Jun 8
Yesterday was my companies Global Community Day. I had volunteered to do some painting at what I mistakingly thought was a kids charity but I later found out was an animal shelter. Easy mistake to make!
Our brief was to repaint 3 rooms that are used as indoor cat playrooms. This was a particular own goal on my part as I hate cats, and these rooms, which probably hadn’t seen a lick of paint for a decade stunk like a feline public toilet.
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I didn’t get the chance to go along to the National Stadium last night, but fellow Addick @Bermuda_Red did and this what he had to say:
“6-1 to England. Glad I went, nice evening to sit and watch a game – good atmosphere. At the start I wasn’t sure who I wanted to win, but left at the end feeling good about an excellent performance by England C – well executed simple but fast passing game, lots of movement off the ball – more fun than watching the “A” team – that said the Bermuda team would make a lot of other teams look good. In fairness to Bermuda it wasn’t their first team either. Nahki Wells wasn’t playing and others missed out also. Jonte Smith was the standout Bermudian – he plays for Crawley Town. Maybe 2,000 attendence. Bigger than expected – which included at least 3 Charlton fans.”
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Today, May 24th used to be a holiday in Britain to celebrate Queen Victoria’s birthday and in an effort to promulgate the British Empire the holiday was encouraged in the Commonwealth and in 1909 Empire Day was born in Bermuda, later becoming Commonwealth Day.
This day in 1909 a patriotic children’s parade ran from Somerset to St Georges and over a century later, this morning thousands of people lined the streets to watch a colourful and noisy parade of floats and performers to celebrate what is now Bermuda Day.
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Last week our 3-year old daughter made her first appearance on stage. It was what being a Dad is all about. The little one excited, skipping off backstage arm in arm with her friend. Me, a nervous wreck.
Since last September she has been attending a local dance school called In Motion. At first she cried and the other half had to sit in the corner why my daughter looked at her with one of those “why are you making me do this Mummy” grimaces.
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The 18 deck, 1,063 foot long cruise liner, the Norwegian Breakaway pulled out of Bermuda yesterday with 5,800 people on it and headed back to New York after it’s inaugural trip.
The Norwegian Breakaway, the 8th largest cruise liner in the world, cut an impressive figure at Heritage Wharf at Bermuda’s Dockyard this week. The ship will make weekly cruises to Bermuda from Manhattan until the end of September and brings many thousands of much welcome visitors.
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That is what I had last Thursday evening here in Bermuda. Arranged by a fellow Addick on the island the two of us had a most enjoyable couple of hours in Richard and his son’s company talking Charlton and football in general.
Those of you that have met Richard personally before will know he is very candid and honest. I’m not going to betray any confidentialities, not that there was anything earth shattering because there really wasn’t and those that were at the Bromley Addicks a week or so back would also have heard Richard being very supportive of the owners Michael Slater and Tony Jiminez and less so of others.
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The other night I was driving home from work when a ramshackle parade of open sided trucks and vans followed by a couple of cars drove past me decked in the colours of green and yellow. It was I soon realised thanks to three shiny trophies being shook by it’s passengers Bermuda’s equivalent of an open-top parade.
The Devonshire Cougars last weekend defeated Somerset Eagles 3-0 to collect the Bermuda FA Cup, the third and final piece of silverware available to Bermuda’s football teams and now all owned by the Cougars after they completed the treble of League, Friendship Trophy and the FA Cup.
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Recently Trip Advisor listed Bermuda’s Horseshoe Bay as the 8th best beach in the world. I am not really a beach person, even though there is one at the foot of our garden, but I think in years to come one of the abiding memories of having lived here will be Horseshoe Bay.
The beach is the most well known on the island although there are many hidden coves that are equally beautiful, but it is at Horseshoe that the island’s famous pink sand and clear coral filled sea is like no other.
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Flying kites in Bermuda is a long held tradition began apparently by a teacher who made a cross kite and set it flying from a hilltop. The teacher then cut the string and the students watched it sail upward towards the sky copying Jesus’ ascension to heaven.
Every Easter adults and kids alike make kites using sticks, coloured paper and glue. Ours however came in plastic wrapping with some simple instructions!
