World Enough and Time

No, I haven't found Captain Jack Sparrow and his men. Not yet. And really, this is just about the Pirates of George Town, on Grand Cayman Island.

I took photos of eight different pirates, which I encountered just wandering around the town. I'm pretty sure there are more of them. I got a kick out of them, and started taking their photo whenever I saw one.

( My pirate collection... )

January 18 was the last day we were on the Ruby Princess. I'll miss that ship.

( My photos... )

I saw the African Queen. Yes, yes, I saw the movie The African Queen long ago, and many times. It's one of my favourites ever. I didn't know that the boat was in Key Largo. In the movie, it was in Africa.

We all wanted to go to Key Largo because we'd never seen the Florida Keys, and redmtl said Key West was too far to go in a day. So we headed off southwards on the highway, and saw many amazing sites along the way, and got to Key Largo, starting out at the Visitor's Information Centre, looking for a place to eat lunch.

( My Photos... )

We are on land. Ordinary, plain, firm land. I miss the ship already.

maaseru and I, and redmtl and her mother, are now at our hotel in Fort Lauderdale, and will be here for a few days. We disembarked this morning, a process which (inevitably) involves a lot of hurrying up and waiting, even with wheelchairs in tow. (Or maybe: especially with wheelchairs in tow.) Then we did errands: getting the rental van, going to the bank, the post office, the drugstore, and the grocery store. We had lunch at Denny's, which has changed its menu - not for the better, as some of our favourite items are now missing from it. For dessert, I had apple pie with maple crust - what a concept! - and ice cream.

Along with Lil and her mother, we met redmtl's friends Margaret and May for dinner at Waxy's Irish Pub - I had corned beef and cabbage,
maaseru had potato skins. Afterwards, we went back to redmtl's hotel room for tea and cookies, and chatted about any number of things while redmtl looked at her gorgeous photos of the cruise on her laptop. It reminded me of happy days at conventions - like, for example, the Dunnett convention in 1990, one of the best ever - where after the day's events we would go back to someone's room and talk for ages. Good times.

But now I'm too tired to articulate.

Last night I went onto our balcony overlooking the water, and sat back in the lounge chair to watch the stars while listening to Queen, John Barrowman and other music on my iPod. Feeling happy with life.

Far away on the horizon I could see another cruise ship, all lit up and beautiful in the dark.

Oh what a gorgeous day! Barbados would be lovely for a longer stay. maaseru and I didn't spend much time in the city, Bridgetown, but took a photography tour by bus around the island, led by a local photographer.

( My photos... )

My pictures of St. Thomas, in the Virgin Islands. The Virgin Islands were named by Columbus, who called it St. Ursula and the Eleven Thousand Virgins. It got shortened.

( My Photos... )

We shopped till we dropped. We loved it. Two wild women, let loose in the Caribbean!

I uploaded some pictures.

From ( yesterday... )

From ( today... )

A certain number of errands got done today, like going with Lil to pick up her mother's rental walker. A woman at the desk at the place said, "Good morning, y'all," and I was charmed - I've really only ever heard that in movies.

The place advertised itself as 'family rentals' and it seemed to rent mostly things for kids (cribs, rocking horses, tricycles) and the old (walkers, canes). A few items for other adults, particularly for parties: a popcorn machine, drinks glasses, a fountain suitable for orange juice.

We had lunch at an upscale mall, and bought highbrow Crocs in styles we'd never seen before.

In the evening, a Meet and Greet with the people on our particular cruise - including some of the Scots-style singers who will entertain us, who were talking about (and singing about) my part of the world, sort of - the Ottawa Valley.

I'm not sure how much Net access I'll have on the shop. Lil (our Cruise Guru, who has done it many times before) says it costs a lot and isn't worth it; she's happy to go ten days without Net access. But she isn't as Net-addicted as I am, and she doesn't have an LJ habit.

If I go silent for a while, picture me lounging on a deck with a book in the Caribbean Sea, and a smile on my face.

I'm writing this in the Toronto airport, at gate 181, waiting for a flight to Fort Lauderdale.

At Sheila's suggestion, I asked for Wheelchair Assistance. I'm now glad I did; Lil made the arrangements, and the reason she gave was the recent problems with my broken ankle. True enough, but the real reason I need wheelchair assistance is that the standing in line would be killing - very long lines at the different security locations. That would be bad enough. But that and wrangling my luggage? My back wouldn't be able to take it. I'd be crippled for the trip, and that's no way to start a vacation.

Besides, I was curious. Another new experience. When disembarking from flight AC441 from Ottawa, the flight attendant said, “You know the drill.”

“Actually, I don't.” I said. “I've never travelled with a wheelchair before.”

“So how did you know what to do?” she asked. “You knew to stay in your seat when the plane landed.”

“I read the instructions,” I said.

“Oh.” She looked meaningfully at the other Flight Attendant. “One of those.”

Have I ever flown in Canada in the winter before? I think I have, but only once, and long enough to forget how different it is. Mostly, it was dark, with clouds below us. Then a beautiful dawn over the clouds. Then a break in the clouds: trees and fields in snow. Too high (or too early) to make out much detail, or tell the difference between dark trees and dark rocks. A white ribbon across the landscape must have been hydro poles, invisible from this distance. At some point we went over a strangely shaped lake, and there was a town: I wondered if we were flying over – or whether we had already flown over - maaseru's Wee Bothy.

I should explain that though I am taking this trip with maaseru, we are flying separately, since there were no more seats available on her flight when I tried to book. So she's probably at the airport in Montreal right now, and we'll meet up in Fort Lauderdale.

Security was draconian, as advertised, though at least they didn't confiscate my book. That was one of my fears. First, there was the normal security, with the electronic wand and x-ray machines. Then there was a whole array of tables at a sort of checkpoint, with RCMP officers in attendance. Everyone was patted down by hand – thoroughly! They even reached inside my waistband (front and back), made me take off my books so they could feel my feet and ankles, though they let me keep my socks on. I had to demonstrate the laptop by turning it on; and then my camera. I was being taken through by the "fast" route, because of the wheelchair. I'd hate to think how long it would all have taken, otherwise.

I've been to the Toronto airport before, but not for a long time. Did they renovate? Last time I recall being in the Toronto airport, it must have been the mid-1990s. Tovah (from NYC) was visiting Desiree (Toronto native) and I was changing planes in Toronto. So she came to the airport and we had an airport visit.

Written later:

Pretty airport, though. There was a huge art thing - not sure what to call it - a high tank with coloured cubes of light within. I'd have taken a photo, except the Flight Attendant pushign my airport was going zoom, zoom. I wanted to shriek "Allons-y!" or "Geronimo!" but I controlled myself. The Flight Attendant confessed, when we were going down the rather long, rather steeply sloping walkway, that she was always afraid her hands would slip, the wheelchair would go flying, she's lose a passenger and never be able to show her face again.

Didn't happen this time, though.

My John Barrowman connection: on the flight, the candies I brought to suck during take-off were the package they gave us when we went to the taping of How Do You Solve a Problem like Maria? in Toronto. They turned out to be yummy.