Barbados 2006 Options

[michael]

Well, we landed succesfully at 1540 local time but nearly didn't make it due to the mother of all foul-ups at the BA check-in desk. For 45 minutes the check-in staff wouldn't let us board due to a query with the payment of the flights. My new debit card was swallowed up by the Camberley ATM on the Saturday before the flight because the Woolwich issued me with a new PIN, which I used, which I shouldn't, becuase I was supposed to use my old PIN, on my NEW card, although they sent me a new PIN. Arse.

Anyway, we missed the duty free shopping because of the delay and also lost our reserved window seats. I eventually settled down into my seat to watch the in-flight movie. There was a choice of Aeon Flux, which I really wanted to watch, and Harry Potter, which I didn't. I selected Aeon Flux. It didn't work. I had to watch Harry Potter. Double Arse.

Upon landing, we were the last in the queue because the BA cabin crew issued everyone with landing cards, apart from us so we had to wait for them to find some. We duly filled in the cards passed through customs and stepped out into a completely different airport from the one I was expecting. Grantley Adams International Airport has undergone some serious restructing in time for next years Cricket World Cup and was completely unrecognisable. Plus, I got the arrival time wrong. My family weren't due for another hour so I was stranded. Treble Arse.

To cut a long story short, my sister found us and drove us back to my Mum's but we stopped off buy the coast and looked out onto the sea as the sun went down and the ocean was a glorious shade I could never describe in words.



You know what? It was worth all the trouble just to see the sunset.

[michael]

Wednesday (Possibly, I'm not checking)

Fancied a lazy lie-in today to compensate for all the running around I've been doing. I was hoping to sleep in till about 0900, but the sun was already broiling me in my own sweat by about 0730. Not wanting to end my life as a caribbean duvet casserole, I peeled myself off the mattress to see what everyone else was up to. Desmond was up with his wife and kids watching a movie in one of the bedrooms. He's networked four PCs in the house and stacked them up with enough games and movies to keep us entertained through even the longest power cut. Hang on...

We left the house at about 1200 and drove to explore the northen parishes of Barbados. Armed with a free map which you can obtain from any retailer we set out to find Earthworks, the island's premier pottery merchant. There's a saying in Barbados that you can never get lost, but you can never get to where you are going to. Hardly any of the roads are signposted and if you drive into the centre of the island, one acre of sugar cane looks pretty much like any other acre of sugar cane. This was going to be a magical mystery tour taking us into the heart of Barbados to find this elusive little clay furnace. You can imagine our disappointment to find that Earthworks was signposted almost from the beach right to it's front door. We got there in 30 minutes.

I'm not a pottery expert but you can tell that this stuff was good. The pottery barn is perched atop a hill overlooking the west coast of the island that meets the caribbean sea. Visitors are encouraged to walk around the barn as the stuff is actually being made, giving you a real insight into the beauty that is pottery. A restaurant and an art studio sit on either side of Earthworks, again with the artists working in full view of visitors. I really enjoyed my visit there. I know Barbados has so much more to offer than just great food and beautiful beaches and it was a pleasure to see something truly unique to the island being created in front of my eyes. The staff were polite and informative, processing the sale and gift wrapping the goods in fine tissue paper. Perhaps I could get the guys from Foam World involved with this lot?