The last 2 weeks have been such a whirlwind. It seems like years ago that we
were in Bar du Musee saying goodbye to all of our friends, but in fact it was
only 14 days ago. And now here we are, safe and sound in Grand Cayman starting
to settle into our new life. It's strange to look back and think just how much
has happened since then...
Just a quick recap. In the intervening days we have:
a) both finished our jobs in London....
...and have been
given great send offs by our former employers;
b) spent time with as many relatives and friends as we have been able to fit
in - thank you for all your good wishes;
c) travelled up to Yorkshire (separately) so we could spend Easter together
with both sets of in-laws in Yorkshire chez Finnigan, and introduce the Family
R to the delights of God's own County. Needless to say it rained on and off
(but mostly on) for the entirety of the period they were there...;
d) packed and re-packed our luggage to try and meet British Airways' very
prescriptive baggage requirements (benefiting our local charity shops in the
process);
e) said a somewhat moist-eyed farewell to our respective parents; and
f) boarded the plane for the 12 hour flight to Grand Cayman, and caught up
on the backlog of new releases that we didn't have time to see before we left
(him - The Muppets, J Edgar, The Ides of March, Drive; her - We Bought a Zoo,
Lion King, The Descendants, Kinky Boots).
And then we found ourselves "on island" at long last, after what
seems like years of planning but has actually been less than 6 months.
Our first sight of the island was about 10 minutes out, a tiny speck on the
horizon out of the plane window. It was much greener than we were expecting,
with much of the island covered in lush green palm and coconut palm trees,
interspersed with a combination of LA style mansions and Cayman cottages which
are build with wood, on stilts and have a corrugated iron roof.
Then we saw the famous 7 mile beach (actually it's about 5.5
miles, but who's counting?)....it looked alright.
Now we've been here a couple of days now, and we have
already:
checked out Barn's new offices (by company limo no less)...
experienced our first Caribbean sunset (Daiquiris off camera to the left...)
suitably stocked the fridge (and picked up a loyalty card for the Cayman
brewery in the process)
checked into our temporary home for the next two weeks. Back garden is
rather nice....
had some downtime (and breakfast) by our pool...
had lunch in modern Caymana Bay - Cayman's only "mall". Barn love
it. Bon thinks it reminds her of Canary Wharf..... kind of.
with the American
sized portions we are going to have to watch our waistlines... yes that is a
chicken Caesar wrap - Pret/M&S take note. And no the diet coke won't help.
and been to the centre of George Town, which is the Capital (presumably by
default, it being the only "town" on the island...). Stingrays are a
big thing here...
House hunting commences on Lundi and today we are meeting islander friends
for lunch to ask them boring questions such as; what dentist should we register
with, where's the opticians, dry cleaners etc. I hope they don't read this
before we meet, they may cancel.....
B&B
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