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It’s been nice today not having to worry about what was going on with Charlton. My 3-year old daughter asked me earlier if I “was winning at football.” No, there’s no game I replied, why? You seem happy she said.
England even managed to wrack up an old fashioned score last night, although don’t mention this to Dave, who sounds thoroughly miserable.
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Next Sunday’s Capital One Cup Final doesn’t only have fans from Bradford and Swansea excited, but around these parts Bermudians are eagerly anticipating the game too.
The reason for that? 22-year old Bermudian born striker Nahki Wells, who left the island in 2010 in attempt to make it as a professional footballer in England. Wells paid for himself to attend the then brand new Richmond International Academic and Soccer Academy in Headingley, near Leeds where ex-pros Mark Ellis and John Hendrie are heavily involved.
Whilst there he had a season with the Academies affiliated non-league team Eccleshill United in the Northern Counties East League (6 levels lower than Bradford City in the pyramid) and after a couple of trials he ended up at the unlikely outpost of Carlisle United. I have spent time in both Carlisle and Bermuda and they’re unlikely to ever be twinned.
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On my return to work this morning I passed a monstrosity of a yacht moored in Hamilton Harbour. It was flagged as Bermudian, with ‘Hamilton’ written in neat letters on it’s stern.
The yacht is called ‘Eclipse’ which rang a bell with me and after a Google, I remembered that the 533 ft, $1 billion super yacht belongs to a certain Roman Abramovich.
‘Eclipse’ is one of the Russian gazillionaire’s five boats but the one sat in Hamilton just outside of my office window is the world’s largest private yacht, 1 ft 8 in longer than the ‘Dubai,’ which belongs to Sheikh Mohammed. It is ladies all about the length.
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Five more favourite things from 2012. The following five begin with two things anomalous to Bermuda – a decent café and a decent shop both with very good service. The third was my best loved local restaurant and finally two stunning reminders of paradise. Here are my Top 5 Bermuda Things from 2012:
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Last night I was invited to the first night of the annual Bermuda comedy festival at the City Hall. Like almost everything in Bermuda the laughs were shipped in, although unlike the fruit and veg at least it wasn’t stuck on the dock whilst the dockers went on strike this week.
This is the 7th Annual Just for laughs festival and lasts through the weekend. Scottish comic Danny Bhoy was the main act but we were kicked off by local funny man Jonathan Young, who whilst his routine wouldn’t travel well was very good and we all agreed we’d pay to watch him again for a longer stint.
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There we have it, the last of my 12 Days of Christmas with us now back where we started at Gatwick Airport ready for our flight back to Bermuda this afternoon, which we will be boarding at around half time of the match at Vicarage Road.
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A snowman made out of sand. How imaginative. We’re leaving this all behind tonight as we head back to the UK for a Christmas of warm jumpers, mistletoe, camp beds, wrapping paper, Santa and the M25.
We fly to Gatwick tonight hoping the Mayans are wrong and that the pilot can land the plane in the morning. Then we will set off for our Christmas journey which I hope to pictorially post on during the next 12 days.
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In late night drama the One Bermuda Alliance (OBA) ended the Progressive Labour Party’s 14-year rule. It was a tight race with OBA winning 19 seats to the PLP’s 17, with the deciding seat in St George’s West being decided by just 4 votes.
Margins are small here, where a handful of votes can easily swing a constituency, but after current Premier Paula Cox unprecedentedly lost her own seat of Devonshire North West the writing was on the wall that Bermudians, driven by younger voters, wanted change.
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The oldest self-governing British Overseas Territory goes to the polls tomorrow. Bermuda’s parliament held its first session in 1620, making it the third-oldest continuous parliament in the World.
The last election was before my time here in December 2007, when the controlling Progressive Labour Party (PLP) won a third term in power with 22 seats against 14 for the opposition United Bermuda Party (UBP).
The UBP was the countries oldest party but ceased to exist officially last summer after the majority of its members joined a newly formed party called One Bermuda Alliance (OBA). Former UBP leader Kim Swan and MP Charlie Swan, both influential, have announced they will contest this election as independents, two of 14 that potentially have a big say in the outcome of the vote.
There are 36 constituencies around the island with each one having around 1,100 or so eligible voters. Only about 1,500 votes separated the two parties in 2007 in the popular vote.
