Before you wonder this is not an advert. The 11 year old has spent a week in each of the last three years doing acting/drama/singing/combat lessons at the guildhall near Barbican in London, then they all have a performance at Her Majesty’s theatre in Haymarket on a sunday evening. The quality of the teaching is superb. Just wanted to mention this. Not especially cheap but not a rip off either.
No sign of wind nor rain nor hurricane Issac this morning.
This is what a bad day on Grand Cayman looks like
There is an inherent danger in listening to people. People have differing and sometimes odd views on any topic. Our plan to go to the Turtle farm was challenged when we heard rumours that visitors were almost forcibly encouraged to eat Turtle burgers ( they are on the menu here), that there was rampant cruelty to turtles and that it would cost 50$ each ( presumably in Cayman Dollars, so US Dollars 60$).
Over a large and some might say excessive breakfast, we decided to go as we have the hire car ( and they are not cheap) and we would take a chance. We were right. The turtle farm is a great place to go. No-one cared if we went anywhere near a restaurant there, the total price for 2 adults and a child was 92$ US ( and that trust me is cheap for Cayman Islands and is about the cost to watch a Brentford home game) and we saw nothing to worry us at all regarding turtle management. What we did see however was amazing.
A huge lagoon with depths and shallows was nicely set up with various land areas to allow swimmers, with snorkels and masks ( free by the way) to swim around if we wished from 11 am to 2.30pm. One swims with turtles and loads of fish. The turtles swim close to you. My worrying finding was that turtles swim faster than me. So my chances for Rio Olympics have gone, but maybe those for the turtles remains. This was the best 2 and1/2 hours of my holiday. Then there were education centres, pools where the turtles could be watched and handled.
Lastly if you plan to go this is the only place on Grand Cayman that asks for Photo ID when using a credit card. An unusual but occasional occurrence abroad. For some unspecified reason using an American Express card gave a 20% discount. So a positive plug for Amex
Turtles
Never having been here before my expectations were high but I have been astounded by the beauty of this island. If one thinks of an Island paradise this is exactly what you will find here. The downsides? No football. No sign of Cayman United. And the price of food is amazingly high. Not far off double UK pieces. That aside it is beautiful. The beaches are pristine white, the sea is clean and clear. The people friendly. Many maybe even most people here either dive or have some dive related job. The recent debate has been whether to introduce tax to salaries. There was some proposal to tax salaries 30%, this was then ground down to 10% and then abolished! So no tax. Temperature. Easy 31 deg daytime and 27 deg at night. Bit of rain some maybe even most days.
The best part for me though is swimming to a sort of huge rig about 50 yards off shore and sitting effectively in the middle of the Caribbean sea. Fish swim everywhere. On morning walks along the beach ( that we voluntarily get up for around 6.45am) there are Needlefish swimming about 3-4 metres out to sea, they catch tiny little fish in one sweeping movement. Large shoals of Bermuda Chubb swim around and hope for feeding. There is one huge Mutton Snapper ( called Toby or Bob. Depending upon who you talk to) with a mouth wider than most fish. No jellyfish, as yet. This is a lovely place.
Eating at night is a joy with so many places to choose from. Rackhams by the waterfront in George Town has to be the best! Sunset at Royal Palms comes in second. Third place is a tie at the moment. Best beers? Close thing. Caybrew is great as is Coors light but maybe Whitetip is winning just now. Rackhams however wins for the best burger on earth!
Seven Mile Beach
Sunset at 6.45 pm. Royal Palms Beachfront. Seven mile beach
My home for 2 weeks. 50 metres out to sea. Marriott Grand Cayman
Seven mile beach. Just before sunset.
Having been in korea for the first 3 days of the olympics and hence being the only person on this planet who never saw the opening ceremony, I was looking forward to see ing the olympics in a casual and moderately interested way. The trip however to the olympic stadium, seeing the excitement , the gamesmakers smiling at people they did not know, the thousands of happy souls wandering around, changed it all. We felt part of it and not just a specatator. It was also the day that I fell in love with women’s hockey. Not just because it was Team GB playing but because the game itself was so devoid of all the nonsense that surrounds football. It was fast, no time-wasting, no cynical fouls, little dissent, when balls went out they were replaced immediately and in each 35 minutes one got just that 35 minutes . The crowd also were supporting,enjoying, with none of that alcoholic swagger and swearing. Watching on TV then became de rigeur and the Equestrian jumping event was the second huge surprise. Greenwich Park was a natural venue where the towers of the city contrasted with the victorian buildings. The light that day was also amzing with the sky as dark as night.
I have loved every minute of the olympics. The closing ceremony must go down as one of the most magical and enchanting events ever. A spectacle that had to be seen to be believed.
