingo night with a work colleague in Castries.

The gardener in me is thrilled that I have a ‘yard’, so I have already bought some starter pots and saved some butternut squash and pepper seeds, so I should soon have some of my own veg. Dug will get photos of these!! Apparently, one of the former residents, also a SALT, grew pumpkins that ran wild, off down the bank of the stream at the back, and produced an enormous crop there, most of which could not be reached!

My little house needs a bit of style and personalizing, so I am setting about that to make it smarter and more cosy for when Anthony gets here next week. I have moved a few things around (and there aren’t many things), got a plant and put up my bon voyage cards and photos which I brought with me, so it is coming on. Having a small place and fewer things is wonderful. There is so much less to do and, therefore, more time to have fun or do new things. I am realising, if hadn’t before, that it is not my things that make me happy and relaxed, it is people (you lot, who I miss) and experiences, and the best ones cost very little or nothing at all. I will write more and put up some more photos soon, so stay tuned if this is interesting you! I now have to go and shower to get ready for the BBQ. BFN xx