Waiting for the ship!

Hi everyone, Nicki here. This is a pic of our car, also known as Toaster! It is a nifty little Daihatsu Extol which is no longer made. It has a small engine, and, as with everything in Bermuda, cost too much. We paid more for this than what we made selling the Golf and the Audi. All cars on the island hold their value quite well, so let's hope this one does too. For all you pending visitors, it has 7 seats, so you can hop in as you won't be able to hire your own car!

There are bikes and bikes everywhere. My new one is currently on order - a Piaggio Liberty 125 CC. As with alot of things there is no stock so I have to order it and it arrives mid-October - they say! My drive to work is 5.4kms and this morning it took me 40 minutes - crazy - I was wishing for some water wheels as I could see the office but could not get there! Anyway, I will just have to try and leave earlier tomorrow!

Miss T and I at the town of St George - a lovely day out and very English!

Over

Well, we survived the Hurricane with no real damage. We do consider ourselves fortunate considering 25000 people lost electricity for up to 5 days. Ours had gone down 4 times in the previous 5 days so we thought it inevitable, but the big man upstairs had other ideas. Those without electricity did find it very frustrating.

School was back in session on Tuesday even though all the Government schools and departments were closed. Nicki took off a half-day and I returned home early to look after the little madam.

The photo above is taken from the Gibbs lighthouse just above our house about 12 hours before the storm reached the island. Tayla did find our to her horror that she could not stand in the strong winds!!

After the storm the wind changed direction and took a good few hours to blow out, and then it was time to clean up and take down all the protection on the house.

As I type I see that hurricane Helene is now heading our way......hopefull to miss this tiny dot.

We got some good news today that the container holding our household goods has been located and searched by US customs and should be on its way here this weekend - we will not be holding our breath but do look forward to an emense present opening session. The other bit of major news is that we both passed our practical bike tests. I gave myself little chance and even put my feet down twice! Till next time.

Photos of Tayla

Hurricane Florence

Now that we know how to update this webpage we will aim to do so more regularly.

On to Hurricane Florence which has been bearing down on us for the past week. Preparations have been accelerating at quite a pace with a variety of lists on what to do being sent around. Basic preparations include, filling up all baths, ensuring one has enough dry food and clean water for a week, stocking up on candles, matches and the very necessary supplies of red wine (the locals say it helps with killing time and...killing the brain). Yesterday we boarded up the house and ensured that a couple of windows are left open to equalise the pressure when the hurricane passes over.

According to the "experts" it will miss us by about 100 nautical miles, which for those of you who might not know (like us), is pretty much a direct hit. You can click on the weather link on the left and track to storm if you so wish.


We spent much of Saturday "buttoning down the hatches", and I can now sympathise with those people who you always see on CNN nailing on bits of timber as the wind picks up - mostly American if I remember correctly.


Most of the windows have special metal storm blinds, but some windows and doors cannot take them and then wooden sheets are then fitted. My DIY skills were sorely shown up by Dave Sutton our dedicated landlord and regular marine (I have some competition to my last boy scout mantle!).

All offices and schools are closed tomorrow and the Government does expect the power to go down for up to three days, so if you do not hear from us presume that no news is good news.

Till next time!!