Taking out the Trash

As I've written here before, some of the things that we take for granted on the mainland - in the cities, at least - just don't happen on St. Thomas. One of these things is garbage pick-up. Now, some areas apparently do have pick-up service, because I've occasionally seen garbage trucks on the roads, but the majority of residents have to do their own trash disposal. 

This is made relatively easy by the placement of dumpsters at regular intervals alongside the island roads. It's not pretty, and our guests usually think we're joking when we point these out to them and explain the purpose. Here is one site, complete with someone who just pulled up to drop off their trash:

This place usually has 5 - 8 chickens sitting on the edge of the dumpster and the fence, waiting for something appetizing to be dropped off. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get pictures of them.

At the large site below, you can see what happens when people dispose of items which they aren't supposed to leave at the dumpsters (computers, appliances, etc.):

Bob & I took advantage of the knowledge that lots of people leave those items anyway when we had 2 different small wine fridges that the continuous power surges & outages had fried. Bob placed the fridges near a tv that was sitting to the side of the dumpsters. When he drove to work the next morning, however, the tv was sitting alone - apparently someone thought they'd see if they could get the fridges to work :)

Our condos, however, have a great benefit: trash removal service. Monday thru Friday, we just put our trash bags on the front porch, and a friendly maintenance worker removes it. And if we need to dispose of something during the weekend? We are free to toss our trash into the bed of the pick-up truck that the maintenance men use. We love this perk that is available only at Cowpet East :)

An EFFICIENT Island Experience

Since everyone knows about "island time," and I've posted some of our experiences with that here, I thought it would be only fair to write about an experience that didn't fit the stereotype.

Several weeks back, I did my normal, weekly all-day grocery shopping (usually requiring stops at 4 different stores). As I unloaded my purchases, I heard a hissing sound near the right rear of the car. Always logical and pro-active, I decided to put away the groceries and eat a snack and hope that I was mistaken about the source of the sound.

So, a little while later, I went back out to check out the situation. The hissing sound had lessened some, but the tire also was looking low. Bummer.

After consulting with both Bob and the dealership, I hopped back into the car and headed to Rodriguez Auto Parts. This is the preferred tire supplier on the island, as they are reputed to sell tires that actually will hold air, rather than ones that have been sitting around so long that they have completely dried out.  Seriously.

I entered the store front, paid the cashier $8, and took my receipt out to the shop bays. A repairman directed me to back into a bay, where he removed my tire and found what was left of a nail I'd apparently driven over. He repaired the hole, aired up my tire, and replaced it on my car.

Total time for the entire procedure, from paying to heading back home? 20 minutes. Wow!

Now, it is entirely possible that everything transpired so quickly because I arrived at 4:35 p.m., and Rodriquez closes at 5:00 p.m. But, whatever the reason, the efficiency was impressive!

A Different View

A while back, our friends/neighbors/landlords invited us to join them on their boat for a sunset cruise. It was our first time on a boat since we got here - not counting ferries.

As we motored out of the marina, we saw all types of boats, tho no others were quite like this one:

It was really interesting to see familiar areas from the water:

Secret Harbor

And this looks like a pretty nice house ...

This is the "Castle" - the original owner reportedly flew a pirate flag from the pole above the tower when he was in residence. He also shot cannon balls toward the Cow and Calf rock formation beyond the point :)

Here is part of an abandoned sugar mill:

And this is our condo development viewed from the water. Our condo is in the middle of the picture, on the front, just to the right of the trees along the rail.

Unfortunately, clouds filled the western sky, so our view of the sunset was hidden. But there were some really nice sailboats sharing the cove with us:

We had a really nice evening!

Hope We Never Have a Medical Emergency

Last Friday, Bob noticed that if he moved his right eye a certain way, he saw what looked like a lightning flash off to the side. That continued for a couple of days, then, yesterday (Sunday) he started seeing "floaters" in that same eye.

So, of course, we did a little internet research and came to the conclusion that he needed to see an ophthalmologist. Bob texted 2 different long-time islanders we know, and both responded with the same doctor's name. Being unfamiliar with this doctor, however, he also looked into flights that evening to get us back so he could go see our eye doctor in Plano.

Bob then called Dr. Scharf in Plano and left a message at his office. In less than 10 minutes, Dr. Scharf returned his call, assured him that since his vision seems to be fine otherwise there is very little chance that it is anything to worry about, and suggested he go see the doctor here when he can just to be certain. He did, however, add that Bob should not to do any sky diving or bungee jumping :)

Feeling somewhat reassured, Bob next left a message at the office of the St. Thomas ophthalmologist.

This morning, Bob got up and planned to go straight to the ophthalmologist's office and sit there until they would examine his eye. Before leaving, tho, he called and actually got through to someone. He was told not to come in Monday - or Tuesday, but to come in at 10 a.m. Wednesday.

Then they added, "But that doesn't mean that you'll be seen at 10. We don't know when you'll get in to see the doctor." Bob asked if he could make an appointment. "No. Our computers are down." Any idea when your computer system will be back up? "No. Our IT guy has a full-time job elsewhere."

From other stories we've heard, our experience is typical of most medical care here on St. Thomas. It's also another example of the St. Thomian attitude that "the way things are is the way things are" with no hope of it changing or any real expectation that change would make things better - especially change that is brought in by "people from the States."

