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A miscarriage of justice
We arrived early in London, landing at around 5.15am. Immediately we knew why we don’t live there; it was cold and grey, with more than a hint of drizzle and, by contrast to the 35 degrees we left in Barbados, the temperature was a cool ten.
One of the remarkable things about our travel to the Carribean was the configuration of the British Airways Boeing 777 which flies the route between Barbados and London Gatwick every day. Perhaps as much as 60 percent of the plane is devoted to better-than-economy travel; first and business classes and premium economy for those prepared to pay for extra legroom and bigger video monitors. We didn’t ask but surmised the reason for the extra allocation for premium travel is that Barbados is a destination primarily for moneyed holiday makers who travel in style. The plain old economy seats down the back are for the likes of us and the poorer Bajans.
To give an idea of coastal property prices in Barbados there is an old hotel currently for sale on the waterfront on the south coast which is a nice area but not nearly as up market as the west. The hotel looked fit for the wrecking ball and there was little adjoining land, but it is right on the beach and the price tag is a cool $US12 million or $NZ16.3 million.
At Sandy Lane, in the flash part of the west coast, where Tiger Woods got married, the accommodation prices range from between $B25,000 ($NZ17,000) a night for a villa in the festive season down to $B1,000 ($NZ700) for the cheapest room in the rainy season. A guest at the hotel can play nine holes on its golf course for $B130 and $180 for 18 holes, and the green fee alone to play on the Green Monkey, whatever that may be, is $US385. The sample menu on the resort’s web site does not list prices, nor does it for the wine list, but it could be expected that a glass of the Bollinger Special Cuvee does not come cheap. We are able to report that there is a handy selection of New Zealand wine on the menu ranging from 1999 Babich Sauvignon Blanc to a Cloudy Bay Pelorus bubbles and then the Te Mata Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. As for us, we felt hard done by paying $7 for a small bottle of Banks beer at west coast bars by comparison to the $3 we paid at the Oistins Fish Fry.
Our time back in London was to be brief, two nights in all, with only one night together with the Moodies and Andrea, the Hungarian child minder. Martin was off next day to Cannes for year 21 at the Cannes Duty Free something-or-other (3 of the 8 days are dedicated to golf, but we are told the rest is hard work) and Andrea was off to Mallorca with her boyfriend for a long weekend. It was Andrea’s birthday recently and Anousheh’s on Friday, so this was a farewell and birthday celebration combined at the local Greek restaurant with its half-price mains between Sunday and Thursday. So as well as the birthday cake, it was an opportunity to bid our farewells and thanks to the very generous Moodies who have let us use their home (and most charitable hospitality) as a base for the last five months. In fact, they are exceptionally giving and with Anousheh’s permission we could have raided the fridge in the shed and polished off our host’s best vintage Veuve Clicqot champagne. But we were our usually restrained selves and the champers remains untroubled.
Any visit, even one of as short a duration as this, would be incomplete without an incident with the authorities and this was no exception. This time a 30 pound parking ticket, the irony being that it was collected while going to get a duty-free receipt for a 30 pound VAT refund. We claim, of course, that the ticket was thoroughly unfair (and it was, truly) meaning that Marty spent much of our last morning arguing the toss at the Ealing Council office while Kaelene fought even harder to get our purchases of the last five months into our two suitcases - which were already overweight even before we started our travels. What the Moodies may discover eventually is that we have hoarded belongings all over their house in what we hope are unnoticeable little piles.
This parking ticket was jolly irksome and a satisfactory resolution yet to be achieved. Despite eloquent submissions, witnesses and photographic evidence pointing out that the clock on the pay-and-display was incorrect and that a sign setting out the conditions of parking provided inaccurate information, a decision is yet to be made on whether the fine will be waived. In the meantime, we are preparing a defense team to be led by Joe Karam and negotiating the movie rights. On the strength of that alone we have booked the villa at Sandy Lane for a month.