From Birth Until Age 85, You Have 750,000 Hours - How Will You Spend Them?

Monday, March 16, 2009

It's a Whole Different World Out Here


A few years ago, I went to Grand Bahama with my mom and Jess. One of things we noticed was how very nice the people there were, it's just the same here. We went to shore today in search of water, clean laundry, veg, a new filleting knife and some lunch. While we were there we met kindness and politeness everywhere we went.

First off, the man in the store at the dingy dock. At every new place we go, we land with a series of questions. Where do we get water, may we put our trash somewhere, where is the laundry / grocery / good restaurant? The first person we encounter is usually subjected to this barrage and the man in the store at the dingy dock was today's victim. What a delightful man! He answered every single one of my questions and when I asked if he sold rope (to tie down our dingy!) he said he didn't, but then he went out to the domino players outside and asked if they had any they wanted to get rid of. Second nice person, the guy from the para-sail boat, who went to his boat, pulled out 20 feet of good thick stuff and GAVE it to us!

When we got to the laundry, the woman there doing hers offered to put ours in the dryer while we were walking around so we didn't have to hang around waiting for the washer to finish. Nice!

We had three offers of rides as we were walking down the road and when we got lost (after walking and walking and walking) and asked for directions from a man leaving his yard, he offered to take us there! And after walking and walking and walking, we said yes. Turned out he was the assistant something or other of tourism for the Berry Islands and he was very nice indeed.

Found the grocery store, no fresh veg, no boat until Wednesday. "When are you leaving?" "Wednesday." Oh, well, we'll get some someplace else. At this point, we were desperate for lunch and we went to Coolimae's where there was no menu, but they did have lamb or conch. We get lamb in Wales so we opted for the conch and it was lovely, almost as good as mine (but I lucked out with an excellent and spicy Emeril recipe). The restaurant patrons were all cruisers and they were all very nice and chatty! As a matter of fact, all of the people who were anchored out by our boat were in there for lunch. Several former Morgan boat owners, now in Catamarans (Toucan Sail and Betty Boop Too) and four folks on a 54' Gulfstar (so big they have TWO kayaks on their deck!) called Peace. I suspect we'll see more of them as it sounds like we're all heading in kind of the same direction.

On top of all that, virtually every person that drove by in a car waved or said hello to us - when is the last time that happened? In the other world, once in a while you encounter someone who goes out of their way to be helpful, but so many in one day? It's a whole different world out here.

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