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I picked a good night to go the Bermuda Rugby Classic. Every night this week it has pissed down and Wednesday the corporate tents were flooded out, but last night it was dry and warm as Canada took on Italy in the Plate semi-final and after the Lions played Australia in the main event.
Canada booked their place in the final with a close fought win over the Italians 10-7, and will play France in Saturday’s Plate final. In the later game the Lions gave a good account of themselves against a much stronger Wallabies side.
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The 25th Bermuda Rugby Classic is under way at the National Sports Stadium and runs the whole of this week. The ‘Silver Classic,’ has over the year become the unofficial veterans rugby World Cup and if ever you are planning a trip to Bermuda and want to a fun and exhaustive week, then this is it.
The matches are fiercely competitive but the players, that include this year Josh Lewsey, John Petrie, Shane Byrne, Serge Betsen and Gordon Bulloch among many others, have a lot of fun and can be seen around the island all week immersing themselves in, shall we say, the local culture!
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The 11th hour, on the 11th day of the 11th month. Tomorrow is a National Holiday in Bermuda with shops, restaurants and businesses closed to remember those that were lost.
The island lost 125 brave men and women during the World Wars fighting overseas on behalf of the Brits, Americans and Canadians protecting the freedom of those back home on a 21 sq. mile island in the middle of the Atlantic.
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As I anticipated we never made it back to Bermuda tonight as our flight was cancelled due to Hurricane Sandy passing Bermuda at it’s closest point around about our expected arrival time and American Airlines unsurprisingly were not prepared to run the gauntlet.
The good bad news is that the solitary daily flight from Miami to Bermuda tomorrow (if it goes) and Tuesday are fully booked, so we will have to slum it here in Palm Beach for another 3 days. I am having great difficulty convincing my 3-year old daughter that not every birthday entails a week in Florida!
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Last minute replacement Padraig Hamilton collected the $600,000 winners prize after today’s final round of the PGA Grand Slam in Bermuda. In front of I would say 2,500 to 3,000 spectators each bathed in sunshine, the Irishman after a 5 under-par overnight, birdied the 11th, 12th and 13th of his 2nd round and despite a bogey on the last ended up on 9 under and beat nearest rival Webb Simpson by a shot.
Tied in 3rd place were Bubba Watson and last year’s victor Keegan Bradley on 3 under. Harrington, despite only standing in for the injured Ernie Els just this weekend, was a popular winner after twice being a previous runner-up in 2007 and 2008, both times losing in a play-off.
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Open champion Ernie Els joins US Open champion Webb Simpson and Masters winner Bubba Watson in this week’s PGA Grand Slam of Golf. The 4th player is last year’s champion Keegan Bradley, who was invited back to Bermuda after PGA winner Rory McIlroy pulled out of the tournament citing that he had already made enough dough this year and needed a rest.
It is a shame McIroy is not here as he would have encouraged an army of Irish tourists like last year when both he and Darren Clarke played and very much enjoyed the local hospitality, especially Clarke!
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I thought it was time I gave you some insight to football played in Bermuda. Bermudians are football crazy although most keep their passions for Saturday morning’s in Docksiders, or my preference the Robin Hood to watch live games on the television. You can’t move in there for Man U, Chelsea, Arsenal or Liverpool shirts and like every overseas outpost, one can find every weekend Premier League game on show somewhere.
However around the island 3 leagues of amateur football is played during what on the island is laughably called winter! Bermuda Hogges are the island’s semi-pro team that play in the USL Premier Development League (PDL), the fourth tier of the American Pyramid. Kyle Lightbourne, ex of Stoke and Walsall amongst others is the manager and the PDL is played out in the summer but the Hogges, established to help develop young players, has sadly failed to catch the imagination here.
The Bermudian Football Association (BFA) oversee the Premier League and 1st Division which has automatic promotion and relegation, whilst the independent Corona Extra Football League, came out of a restructuring by the BFA 3 years ago.
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A few people have asked me if we survived, and the answer is quite comfortably. Leslie passed by here gathering speed on Sunday night and is now belting Newfoundland. It left as it started on Saturday night with an incredible sunset, and the island breathed a huge sigh of relief.
