I didn’t have to party with the Punjabs alone after all. Simon finished work in time for us to catch the 4pm bus to get to the Shirley Heights sunset party.
Us and thousands of other people…
We had been expecting it to be a small media event but the sunset party is a weekly event on the top of a hill around a historic fort, that this week attracted thousands of people.
That meant it was a 20 minute queue to the bar and a longer queue to the food.
Everyone stood shoulder to shoulder in this very small area surrounded by short stone walls that hid the 70ft sheer drop to the sea. Not the best place for a lethal rum punch party one would have thought!!
However there were no reported injuries and no-one seems to have fallen over the edge.
A band played which got the mosh pit going, until the Aussies and Indians stormed the stage and danced and sang with the band. Which lasted until someone pulled the power cable out with their foot.
The sunset itself was nice but if there had been no clouds it probably would have been spectacular.
Last night would have been perfect – it was the nicest day we’ve had here. No clouds, no wind, just gorgeous. I spent the day at the pool, as the New Zealand team’s departure has made me somewhat redundant for a whole week.
What a terrible shame!!!
After Simon finished work we took a drive along the coast. We only drove for 10 minutes each way but the landscape changed a lot. The beach was always beside us but sometime were were high above it and other times we were separated from it by grass with donkeys grazing and stands of palm trees.
Off the shoreline not too far away is the island of Monserrat, which is an active volcano.
Its last massive eruption was only 10 years ago. A bunch of people got killed and the main city Plymouth, had to be abandoned because it’s covered in mud.
Nowdays visitors can only go to certain parts of the island because its still dangerous and the majority of the people who lived there moved away.
Yesterday we could clearly see the smoke coming out of the volcano which was exciting! And the day was so clear we could also see the other closest Caribbean islands of St Kitts and Nevis, and Guadulope. Pretty amazing.
Further along the coast we drove through a few little villages and a pineapple grove. St Lucia had bananas that we ate from the roadside stall. Here in Antigua its pineapples. Every little roadside stall sells them and in the little grove we went through they were no doubt plucked straight off the tree!
We passed a funeral where everyone was dressed in fine dresses with hats and gloves, and a school which had its motto painted on the side "We Can! We Should! We Will!", which I though was pretty cool.
On our way back we stopped at the next beach around from our complex and stumbled on a very small wedding – just the bride, groom, best man and woman and a little man playing a steel drum.
They asked this random fat English cricket fan who was lying on the beach to take their pictures and I couldn’t bear that being their only wedding photo!
We came home and got Simon’s gear and went back to the beach and offered to take their picture professionally. They seemed grateful, but not grateful enough. They’ll be sorry for not being more grateful when they seem how amazing their wedding pictures are compared to the rubbish the fat man took.
Well this has been exhausting, so I’m off to the pool for a little lie down in the sun shine!!!!!
Either that or I will stay here all day and watch the Roseanne omnibus that’s on TV, I’ve just had about 5 in a row from the early 90s on the telly behind me. Amazing.
Hope everyone is well and happy at home.
(Hey chantelle, thank you for the pics of my gorgeous new godchild, she looks a lot like me I reckon!)
