Every couple of years we travel back to Europe to celebrate Christmas and catch up with family and friends but this year, because of all the disruption and uncertainty caused by Covid19, we sadly decided to cancel our trip. So it was quite a surprise when I found myself on a BA flight back to Heathrow in the middle of December. Unfortunately my Dad was gravely ill and I wanted to get back as quickly as possible to be with him.
Because Grenada is considered a low risk country, travelling into the UK was straight forward with no quarantine or self-isolation required. I stayed with my Mum and arranged a PCR Covid test as soon as possible to make sure I wasn’t bringing any lurgies in to her or to my Dad’s house. I got a clean bill of health and was able to visit Dad every day for a cup of tea and a chat, it was great to be able to sit by the bed and spend some valuable time together. My step-mother was doing an heroic job taking care of him and I was able to help her with various chores; shopping or walking the dog so it really was time well spent.
The other great outcome of my surprise visit was spending a couple of weeks with my Mum. It’s been years since we had some one-on-one mother-daughter time and it was really good to boost up our friendship up again. We were in Tier 2 so were able to meet a close family friend for lunch in the pub once or twice but otherwise spent time cooking and eating at home, doing jigsaws and squabbling over what to watch on TV. Needless to say Christmas Day was fairly low key; Neil celebrated with friends Jan and Pete on their boat Twenty Twenty with lunch and plenty of rum no doubt, and had a lovely day.
Unfortunately just before Christmas a “new variant” of Covid19 was discovered in Britain which had a catastrophic impact on the spread of the pandemic. Tier 4 (virtual lockdown) was put in place across large parts of the country and many family’s plans for a Christmas get together had to be cancelled: a tragic blow after a dreadful year. Within a couple of days the Grenadian government had imposed a buffer of fourteen days for travelers between leaving the UK and arriving in Grenada.
I scrabbled to rearrange my travel plans and luckily Barbados was still accepting tourists from the UK. I quickly booked myself on a flight on 1st January before they changed their minds! I had a PCR test before I left, another four days after I arrived and had to stay in a quarantine hotel until I was cleared a few days later. I won’t try to tell you that being stranded in Barbados for two weeks was tough – I couldn’t handle all the hate mail 😊 – I just wish Neil had been there with me.
Once free of quarantine I stayed in an Airbnb house share. I spent quite a bit of time hanging out with Deby, my host, we had some good chats, she gave me tips on getting around and where to shop, and she taught me how to make Bajan fish cakes. In the cool of the morning I’d go for a run around the Savannah, a horse racing track in the old garrison area close to Deby’s house. Although races were suspended I could watch the horses being exercised on the track and then taken down to the beach where they were swum and washed down. It was magical!
I soon got the hang of the bus system and spent a couple of days looking around Bridgetown. The town was established in the seventeenth century as the first base for expansion of Britain’s trade and military ambitions in the Caribbean. The Parliament Buildings, barracks and numerous other historic buildings surrounding the port are protected as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It’s an interesting place to visit and the local people are very happy to show you around.
One of the most intriguing structures is the Screw Dock, a dry dock built in 1893 to serve navy and mercantile ships arriving in Barbados and the only one still in existence. The 5m screws sticking up in the air raised the floor of the dock up 13ft to enable vessels to be cleaned or repaired out of the water. It had a lifting capacity of 1,200 tons and was operated by steam then later converted to electricity. It was still used by the British Navy during World War II but was finally closed in 1985.
One day I took the bus across the island to the east coast to walk the path of an old railway track built to traffic sugar, freight and passengers between Bridgetown and Belleplaine. I walked the four mile section between Bath to Bathsheba and it was a wonderful scenic walk along a remote and rugged stretch of coast, away from everything except the relentless swell and an occasional rain shower. I had a flying fish cutter and a couple of glasses of rum in a funky little restaurant in Bathsheba then hopped on the bus back to the city.
Now I am back in Grenada, in another quarantine hotel waiting for my next PCR test then hopefully I will be able to return to Neil and Distant Drummer. I am able to arrange food deliveries to the hotel from the supermarket but it was really lovely to see Neil’s smiling face when he turned up yesterday with some groceries for me. Although we couldn’t touch (yes there is a security guard keeping an eye on me!) we could chat face to face – it’s great to be back so close to home.
While I was away we missed our anniversary, Christmas, New Year and Neil’s birthday so we will have a lot to celebrate when I finally get back on board – can’t wait!!
Suzy and Neil