The joy of winning
The Riverbank Stadium
A week ago on 26th July 13 students from the University of Exeter commenced a 4500km cycle to Istanbul. Why? To support Help for Heroes. Many of these students had just completed their degree and graduated 2 weeks before. Somehow they found time to train,organise and generally prepare for this strenous trip. Aside from the obvious physical aspects there were numerous other planning aspects to consider. For example how to spend as little as possible on the trip, as this would reduce the sponsorship amounts for the charity. So, they spend most nights in tents and some nights in cheap hostels. The van they were donated is not of the Formula 1 category and rather like a beached whale is not deemed well enough to migrate the Alps, so will go around and meet the cyclists on the other side. To date they have reached Lyons and are having a…
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A truly dissapointing day out. Around 350 Bees fans witnessed a rather tame match and saw Bees beaten by an average Walsall side that are favourites for relegation. The reality was that Brentford played the first half like a reserve team having a pre-season friendly in the sun. Little guile and sadly not so much effort nor skill either. Walsall scored somewhat against the run of play around 20 minutes in and then the result was more or less put to bed by a stupid studs-up challenge from Jake Reeves that deservedly got him red carded. The second half was a better affair. three Brentford substitutions put a little more spice back into the game but no goals came although Bees went close. Positives from the game? a nice ground to watch football in and decent burger. Simon Moore made some good saves but worried me by his failure to catch much opting to punch almost every time. He also spilled a few shots and had some luck that no passing forward was in reach. Harlee Dean was poor and in fact the whole defence did not give evidence that they will be hard to score against. Kevin O’Connor however maybe man of the match.
This is not a reason to panic but the 350 present will have second thoughts about attending any league cup games next season. Let us hope our first choice team next saturday is better.
Chaos at Waterloo station tonight around 6.30 with trains not able to stop at New Malden . The reason. Well a complicated story that I have pieced together from the Surrey Comet website and Twitter. Who knows the accuracy but here we go. It seems that on the northbound platform a man dropped his mobile phone down between train and track. He tried to retrieve it and was advised strongly by the guard that this was not the best idea, death and all that. He was told that when the train moved off it might be possible. This did not fill him with joy and he argued with the guard, maybe even punched the guard as the train began to move off and fell down between train and platform. He was airlifted to hospital by an air ambulance but it seems does not have life threatening injuries. If half of this is factually correct the moral of the story is do not risk your life for a phone but just go to Carphone Warehouse the next day. Crazy behaviour.
For me it meant that having queued to get a train at Waterloo heading to Motspur Park for 25 minutes, and then not being able to get on, and seeing the same happen on another platform, went home on the Northern line to Morden. Despite most trains being cancelled and the rest severely delayed, other than we kept being informed that this incident had happened at New Malden ( A man has been hit by a train was the rhetoric used), there were no SouthWest Train staff on the platform at all to offer either assistance nor advice. The simplest thing to do would have been to stop folks getting onto the platform. The queue was five deep and a lot of pushing from angry commuter types was going on and raised voices. I remain unimpressed. Two photos. One from Surrey Comet and the other from my I Phone showing a little of the chaos at Waterloo.
Lastly well worth going to this blog to see more photos of the New Malden adventures
http://oddpupil.org/photos/airambulance/
And the Surrey Comet where the news hounds will sniff out more intrigue and adventure and chaos in New Malden
Platform 1. Waterloo. Around 6.30. Crowds building
Air Ambulance arrives in New Malden
Equestrian has always been a mystery to me until yesterday. We had the pleasure of seeing the qualifying round for the Team medals. The weather played its part. All got soaked and I mean soaked by some of the heaviest rain that I have been out in for a while. But spirits were not dampened. Great to see up close the horses and riders. Rather than wax lyrical about how magical the afternoon was I will show you in picture form the story of the day. but again LOCOG deserve so much praise for excellent organisation, the searches were carried out with hunour by naval folks. I may have been converted to an equestrian lover.For years I have been under the delusion that only football can generate an atmosphere that is electric but this is frankly wrong. To see the people of varying ages , 2 years to 90 years would be my guess, shouting and screaming for a horse, then a deadening hush when it goes wrong, was incredible. We even got a trip back on the DLR and changing trains at Canada Water was also simply incredible.
Deckchairs and a big screen in Greenwich Park
A week ago on 26th July 13 students from the University of Exeter commenced a 4500km cycle to Istanbul. Why? To support Help for Heroes. Many of these students had just completed their degree and graduated 2 weeks before. Somehow they found time to train,organise and generally prepare for this strenous trip. Aside from the obvious physical aspects there were numerous other planning aspects to consider. For example how to spend as little as possible on the trip, as this would reduce the sponsorship amounts for the charity. So, they spend most nights in tents and some nights in cheap hostels. The van they were donated is not of the Formula 1 category and rather like a beached whale is not deemed well enough to migrate the Alps, so will go around and meet the cyclists on the other side. To date they have reached Lyons and are having a well deserved rest day. My son Charles Bushe texted that he had spent a good day but things like washing needed to be done. They will have finished and be back in UK on September 8th. They deserve as much support as is possible. Even if you can only donate £1 then please do so and also importantly please pass on this message so that others can donate.
They are all good folks and already it is clear that they have bonded well together and are supporting each other when needed. For example the first day of their cycle down to Folkestone the temperature was well into the 30’s C, and there were obvious heat problems. A couple of them have had minor injuries such as a fall and tendonitis but they all keep going.
The links are below.
http://www.justgiving.com/Charles-Bushe for Charles
for the others they can all be accessed here.
http://www.justgiving.com/teams/London-Istanbul2012
So, even if it appears a very small sum of money do please donate and help them to collect a decent sum for Help for Heroes. Do not forget that all the weather we have had here they have had too and have continued to cycle! Even Charles 11 year old sister has donated 5£ of her pocket money. Charles also gave up his olympic tickets to see the weightlifting to go on this cycle. Many thanks and again please pass this on to all that you know.
Charles and his 11 year old sister, who donated £5 of her money!
chris1957
Arcticterntalk.org 