Scattered power outages affected around 800 people but not us, roads were littered with debris, ferries, buses were cancelled and the airport closed but business was pretty much back to normal on Monday. Ostensibly what happened was a very wet and windy and boring tucked up indoors of a weekend.
The photo is of Leslie captured by NASA’s Terra satellite as it moved past Bermuda on Sunday.
Outside the one window facing the Atlantic Ocean that is not boarded up I am finding it hard to decipher the sea and the sky, it’s just a canvas of murky grey. The rain is coming at the window like someone is stood outside with a power washer but the winds aren’t that bad.
According to the eminent Bernews 800 homes are currently without power, we are currently ok, although the telly is a little shaky and the Weather Channel’s Jim Cantore is giving us regular updates stood on the beach at Elbow in his waterproofs.
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Hurricane Leslie has finally got itself into gear and is now motoring at 8mph across the Atlantic Ocean but fortunately she is still driving in a direction away to the east of the island.
Leslie has dropped it’s strength and is now classified as a Tropical Storm (sustained winds less than 74mph) and is located approximately 250 miles south-southeast of us. The sea temperatures down there apparently are a little chilly but there is plenty of warm water ahead and it is then that Leslie will regain hurricane status. Hurricane’s are powered by warm surface sea temperatures.
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The waters are very flat around the isles of Bermuda today. Glass like in fact. Yet 400 miles away from us lies Hurricane Leslie and she is looking at us licking her lips. If she was a bus she would have ‘Bermuda’ written on the front of it, because that is her next stop.
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The beginning of July represents an interlude in work stresses as our business flow is predominately backed into the first half of the year. There are always things to do of course, but the foot is lifted of the accelerator a bit until the last quarter.
I have also taken the opportunity to book a few trips off island this month. Next week I go to Chicago, predominately to do some continued education stuff for work, but also catch up with my mate, who is getting married at the end of the month in the Windy City.
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This afternoon was a day to give back to the community as we cleared the office and 50 of us headed to four different locations on the island to give a helping hand to a number of worthy causes.
Most of us were at the Bermuda National Trust owned Tivoli Estate in Warwick Parish, which is a 11-acre area nature reserve. The estate also includes Tivoli Pond and Tivoli House, a typically built early 19th century house that is a fine example of local architecture.
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Football’s back on later after a day’s rest. Portugal take on the Czech Republic and I fancy the Portuguese to outclass the suprise Group A winners.
Tell me, is it just 90 minutes, extra time and penalties now? Or have UEFA dreamed up some mathmatical genius to decide winners. Teams with players with the most consonants or something. Czech Republic will walk it.
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The first Newport to Bermuda race took place in 1906, and is therefore the oldest ocean race for amateur sailors. After leaving the harbour at Newport, Rhode Island last Thursday 188 yachts spent three to four days out at sea in the very cold water of the Atlantic. They crossed the very unpredictable Gulf Stream, where the weather and the current presents a real challenge and many boats have in the past come a cropper. Then for 300 smooth miles the water warms as the yachts race for the reefs and the finish line in Bermuda.
The bi-annual race finishes at St David’s Head at the very eastern tip of the island and first to cross the line was the 90-foot sloop named Rambler, captained by George David from Hartford, Connecticut.
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A Bermudian National Holiday tomorrow. The government decided to turn their back on the Diamond Jubilee, and a couple of years ago ditched the Queen’s Birthday holiday for a National Heroes Day instead. You know what, a day off work is a day off work in my book.
For the first three years the same national hero was chosen, Dame Lois Browne, Bermuda’s first female barrister and first female Attorney General. A perplexing decision and reasons only known to ‘The Naming and Recognition Committee in conjunction with the Department of Community and Cultural Affairs.’ Oh yes an island of 65,000 inhabitants can have bureaucracy too!
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The hurricane season officially began on June 1st and ends on November 30th. I know a lot of you worry about me, especially after Igor paid us a visit in September 2010, so I thought I would share this year’s hurricane predictions.
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Bermuda goes to work tomorrow and Tuesday, whilst sovereign states, crown dependencies and other overseas territories are off waving flags, necking Pimms, eating pork pies and celebrating Her Majesty’s 60 years on the throne.
