Bermuda Week 1

It is quite difficult to believe that I well into my second week, as the time has passed both quickly and pleasantly, though not without its stresses and challenges. The getting back into the work situation and getting the brain to compute all the various programs and systems plus switch into Haematology mode plus recognise terms, diseases, drugs etc has been quite tedious at times, but the cogs have been turning and the blank facial expressions when terms are used are receding!!! I really have enjoyed looking at the cells again and have even got better at doing the actual bone marrow procedures - a good thing as I have had to do 2 this week and have another  few in the pipeline. The staff are very pleasant and helpful plus there are even a few that I recognize from my last visits. Bermudians tend to hold onto their jobs and even the 'outsiders' stay a long time.

The lab is still in the old hospital with a new acute hospital having been built in the last couple of years. It is very modern with massive security, single bed rooms, but also masses of empty areas – the general consensus seems to be that it was badly designed added to which there is a general shortage of beds now. The old wards seem to be being used as long term chronic care and geriatric beds. Seemingly there are also a number of private clinics now scattered round the island.

I changed my accommodation last Wednesday evening and am much happier. The first place consisted of a room-en-suite with a defunct cooking unit in a rather large house with lots of empty rooms, but I am now in a unit with a small lounge- kitchen and a fabulous view. I even have neighbours and we enjoyed supper together on Thursday which was helped on by a very nice bottle of red SA wine. There is quite a good selection of SA reds at the local supermarket - a number that I haven't seen before, so am sampling them (with company!!!!).Red wine seems to be favoured but then the price of the whites seems to be in the same region as the reds, so I am not surprised.

Last night I went to dinner with a sister from the blood transfusion unit. Met a number of UK visitors – some of whom have lived here for 30-40yrs and others who are visiting temporarily. It was a very jolly evening with some rather tasty French reds – but didn’t get to see the labels, unfortunately! It was fascinating listening to some of the local festivities and also hearing about some of the politics – in all  spheres of island life!!!

Figure 1: A view across the water on the walk into town with boats!! All buildings have the white roofs which are painted with lime and have small ‘furrows’ in them which siphon off the rain water which is stored underground – Bermuda’s main source of water.

Figure 2: Dinghies overwintering on a small stretch of beach off the Hamilton Bay.

 The weather has been rather disappointing as it has been overcast and rainy for most of the time with wind and the occasional  thunderstorm. Despite that the average temp remains at 20C – though it can feel warmer and more humid during the day and cooler at night. I haven't ventured out too much after work as a result, except to walk to the shops and back and one afternoon found the way to Hungry Bay. This is a small, fairly private inlet, quite near the hospital, with the requisite mooring of boats and beautiful sea. I sat of the side and was very pleased to spot a number of large brilliantly coloured fish that were feeding near the edge. I am really looking forward to doing some snorkeling!!!

My weekends have been spent exploring further afield, usually by bus or ferry with a lot of footwork in between. Protection from the rain has been required – my white ‘condom’ raincoat has got a good airing!!!  Sunday last week, I walked to the one high school where they were hosting an international dog show - it was rather disappointing as there were very few dogs, though I did get to see the best gundog on show judging and rather liked the golden retriever, who only placed 4th. The labrador who won best gundog bitch, apart from being chocolate, had nothing else going for her!!!!!! I then walked back to town and caught the bus to the opposite end of the island - the naval dockyards and wandered round the festival that they were having, had some lunch which consisted of rum swizzle - very nice - and wahoo (a type of firm fish which was tasty), looked at some art, wandered through the tourist shops and then caught the ferry back to Hamilton in the middle of the island. I was rather surprised to find some of the big department stores open, none of the banks open on Saturday, and found one that sold wool, so - bought some and have been crocheting a baby's blanket - no surprise there!!! the TV is really awful so it keeps me occupied!!!!

Figure 3: A piece of art / sculpture that captured my imagination – unfortunately this is probably the closest that I will get to whale watching as the weather has cancelled many trips and the season ends this week.

This last weekend, I visited Elbow Bay, which is a very beautiful beach on the South Shore

Figure 4: As you can see the water is a beautiful colour and very clear close in shore with a fine soft pinkish sand due to coral and shell particles. The water was relatively warm but choppy so no one was swimming.

Sunday I planned to go to St Georges which is on the east side of the island, near the airport, but the weather was pretty gloomy, so aborted my trip at the Caves and spent a couple of hours under the earth. The Crystal Caves were discovered late in the 19^th century by 2 local boys looking for a cricket ball – or so the story goes and the caves were then opened up, first for a film about Annette the Mermaid and then later to the public. Numerous stalactites now have flat bottoms, as the first tourists were allowed to bring saws to take home souvenirs – touching not even allowed now. The formations plus the colour and clarity of the water was quite phenomenal with the one cave tending to have mainly white formations and the other pink (due to iron in the soil) – only a short distance from each other.

Figure 5: Chandelier stalactite formation in the Fantasy caves.

Due to the rain, I repaired to the Swizzle Inn next door for lunch. The main entertainment was an English soccer game, so it was very rowdy but the food was good. My liquid diet was another rum swizzle!! And this time I had mahi mahi – also a firm fish which was served in a very nice citrus sauce. Afterwards, I caught the bus into St Georges – that bus came first, but was very disappointed as the town was deserted apart from some aimless tourists like myself – definitely only really operational during the week or Saturday! Frustration because by the time I got home the sun was shining, but my adventures were over for the day!!!!

This weekend there is the Caitlin End-to End walk, run or cycle – basically a marathon, but there is a mid-to-end ‘race’ of a half marathon which I am considering doing as it goes through areas that I am loathe to explore on my own – however, I do not set out to walk long distances in the rain and….. rain is forecast!!!

Chat again soon