Walking To Bridgetown

On this drizzly day, Jackie did a great deal of planting and composting. We then carried off to the dump two more bags of the griselinia cuttings that Aaron and Robin had filled for us on Sunday. We only came back with a hoe.

After completing the scanning of the March 2004 colour slides of Barbados, i discovered some negative film I used when walking around the island before Sam arrived. The first dozen of these are of a ten mile walk from our first hotel at the southern tip to the capital, Bridgetown. It was a bit hot, and this was when I earned the epithet ‘the white man who walks’.

Street 3.04

This street scene shows the sign for a roadside bar; a well cared-for church, and typical chattel houses,

Corrugated iron wall

one with some kind of lean-to constructed of weathered corrugated iron, which was a common roofing material.

Chattel House and car bits 1Chattel House and Car Bits 2

The gardens of some of these houses contained car wrecks.

Gardens

Other owners preferred shrubs,

Bougainvillea around doorway

such as this bougainvillea trained around a porch behind a little picket fence.

Chicken

Chickens, some having been instructed in the art of deportment, strutted around with the apparent freedom of a New Forest pony.

Coconuts

Coconuts

Breadfruit

and breadfruit hung over the road which lacked a footpath,

Bus stop

and along which rampant buses tore. There were not many stops, but local people kept telling me I should use one.

Schoolchildren

The children who emerged from these simply constructed homes were clad in crisp, clean, uniforms and certainly were not ‘creeping like snail, unwillingly to school’ (William Shakespeare).

This evening we dined on Tesco’s fluffy fish pie; cauliflower, mushrooms, tomatoes,  and peas. Jackie drank lemon squash, and I drank merlot. Jackie is still carrying a cough from the virus, although I am not.

35 comments

  1. As I’ve mentioned before, I love when you hit the streets, Derrick. The bougainvillea is beautiful, but I think I’d be concerned as to what kind of critters might fall/jump onto my head, as I come out the front door. Great shots!

  2. Lovely pictures Derrick although a pity that some houses look quite precarious. To think that Barbados was used by many to shelter their assets through companies established there. Does not look like the locals’ situation got much better by that but at least they seem to be happy with what they have. Good to know you are feeling better. Hopefully Jackie will get better too.

  3. Very different pictures from your usual ones, Derrick. Looks a bit like Belize or even Phuket when we went a-wandering around the back lanes. Hope Jackie is soon recovered. A lingering cough can be so debilitating.

  4. I love the bougainvillea shot Derrick – I don’t have Jill’s delicate sensibilities, though I might give a wee yelp if something untoward landed on me………… 🙂 It’s so pretty and summery!

  5. Fluffy fish pie! What a grand name. Your bougainvillea reminded me of a time I was in the Virgin Islands in a cab and asked ‘what those flowers were’ and got a most lovely accented answer: ‘boo-gan-vay!’ Beautiful pictures, as is so often the case!

  6. Photos are great, Derrick. I really love all kinds of “architectural” shots, especially building materials and component parts!

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