And don't even get me started on how a one-car accident can interrupt electrical power for the entire island - for 3 days. "The way things are is the way things are"

*** Update ***

Bob flew back to Dallas to see Dr. Scharf. After an eye exam, the doctor confirmed that all is well and predicted that Bob's brain would learn to ignore the floater "in a couple of weeks or a month or a year or never" :)

Stand-up Paddle Boarding

The first time I saw someone doing this, he looked like he was just paddling effortlessly and gliding along the surface. Despite my lifelong coordination issues, (my mom always said I couldn't walk & chew gum at the same time - love you, Mom!) I really wanted to try this. Since that first time, we've not only seen people "stand-up paddling" in calm, protected waters, but we've also seen some guys paddling out through the waves, riding the waves in like regular surfers, then paddling out again to repeat the sequence. 

After the winter months of relatively rough water even in the bay our condo overlooks, Bob & I went to the beach there one calm afternoon. After reading & signing 4 pages of warnings and waivers, I was ready to take to the board! The guy working in the rental bungalow gave me a few instructions, a few suggestions for where I should try paddling, and one warning: "go wherever you want, but if I can't see you, I can't save you." 

As suggested, I started out kneeling to get a feel for the board and the paddling. Once I stood up, I found that it was easier to balance than I had expected - remember, tho, I had purposely chosen a very calm day. The paddling, however, required more effort than I had expected. At first, I was barely dipping the paddle into the water, so I had a hard time steering. In fact, while I never did lose my balance and fall, I did have to jump off the board one time to avoid hitting a boat moored in the bay :)

Despite the almost calm winds, I could really tell when I moved into the less sheltered area. One of the instructions I had received was "your body is the sail,"and that was really helpful when I got into an area where I couldn't move forward at all. I "lowered my sail" by returning to a kneeling position and was finally able to paddle forward again.

The verdict? More work than I'd expected, but definitely something I'd like to do again. Come on down and join me!

A tiny sweet treat

When I walk out of our condo neighborhood in the mornings, I've noticed small cherry tomato plants growing in a flower bed that edges the driveway. It always makes me smile, because I figure that most of the people are driving in and out every day and don't even realize that there are tomatoes growing there.

One morning some of the maintenance guys were weeding that bed when I came back from my run, so I stopped to ask them about the tomatoes. They said that someone planted a few tomato plants a while back, and they just keep coming up. Then one of the men asked me if I liked tomatoes, and I assured him that, yes, we love tomatoes. He told me, "We'll bring you some."

When he appeared at our door a few minutes later, I was expecting maybe a dozen tomatoes. Instead, he brought a plastic grocery sack over half filled with tiny cherry tomatoes:

And I do mean tiny:

Yes, they were just as sweet as we hoped they would! We shared some with a neighbor, and just ate lots of tomatoes for a couple of days.

Then, several weeks later, another one of the guys showed up at our front door with another bag full. As I've noted before, the produce in the stores on St. Thomas is shipped in, so it's never really fresh. Needless to say, these just-picked tomatoes have been a wonderful treat!

Off the Island - and Across the Pond

The company Bob is working for needs to renew their hurricane insurance. According to the insurance broker, a face-to-face meeting with the underwriters can mean savings - or at least not so much of a premium increase. And, the underwriters just happen to be located in London, a place neither of us had ever been. Oh, darn!

Bob was already flying on Friday (to Saturday), so he added a day to the end of his trip and added me to his reservation - after all, it was almost our anniversary :)

After an overnight flight, a train ride from Heathrow to Paddington Station, and a taxi ride through Hyde Park, we arrived at our Knightsbridge area hotel early Saturday afternoon. We explored the neighborhood that afternoon and were stunned by the cars: multiple Rolls Royces, Bentleys, Aston Martins, Ferraris, Maybachs ... the Mercedes' were the poor relations!

Sunday, we took a bus tour. We saw a lot, but the routes didn't go to all the normal stops, because it was the day of the London Marathon. We got off the bus to walk over to Big Ben and Westminster Abbey and found ourselves at the marathon course as the elite runners were nearing the end.

On Monday, Bob headed to The City, and I did more sightseeing. I saw Buckingham Palace - and the infamous balcony - without all the crowds that were there on the wedding day. I also explored Harrod's, which is a very confusing place, tho I did manage to buy some gifts there.

Bob was back in The City on Tuesday, so I walked to Hyde Park to see the very impressive Prince Albert Memorial:

A couple of blocks more, and I was at the Victoria and Albert Museum. There was absolutely no way to see everything in that place! And it was even more confusing than Harrods :) There are 12 miles of corridors in the 5 story building, and most of the staircases go to only some of the floors. I wandered for several hours and saw nearly all of the displays that I was most interested in. I especially enjoyed the room devoted to religious sculpture:

Bob and I went to the Tower of London on Wednesday and enjoyed our Beefeater-guided tour:

Afterwards we saw the Crown Jewels - where, of course, we weren't allowed to take pictures.

That afternoon, we went to Westminster Abbey, and I was terribly disappointed to find out that they had closed early that day. For that, I believe that Bob will have to take me back another time.

The trip was less than a week, definitely too short for a place with so much to see, but we had a great time - and even warm, sunny weather! The travel was fairly ease, plus we (generally) understood the language, so both of us foresee another trip there in the future - hopefully soon!