Cheese & Wine

Routine - it's completely changed now - it's strange how quickly you can adapt and I was thinking today that there is nothing the same about life here now as to life before in Europe. Today is the first time ever I have been at home alone so I'm thinking I should do a little recap of the last few weeks.

1. The second drive from the bottom of the plot. Well, our original builder had dug it one day without actually telling us he was doing it but convinced us we needed a drive up from the bottom to the top of our plot. We then ordered tarish (sand & stone) which was meant to be dumped along the length of the drive but it was just dumped at the bottom. Then we had to find a company with a small digger to distribute it along the drive. They came and said it was impossible and it needed to be reshaped and more tarish. At more cost, (yeah, I know they can see us coming), they reshaped and brought more tarish and laid the tarish along the length of the drive. We then decided to try and drive up it in our car - halfway up we skidded back down along the edge of the mountain - a little bit dicey. The only way this drive will work is full concrete - expensive and there's too much concrete already. The next day we had torrential rain and half the tarish was washed away giving true meaning to 'money down the drain'. During this whole process several people told us 'we thought it would never work', as they do. Plan B is to remove the tarish at the top and replace it at the entrance of the drive (to make parking for 3 cars) and then build natural (whatever that means...) steps up. The death defying corner bit will now be turned into the vegetable plot. Let's hope the carrots grow straight.

2. The pool - work is due to start on the decking and plumbing on 1st December - hopefully 2008. The local plumber will now fit the inonisation system and Toolman Tim (previous pool builder he says) will complete the pool part. Hopefully these 3 musketeers will sort it out.

The week ended on a high note. We were invited to Dominica's Beaujolais Nouveau 2008 arrival at the Papillote Wilderness Retreat. Andy said I should really drink it being the point of the evening but luckily ice cold white was on hand too. The food was fantastic - really great - wish the plates had been bigger. Cheese too - wow, real cheese so there you go, you can get everything in Dominica - you just need a little bit of faith and patience.........should be this blog's title.....