I shouldn’t complain too much, we get more than our fair share of public holidays here on the rock, but it did interest me that the government in election year decided against observing the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.
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The weather has been ultra kind to us since we arrived on Wednesday. The beautiful Secret Garden was swathed in sunshine yesterday for my mate’s wedding. A week ago we would have had our coats and wellies on.
The wedding was superb, my speech went down a storm, even if I say so myself, and it was brilliant to see so many of my old mates and my family altogether in one place.
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Summer has sprung in Bermuda, actually it never really went away, as we mostly avoided the long drizzly damp days that January and February bring. Mind you we are already way down on the annual rainfall, which is going to cause us big problems in a few months when our underground tanks that collect the rain water from the roofs run dry and we have to start buying it at $90 a tank-load!
A sure fire sign that the Bermudian summertime has started is the first sightings of the yellow billed, long white-tailed tropical bird known locally as a Longtail.
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Bermuda’s winter is finally looking like it’s arrived. Rain is lashing sideways at the kitchen window as I look outside and the ocean is full of large frothy white capped waves like a sea of cups of cappuccino.
A Bermuda winter normally consists of a lot of driving rain, with intermittent drizzle and dampness accompanied by strong winds during the months of January and February, with March changeable. I can see a number of your hearts bleeding, so I will tell you that despite the rain today the temperature is still to 66°F!
Last week’s work event in Miami Beach – it rained every day like it always does when we are there – was bloody exhausting. Early starts, long days, late nights. I actually love it but I was glad to get home.
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The Bermuda Festival is in full swing at the moment and last night we went with some friends to see the play The Proof at the City Hall in Hamilton.
The play tells of a brilliant but mentally disturbed genius mathmatican’s daughter (Catherine) who has sacrificed her own potential to take care of her father. One of her father’s (Robert) former students (Hal) comes to visit in an effort to further prove his mentor’s wisdom and then falls in love with with the very introspective Catherine, who has her own discovery.
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I do like a bit of tuna. Served raw preferably as opposed to a tin of John West’s but there will be a lot of it about this next week in Bermuda as yesterday a local fisherman hauled into his boat a 10 foot, 920 pound blue fin tuna (photo).
It was the biggest tuna caught in local waters for 28 years and the single fisherman wrestled with his catch for over two hours, all the while fighting of a school of sharks, which took a shine to some easy lunch and bit a big chunk out of the tuna’s tail, which also probably prevented the fish from weighing over 1,000 lbs.
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As Santa prepares his sleigh ready for his journey I have become a little bit Christmased out to be honest. I was out last night for the 3rd Monday in a row and I ‘have to’ swerve by some drinks after work this evening before I go home and help with the packing. We are heading home tomorrow night and I wish I could just fast forward to being at my other half’s sisters in front of the log fire with a big glass of red.
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Saturday night was the bi-annual Bermuda Boat Parade and we made our way down Harbour Road with the intent to get into town and watch from my office balcony but a road accident put pay to that and we instead watched the 70 or so lit boats sail by at Darrell’s Wharf in Paget.
The Boat Parade is a festive highlight here and many of the boats were decked from stern to bow in colourful lights, banners and figures accompanied by partiers and at least 50 different Santa’s that I counted. My favourite being Neptune, the god of the sea (photo) with Star Wars being the most decorative and noisy and Santa’s ride complete with roaring exhaust fames being the most outrageous.
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Happy Thanksgiving to all of my American readers. Remember if you’re deep frying a turkey today, to do it outside.
Bermuda doesn’t like to miss out on a holiday of course and we are shut tomorrow but working today, albeit it is as quiet as a church full of mice.
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Argentina are the 2011 World Rugby Classic Champions after beating the Classic Lions 25-19 in the World Rugby Classic Finals on Saturday night. It capped a week of Rugby Classic surprises and disappointed a largely British crowd at the blustery National Sports Centre.
The tournament was delayed by two days thanks to Hurricane Sean when the majority of the tents came down overnight last Saturday, but when it kicked off it brought with it some early shocks as favourites South Africa lost to Argentina and Australia went out to Canada, who are normally just here to make up the numbers.
