8.30 pm The first day started off pretty well I guess. Think I’ve already written about the VIP military band thing
Then we were off to meet some of the characters (quite literally “characters” as we would be inhabiting the strange world of thespians and the “show business” for the next 10 days) we’d see at random times on this island of just 65,000 people.
Pretty much a self service bar was indeed a good start and after some discussion on who could operate the machinery we settled down for a well earned pint. After our mammoth Cancun-Mexico City-Miami-Bermuda flight with an overnight on the floor of Mexico City airport (ps no seats anywhere in this airport until the gates!!!) it was great.
After a good few pints we headed to our new home. We were staying with Cleo, our friend from the UK (in Bermuda to create the set for a theatre production of The Full Monty) in a little cottage by Shelly Bay.
Surrounded by millionaire pads we found it quite funny turning up with our back packs of dirty clothes. Possibly that was the beer too. It was about midnight so it was the correct time for a midnight dip. Climbing down the steps in the garden for our first taste of Bermuda’s warm clear water, it was mad. It was time for the phosphorescent algae to come out in the bay. Although completely clear, (and pitch black) the water was full of the stuff and any movement set it off. Swimming around, you were followed by white glittering flashes. Looking down at your feet treading water was just plain weird!
Bermuda is undeniably a millionaire’s playground, relatively safe and also quite conservative; these three facts would serve us well in the coming days and tonight in particular. Millionaires mean huge fancy gardens, boats and swimming pools, safe means a lot of trust and no security, and conservative means everyone goes to bed early!
Spying a rather nice yacht tied up in the middle of the bay we didn’t need too much encouragement from Cleo to swim over and climb aboard. While sunning ourselves on the poop deck under the starry midnight sky we discussed the virtues of the Bermudan lifestyle. This was our first night and the first of our completely harmless but rather satisfying clandestine escapades.
Where can I start! We had no idea what to expect and really we hadn’t even thought about this part of the trip. All we knew\were hoping, was it would be a really easy relaxing interlude between some pretty hardcore countries. We had somewhere free to stay, someone to show us around, no language problems and even the phone boxes and post boxes were familiar. And they drive on the right side of the road, which of course is the left.
This was one place I’ll never forget for sure. The people we met and the things we were able to do made sure of that. Most people get off the plane or cruise ship, are bussed to their luxury hotel, play some golf, check out the hotel’s private beach (there is no such thing as a private beach in Bermuda by the way – more on that later), have some sauna treatments, shop on Front Street and go home.
From the moment we arrived we were whisked into the politics, the amazing friendliness, the strange social undercurrents, the luxury, the happiness and madness and the old British reserve and sense of order this place still has. Oh yeh and something completely unexpected, Bermuda shorts. These are Bermuda shorts….!
(Salmon pink is the usual colour)
No kidding, I only saw one man in what we in the UK would call a suit and he really stood out from the hundreds wearing these. In reality, people from all different walks of life, of all ages wore these. I can see how they would brighten up any day!
Ha ha, our rather amazing youtube entry won the Bermuda Beyonce tickets!!!! All three of us are off for more VIP treatment. I love this place! Perhaps I should explain… to win tickets we had to make a youtube movie involving an Evian product (you might notice the realistic prop – we’re not made of money you know!) and say why we wanted to see Beyonce – kinda missed that but hey it was very late at night and beers were involved. Anyway, for whatever resason – some might say there wasn’t much competition, we won!!!
Hello from Bermuda! Sooo busy these last few days, so much stuff still to upload from Mexico and even more from here in (now) sunny Bermuda. We’ve been helping out our friend Cleo from the UK who is over here building the theatre set for The Full Monty (if you can count cutting up stuff with jigsaws and plastering masking tape all over Cleo’s beautiful set as helping out anyway!) It’s been great and so far we’ve attended two gallery openings and survived two nights on a diet of mini nibbles off silver trays and champagne. On top of that, the first night we arrived we got driven straight to the VIP box on the seafront for a military band extravaganzaser! So our first taste of Bermuda was looking out over the crowds looking back at us, sitting next to the chief of police and some military big wig in our front row seats for the most bizarre battle of the bands; a huge union jack fluttering behind us!
Last night we went to the Hog Penny pub and we treated to free cocktails (in return for some education on English bar/cocktail language) then, after some considerable time and corresponding quantity of beers/cocktails we thought it would be a brilliant idea to enter the Evian Bermuda competition to win tickets to Beyonce who is playing here on Friday (or Saturday or something!) as we found out the closing date was today. I can’t claim any credit for the creative genius behind this but you can see the early morning results of Cleo and Kaths acting, musical and creative genius and my slightly tipsy directorial and behind camera skills/non skills on youtube here! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8i9uiAQj0o
