On yet another rain-slashed August day, I spared a thought for those holidaymakers who had come to the forest and the seaside for their long-awaited summer break. The last ten days hasn’t bothered me, because my chest infection has kept me indoors anyway, but they can’t have had much fun.
Needless to say this was another day for scanning colour slides, this time from Barbados in May 2004. If nothing else they remind me of sunshine. This set of photographs was made a day or two before Sam was expected to reach the island, having rowed The Atlantic solo from the Canaries.
Both Jackie and I think we ought to recognise this plant, but we don’t. Fortunately Mary Tang has identified it as frangipani.
Bougainvillea brightens every landscape.
A golden sunset is almost a cliche. Not in Port St Charles.
Jessica watches as Louisa shows her photographs to another member of the waiting group.
Birds like the Yellow breasted Sunbury,
and the Barbados Bullfinch, the only indigenous species, which is found nowhere else, take advantage of nature’s camouflage,
as does the land crab.
The grackle
and the sanderling don’t seem to need it.
This gentleman demonstrates the method of releasing milk from a coconut.
Just before the expected arrival time even the previously bright blue Caribbean Sea darkened,
and a rainbow arced over Port St Charles.
I was regularly in touch with Radio Nottingham to deliver live updates from my mobile phone. That night, I opened our balcony doors so that listeners could hear the deafening waves crashing in from the Atlantic.
This evening we dined on barbecue pork ribs, savoury rice, and green beans. Jam tart and custard was to follow. Ian drank Heritage de Calvet cotes du Rhone 2014; Becky drank lime cordial; Jackie, sparkling water; and I, another glass of the pinot noir.