Sometimes public transport isn't so bad...

I have decided I can’t complain about having to ride the bus any more. Riding the bus gives me insight about the people and the culture of Bermuda, and today I got a rare opportunity.

I met Johnny Barnes.

I can hear all of you at home saying; “who?” or “why is this so monumental?”

I’ll tell you why. Since arriving on the island, I have seen 2 bronze statues of men who are important to Bermuda.

One is Mark Twain.

The other one sat next to me on the bus today.

I did not immediately recognize him, but I did notice him when he got on the bus. An immaculately dressed older gentleman, he wore a perfectly pressed tan suit with a formal pink shirt, and immaculately groomed hair and beard. I didn’t think much when he sat next to me, except to wish him a good afternoon. He made a comment about the beautiful weather and I agreed.

We continued to make small talk until we reached the Harbour road roundabout and then he asked me if I knew who Johnny Barnes was and had I ever seen him.

Well, of course I’d seen him; I’d even waved to him a couple of times. The man then pulled a postcard out of his bag and gave it to me. It was of Johnny Barnes standing next to his statue. I thanked him and started to slip the postcard into my bag but he stopped me. He asked me to take a closer look and my jaw dropped.

Only then did I realize I was sitting and chatting with a man who is as much representative of Bermuda as Longtail Birds and the privateers!

What a treat to get such an up close and personal visit with the man known as “The Spirit of Bermuda”. Most weekday mornings, he stations himself at the last roundabout before entering Hamilton from about 6:30 until 10:00 am. He waves and smiles and wishes everyone who passes good day and God Bless.

He is someone who does not seem to have an ounce of anger or resentment or mistrust in him. He has a genuine wish that everyone in the world try harder to get along. He is a man who has lived a long time and seen many things and still he wishes only peace and happiness for his fellow man.

Don’t get me wrong; there’s no message from me in this blog entry. It just really gave me a warm fuzzy both to meet a Bermuda icon and to find out he’s such a pleasant and warm person.
PS. More chapters from our adventures in New York and Barbados to follow. They just need one more edit…

Holy smokes, where do I start? It’s been a whirlwind of a time since Rod’s mom arrived. We can’t believe 3 weeks have gone by already. I’m going to post this in installments, otherwise there will be a novel to read.

We picked her up at the airport on April 2, and after she’d peeled off her patch and had a smoke we climbed into a taxi for the ride to our apartment.

It was a long trip for her, having left Regina on Sunday night, flown to Calgary and caught the overnight flight to Toronto to connect to the once daily morning flight to Bermuda.

We arrived at our apartment and brought her bags up the stairs and settled in, catching up on Hesterman family news until Jean was ready for a much-deserved nap. We waited until she’d got her bearings here before springing our big surprise, which I’ve already let out of the bag in a previous entry.

We had a couple of days here before leaving for New York. The night we left, we had the MacDonald family over for dinner (they looked after Daisy for us while we were away). Chris, the husband, is the operations manager for Switchworx and his wife Kathy and their kids Victoria and Riley were really looking forward to having Daisy for a visit.

After they left on Wednesday night, we packed our bags and tried to get some sleep. We’d booked a taxi to pick us up at 5:00 Thursday morning, and boy, did it come early!

However, we were really excited to be off on this particular adventure. We got to the Bermuda airport and had plenty of time to grab a coffee and do a bit of duty free shopping before we boarded a 757. Next stop, New York City! This picture doesn't look like much, but we're on approach to JFK. Look at the houses packed in.

Chapter 2 to come...

Hugs to everyone,

Rod n Karen (and Jean)

Back from hiatus

Hi everyone!

It's been a while, but I am managing to avoid our zillion cable channels and actually sit down to write something.

Lots has happened in the last couple of weeks, including our St. Patrick's Day/housewarming party on March 17. Rod and I made a ton of food (including Rod's now famous hot wings) and most of his co-workers and their spouses/girlfriends showed up for an evening of great fun (and Lori playing the spoons while Steve played the guitar).

The last guest departed about 3 a.m. and we spent the next day being very quiet ;-)

Daisy has been to the beach again, and she's decided it's not so bad, although she's not ready to go for a swim yet. The last time we were there, dozens of man-o-war jellyfish had washed up on the beach. Hopefully it's a weird tidal thing and not a hint of the summer we can expect. For those of you not in the know, man-o-wars are the worst kind of jellyfish - their sting can be extremely painful. Here are a couple of pictures - they're the things that look like weird blue shells (they look more like very strange-shaped plastic bags if you encounter them floating in the ocean or washed up on the beach.

I love the sunsets here. It's hard to believe, since I thought prairie sunsets were the prettiest in the world, but every so often if the cloud patterns are just right at the right time of day, we have the best view - right from our balcony.

Life has settled into somewhat of a routine, but that should change now that Rod's mom is here! She arrived yesterday, after having travelled from Regina to Calgary to Toronto to Bermuda. All in all, a very long flight, but it was the only way to avoid having her stay in TO for the night.

She also rode back on the same plane with Nick, one of Rod's co-workers who had been home for the weekend so we all shared a taxi into town. We dropped Nick off and continued on to Casa

Hesterman.

We were out for supper last night at Island Cuisine, a low-key restaurant not far from our apartment. They have a good menu, decent prices and they're one of the few places who don't automatically include the tip for the wait staff.

Then it was back home for an episode of "Deal or no Deal" and off to bed.

We did have one surprise up our sleeves, though. When Rod put his house up for sale, we agreed that we would take a portion of the proceeds and have fun with it. Well, Rod's house has sold and we have booked a long weekend away and Jean's coming along. Thursday morning we leave for New York (and shopping in Manhattan - WUHOOO!!!!) for a day there, and then we're off to Barbados for the weekend!! There will defintely be posts of our adventures (and pictures) next week.

But Jean had adventures of her own this morning. We had to pick up some groceries, so she borrowed my helmet and climbed on behind Rod for a quick trip to Marketplace (it's not everyone who has a mom/grandma who is so cool!!)

I followed on foot, since it's only a 15-minute walk and we had to buy enough that we needed a taxi home.

Once I got to the store we got everything we needed and Rod took the bike home and we followed in the taxi.

Rod and Jean are now busy making perogies! And cheese buns, if I have anything to say about it.

Hugs to everyone at home. I'll try not to stay away so long next time.