Random Projects

OK going to do the next two posts as big ones. End of Bermuda and all of Cuba! (and no pics Got only a few mins before off to Ecuador after 18 hours of flights yesterday!

Hoobies
The standout thing about the Bermuda leg of our trip was the fact we found ourselves very much integrated into the whole local Bermuda thing pretty much as soon as we got there. With only 65,000 people, (a quarter of the population of Brighton which seems small enough) we were really bumping into people in the street we knew by the end of it. Some people we met couldn’t go more than a few streets without a wave or a hello.
Outside of Hamilton, the main town, the first few times a stranger said “hello”, I must have sounded like an idiot in response, muttering flustered gobbledygook! Everyone from the man digging up the street outside our little cottage to the old lady off to the shops would give a passing “how are you?”, to which I’d invariably return a startled something sounding like a cross between a grunt and a splutter. And if you ever go to the tiny (oh so English country village) post office at Bailey’s Bay you wont leave without knowing everything there is to know and telling everything there is to tell.

Hoobies was the point of this post! Hoobies is a Jazz Club, I doubt any tourist would ever get near which is all the shame.

The man in red is 85 and a bit of a ladies man, working his way though most of the ladies at our table!

Beaches
The image of Bermuda I think of is very much idyllic beaches and luxury pampering, and why not! Public transport is really good in Bermuda, there’s one transport company that runs all the (salmon pink) busses and all the ferries. As is the official Bermuda way.. everything is clear and organized (if only on the scale of a small village, but what’s wrong with that?)
In a single day we bussed up the northern coast taking in most of the bigger beaches, Horseshoe Bay, Elbow Bay and ….

St Georges
At the very east of the island is St Georges. A world heritage site and general lovely place. Like most of Bermuda, if it weren’t for the sun and heat it could easily be a little Cornish village in the UK. From the red telephone boxes, post boxes and road signs to the stone walls and brick houses. Here are some pics
Two things very strange things here; an internet café where I’m sure the bloke greeted me with a “Hello Tim” and said “goodbye Tim” too. And the other was finding Kath’s severed head on the floor at an old unused café…

It might not look like Kath immediately but if you ever get the chance you’ll see why I was concerned if you check out her old PADI ID card from her braided hippie days! That wouldn’t be the last time I’d experience some potential time line disturbance on this trip!

Dockyard
We got the ferry, which was great, up here to the north west point of the island. The old British fort here is worth a visit. We wanted to see the exhibit on slavery there and I wanted to see the big guns . Slavery is a huge part of Bermuda’s past and present really.
This was our last day and we were running out of time but there’s loads of stuff to see from Military stuff to coins and art and free Bermuda cake.
When we got here to the island, Bermuda seemed possibly like the ultimate integrated culture and colour seemed to play no part whatsoever in the jobs or positions people had. I really think that is case here more than most places in the world but, as we learned there are still problems.