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Leon Cort scored what was effectively the goal that put Guyana through to the next round of the CONCACAF qualifying for the 2014 Brazilian World Cup. Cort headed in after Ebbsfleet United’s Ricky Shakes got an early first leaving Trinidad & Tobago’s Kenwyne Jones’ late goal as just a consolation.
In the same group at the National Stadium Bermuda beat Barbados 2-1 and can finish 2nd if they beat the Bajan’s again on Monday and Guyana win in Port of Spain against Trinidad & Tobago, in a game that is now a dead rubber.
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The 11th hour, on the 11th day of the 11th month. A reflective palindrome in the 11th year of the 21st century. Bermuda takes Armistice Day or Remembrance Day as they call it here very seriously. Today is a national holiday in Bermuda with shops and businesses closed to remember those that were lost. The island lost 125 men during both world wars fighting overseas on behalf of the Brits, Americans and Canadians protecting the freedom of those home in Bermuda.
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50-mile an hour winds tore into the National Sports Centre on Saturday and Sunday and caused damage to the large tents and ancillary equipment causing the Bermuda Rugby Classic to be cancelled for two nights.
There is a very unorganised non-tropical low pressure weather system located about 400 miles southwest of here pushing thunderstorms and powerful winds into Bermuda. Strong winds caused some yachtsmen to be rescued taking part in a race as well as delays to the arrival of cruise ships.
There has also been sporadic power outages across the island and we were woken at around 2am on Sunday morning to our alarm re-setting itself after the power went out earlier. At least I could physically go around the house putting the clocks back an hour!
Only because it’s the hugely fun Rugby Classic Week in Bermuda and we are overrun with visiting clients, so my attendance and interest won’t be what it should be. Although it’s not all bad in that I will be able to get to The National Sports Centre on Thursday for the semi-finals, which precludes a day off on Friday.
Friday is of course 11/11/11 and Remembrance Day which is uniquely honoured with a National Holiday in Bermuda and this week I will wear my poppy with pride.
Back to the rugby then and this is the 24th year of the Classic and the tournament has moved from an excuse for a early winter break piss up for old pros to a highly competitive tournament involving some of the world’s best players, some of whom have played professionally until very recently, such as Josh Lewsey, who was playing for the Wasps this season.
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While tomorrow another 1,000 Addicks make their travels for the fourth successive away fixture, this time to Wycombe, I will be sat on an airplane heading back to Bermuda.
I try normally to be more strategic with my trips home but Wednesday is our daughter’s 2nd birthday and it was important to be home for it, even though I have to be in work we will all get together for lunch and then we’ll celebrate more properly this coming weekend and I have a £10 Asda Halloween outfit packed in the suitcase complete with witches hat for the occasion. In size 2-3 years not XL please note.
Just back from a very enjoyable day at the golf. Young American Keegan Bradley swept to the $600,000 first prize after Rory McIlroy went from three ahead to four behind in a nightmare spell halfway through his round to end with a second-round 75. Meanwhile Keegan kept his head to go round on par and was a popular winner.
The South African Charl Schwartzel was the day’s best player and ended up being the biggest challenger to Bradley. From 7 strokes adrift at the start of the day, the Masters champion drew level with a sparkling front-nine 31, but could not get back on terms after Bradley birdied the 10th.
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If you follow golf then you will know what the following players have in common: Rory McIlroy, Darren Clarke, Charl Schwartzel and Keegan Bradley.
Correct. They are the four golf major winners of the 2011. South African Schwartzel won the Masters in April, Mcllroy at just 21 years old won the US Open in June, Clarke was a very popular winner of the The Open at Royal Lytham & St Annes in July and American Keegan Bradley won the PGA Championship in August in his rookie year.
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Bermuda were just 9 minutes away from prolonging their 2014 World Cup adventure at the National Sports Centre last night.
After John Barry Nusum (whose Mum works in my office – oh what I do for a claim to fame) headed in a 71st minute corner to put Bermuda 1-0 up (photo), they couldn’t hold on for another famous victory as Ebbsfleet United’s Ricky Shakes (one of three English non-leaguers in the Guyana squad) headed past ex-Charlton trialist Freddie Hall 10 minutes later.
