Bus rides, people watching and shopping

18th Dec 2010

The people here communicate by telepathy. Let me explain. We use the bus to travel to the main town here and are constantly amazed at how the bus driver knows to stop and wait for someone. The buses do not run to a timetable so it is not that the same driver always picks up the same person at the same time. The buses queue and wait in St Johns until it is completely full and then leaves for Falmouth dropping passengers off as they go. Once in Falmouth they drive as fast as possible back again but always keeping an eye open for a prospective passenger. I have known drivers reverse at high speed to pick up a passenger from a side street or wait for several valuable minutes while a girl totters down a rough track to the road where the bus is waiting. A touch on an arm indicates the person next to you wants to get out. Not much talking takes place except the occasional “bus stop” or “make change for 20”.

Paul, a slight man in tatty clothes, comes to clean our plunge pool every Thursday. Last week I walked with him towards the bus stop, “where are you living?” “The other side of St Johns”. When I asked him how he got to the bus station he told me "by bike”. “So you come all the way here just to clean our pool?” “No I do another, big one, over at Cobbs Cross”. “And you walk there?” “Yes but sometimes I get a lift”. Wow. I was thinking this is not a good business model but then he told me that his life was good - he was building himself a house. I asked about children. It turns out he has two with two different mums. Each child lives with her maternal grandmother and he has not seen either child for over a year as they live at home in Guiana. “My life is a little complicated but I am going to visit them and my sick mother this Christmas”.

I am beginning to get used to my life on the island. Andy works and earns the money while I keep house and do the shopping. It is strange because the day just disappears and if you ask me what I have been doing I probably could not tell you. It is too hot to rush around. I did go for a job interview which was a bizarre experience. I read the local paper from cover to cover most days and there was a job advertised which matched my experience exactly so I thought why not? I sent in my CV to KPMG the firm of accountants that had been asked to find a candidate. They called me and asked me to interview. At this point I asked who their client was. They would not tell me or give me any information in case I worked out who the company was. “We may not tell you in the interview either”. OK…

What to wear was a problem as the office workers here wear business suits. I have one but I realised I would sweat profusely in it on my way to the interview as I had to take a bus into St Johns and then walk. An air-conditioned taxi will cost more than I was prepared to invest in an anonymous job! The day dawned and actually it was a wet day so at least it was going to be relatively cool. So umbrella in hand I made my way to KPMG. It was tipping down with rain when I arrived early so made the decision to go and wait in reception rather than hang around for the correct time. The receptionist was open mouthed that I had walked (it was less than 1 mile!) I asked her about the job. She informed me that there were “lots of accountants on the island” but there had been very few applicants because they must have got wind of who the job was for…. The government.

Now this surprises me. I have read in the paper here that everyone wants to work for the government. But I definitely do not want to work for the Antiguan government with 60 staff below me. I do not feel ready and it took some persuading the HR lady and the KPMG partner (both Antiguans) that I only worked in commercial organisations and my background was not suited to government work. We parted friends!

The fish market in St Johns took some working out. The first time I went there I miss understood “No you cannot buy fish here” to meaning I couldn’t buy fish from the market but actually he meant to say “someone else has bought THESE fish and I am the fish cleaner - you need to go to one of those other guys”! We have a lovely fisherman who sells us the best fish. The other fishermen try to sell me fish and I tell them I only buy from my friend and they smile and say OK. I have asked my friend about the Chinese. “Yes the government have given them fishing rights, but it doesn’t affect me. It is OK”. I wonder if he understands the implications of the big fishing boats the Chinese send. Perhaps because they fish for shark fins he thinks the other fish are safe?

Luckily the fish, meat and veggy market are all next to the bus station so it is really convenient shopping. The only problem is that sometimes the bus can wait in the sweltering heat for half an hour for the last seat to fill before driving off and being stopped a few 100 yards down the road so that the same person can get off again. The lettuce can be a bit wilted by the time I get home!

27th Dec 2010

We have had a brilliant Christmas with Piers, Fay, Jenny and Errol here with us. We have another few days before they leave and we are all making the most of being together. Christmas was a very Antiguan experience. Lots of alcohol and bar-b-q food was involved. It was also a very sociable experience with the traditional midday gathering of all down at Nelsons dockyard to drink champagne and say hi to friends before weaving your way home for food. We had two extra visitors - Boonie and Marisa - and played charades into the evening before ending the evening in Abras (actually Boonie, Andy and myself did, Piers, Jenni, Fay and Errol stayed at home and read!).

One last funny story about how things are here I forgot to tell earlier. We have friends Steve and Carole. The other day they arrived at our house in a pick-up van with a smashed windscreen - and I mean completely shattered on the DIVERS side. “Oh my goodness - did that just happen - how can you see to drive?” “Oh that - no its been like that for weeks - I just hang out of the window to drive!”

Steve, it turns out is one of the unluckiest guys on the island. He bought a new car some months ago, paid for it and was happily driving it for a week or two. One day he had been shopping and returned to the car, got in and started to drive off. Two large guys approached the car and told him to get out. Steve got out (he is a gentle soul and does what he is told) leaving the car running. They jumped in and drove off - they were confiscating the car because duty had not been paid by the importer. Nothing to do with Steve. He has been left carless and fighting a court case to get the car back.

In the meantime a friend of his, who owns the pickup, had had a large evening and got into an argument with the bouncer at Mongoose bar. He jumped into his pickup and tried to drive off. The bouncer threw a punch at him through the windscreen - leaving a huge fist shattered shape on the drivers side. What his hand looked like after I do not know but this friend has now lent Steve the van. “don’t you get stopped by the police?” “Yes, all the time - they are so sure that the van must be for sale and will be cheap. When I tell them it isn’t they lose interest and wave me on!”

Happy New Year.