A win for Bermuda would have kept them right up in the qualification frame with two games against the group’s whipping boys Barbados yet to come, but a journey into the 3rd Round of qualifying to join the region’s big hitters Mexico, USA, Honduras and others is no longer a possibility as two games between table topping Guyana and Trinidad & Tobago will decide then group winner and so the Gombey Warriors best finish can only be 2nd.
Today is the opening day of a new restaurant in Bermuda, something that doesn’t happen very often, so I normally like to promote them, yet sadly it is at the expense of another.
I had dinner at Latin (photo) on Victoria Street last week, and although the service was characteristically poor, the South American/Cuban cuisine was again very good. Hamilton is stuffed full of steak, expense burgers and catch of the day type restaurants, and Latin was always a nice alternative so it will be a real shame to see it disappear from the short list of options.
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I’m off to fetch my Mum & Dad from the airport in a minute. They are here for 10 days and although I have various work commitments I will make sure that we and in particular their grandaughter spend as much time with them as possible.
Living away without any family close by and therefore without a support network is one of the toughest things to deal with especially when a child comes along, so times together are more than precious.
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In front of 3,000 fans Bermuda beat Trinidad & Tobago 2-1 on Friday night to record a famous victory. Second half goals from Antwan Russell and the excellent Bradford City’s Nahki Wells (who I mentioned the other day hasn’t played a full 90 minutes for some while) helped them to a 2-1 win over the Soca Warriors.
Bermuda pick up their World Cup Qualifying for 2014 tonight when they host Trinidad & Tobago at the National Sports Centre.
A win is the minimum Bermuda require who lost away to T&T 1-0 a month or so ago but this time around the Trinbagonians will be without many of their best players including the injured Kenwyne Jones, Ipswich winger Carlos Edwards and LA Galaxy midfielder Chris Birchall, and the Bermudian FA are encouraging fans to support the team and fill the 4,000 capacity stadium knowing there will be plenty of noisy T&T ex-pats who live and work here on the island.
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Whilst England and the rest of Europe are still concentrating on qualifying for the European Championships in Poland and the Ukraine, elsewhere around the globe countries have already started the long, long journey to Brazil 2014.
Qualifying matches have already started in Asia and the North, Central American and Caribbean region and last night in Guyana at the countries national stadium (mostly used for cricket) Bermuda were playing in a Round 2 Group B match.
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With one eye on the telly watching CNN’s saturated 24-hour hurricane coverage and one eye on my daughter in her playroom yesterday I suddenly saw out of the corner of my eye her inflatable turtle, which earlier she’d been sat in half full of water, fly by the window followed by a couple of garden chairs.
I rushed outside and there he was Tropical Storm Jose careering past Bermuda 50 miles away packing winds of 40mph. My little excursion out to the garden got me soaked and when I returned to the telly there was Anderson Cooper on CNN stood in the middle of a deserted New York’s Greenwich Village desperately looking for sign of rain, let alone a hurricane.
Hurricane Hyperbole is nothing new, especially since the invention of 24-hour news channels, and the American’s have rarely been known to overreact, but when one anchor proclaimed that the storm to be as “big as Europe” it was enough for me to turn over.
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My birthday today. Thank you. Two score years and five and exactly 56 years younger than Mother Theresa, whom I’m often compared…. well the wrinkles anyway.
After four years of rain affected lethargy, today’s Bermuda Cup Match ended in excitement as Somerset, who had batted like the blind school yesterday, fought back courageously to make a real fist of it and nearly snatched the trophy from St George’s for the first time since 2002.
My son and I were at the Wellington Oval today down at the east end of the island in St George’s to watch the annual proceedings and jolly good fun it was too. It is hard to describe the atmosphere except it’s about as far removed from a Lords test that you can imagine.
The locals dress to impress, well I am sure they impressed someone, the rum and beer flows and wannabe DJ’s compete with each other ten feet apart. The local scaffolding companies make a killing as that is pretty much what everyone is standing and sitting on and I hope, I really hope, they have ruddy good liability insurance.
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My son flew into Bermuda this evening travelling the 6.5-hour flight on his own. British Airways allow children to fly on their own from the age of 5 although ages, rules and regulations differ depending on the route and he has been asking for a while if he could travel here on his own. This morning his Mum was more nervous than he was as he took the whole adventure in his stride.
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Wimberley, Texas
