As we drive along here in our holiday rental car, there is constantly a chorus of horns beeping.   But they don’t so much as honk or beep as we are used to in the UK; they are a rather more light touch, a bip if you will.

It would seem that people bip for any and all reasons.   To say hello, or goodbye.   To ask if they can come across or to let you out.   To tell a friend they are passing by.   To proposition you.   And more.

At first this was somewhat frightening.   “Who’s honking at me now and why?”  We assumed we were doing something wrong in our driving.   But no.   It was just the drivers having a friendly chat with one another.   On the move!

I have yet to hear a bip used in anger or warning, though I dont rule it out.   Just lucky I guess.

Our little holiday pad is deliciously secluded, without being remote.   We are called Anchorage and that’s situated in Point Venezia and, just like Venice, our properties are built into the water.

Which means we have to walk along planks to get home.   Walking on a raised wooden platform, like a somewhat rotting boardwalk!

And these planks are above water and get rained on tropically almost every day, some days that’s big rain.

And so the planks can be a bit soft which is a tad scary especially if you are carrying something heavy too like 6 x 1.5 litres of Evian or a suitcase!

Someone (not us) has put their foot through one of the planks.   Ouch!   We don’t think it’s our neighbour who is walking on crutches but I tell you, I wouldn’t want to be walking on crutches in this heat.   And I wouldnt be wanting to put my foot through one of those planks either.

So we tip toe home.   These are the joys of life, arent they?   In order to live on water in privacy, you have to walk the plank.

What took us so long to go back to Paradise?

• I wanted time to acclimatise as being exposed in the sun all day on a beach can be a red hot experience.
• The drive is a hot and long one from here and the traffic is often quite bad
• It seemed easier to do other things closer to home.

And then we gave up with the excuses and just went to Pinel Island, scene of our favourite experience last time we were here in St Martin.   We left home at 8.30 and were on the first boat to the island at 9.30.   They have built a third bar/restaurant there since our last visit and the little beach island is “crowded”, the busiest place we have seen in two weeks with oh, one hundred or so people on the beach, I guess.

We spent the day with an Austrian girl who we met on the boat on the way over, she’s off to New York tomorrow.   And sat next to a French family with two tiny daughters in water wings, called Violette and Lucie, the daughters that is, not the water wings.   I find I can speak childish French.

We had lunch – crayfish lobster – at Karibuni and I asked the waiter “is this the best restaurant table in the world?” of our waters’ edge seat, tall chairs, umbrella.   He said, “yes, it is” before bringing us delicious hot food and frozen drinks with a devilishly handsome smile, before hopping onto his boat to bring in people from the yachts for their lunch too.

I went shopping and bought at least one replacement pareo for the best beloved one which is (not) going home.   Two are pink (natch) and the third is black with enormous pink flowers and Pinel Island written on it, tastefully.   It could be worn, or framed.

And then we caught the 3 p.m. boat home, island time.   Alongside a group from Philadelphia, a city we have visited – and loved – twice.   All the streets in Philly are named after trees and we tried to remember which one our friends’ house was on and had a good laugh about that.   They had also been to Cornwall, scene of other happy holidays for us also.   Small world.

Then we returned home via the ice-cream shop which used to belong to Ivan, we have yet to visit him at his new restaurant and felt somewhat disloyal to him although we will be able to report that the French lady who bought his shop is still doing justice to his legacy, especially vanilla and chocolate.

And now that we have remembered the way and why we love it so much, we shall return to our Pinel Island Paradise again tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow.   Because its perfect in every way.

I have had the photo of Pinel I took on my phone set as the background on it since we were last here in 2006, so I can revisit Pinel whenever I want.      I often have it as my desktop background too so its no surprise we have manifested it again.

I must find out if I can go on Xmas Day!   I realised as soon as I set foot on the white sand and spent the day floating in the clear, clear sea that I am very deeply happy and relaxed on Pinel, my best beach in the world.   And there’s almost nothing I can think of which I would prefer to give myself for Christmas.

Overnight there was a powercut; we woke up boiling alive without any air con and unable to shower which was a bit of a bummer since today we had planned a trip to Philipsburg, the Dutch Capital of Sint Maarten, to scope out the Oasis of The Seas.

The Oasis is the largest cruise ship ever and today was her second visit to SXM.   This has caused a great deal of excitement locally and never ones to miss out, we popped along to see it with our own eyes.

The first thing was that as soon as we left our lagoon-side apartment, we could see a cruise ship docked where we had never seen one before.   On consulting the map, we think this was probably at Marigot, the French Capital.

Although extensions to the Philipsburg cruise port have been made to accommodate the big new ship, presumably there was overflow today.

We could see the Oasis long before we arrived at our chosen viewing point as she is ENORMOUS.   There’s no nice way to say this.   That’s a Mother!

She holds 6,000+ passengers and 1,000+ crew.   My instincts are that this is obscene in so many ways.   But my business head tells me its great.   We read that the island is chuffed to bits to host the cruise liner and the Royal Caribbean Line is thrilled that St Martin provides such excellent facilities for the passengers.   Win win, always lovely.

We drove along Front Street which is tense at the best of times, there is no parking at all in that neighbourhood and so we just had to keep moving.   We tried to get into the port but were not allowed.   We took the coast road and found some great viewing spots but nowhere to stop and take photos.   We did take the odd photo nevertheless and none do justice to her so here’s one I have borrowed from the web.

This doesnt do it justice either as you need to see it alongside a normal cruise ship for the perspective so you are just going to have to trust me on this one.   Our eyes popped out on stalks.   Our jaws dropped as the the word O-MI-GOD fell from our gaping mouths.

Have you ever thought about going on a cruise?   No, me either.   However, I do have a friend visiting here on 29th who is cruising and I am really looking forward to hearing her experience.

My brother has taken his family cruising the last two Christmasses and their experience was that there was always something for everyone, to do, to eat, etc.  

To me that’s rather anathema; holidays are about doing nothing except reading, sleeping, eating, drinking, and a bit more of all of the above with a smattering of laughter, love, and sight-seeing thrown in.   Do I want to do that with 5,999 other poeple?   No sirree!

But I’m interested, so if you have been on a cruise, want to go on a cruise, or better still have been on the Oasis of the Seas, do share your story here.

Tallyho!

Happy Kingdom Day!   It’s a bank holiday today in Paradise, but how can we tell?   It’s been a holiday for us every day since we arrived on 3rd December.

We went on an early-ish croissant run to TBSITW, only to hit the Simpson Bay bridge opening at 9.30.   This is a wonderful way to while away a few moments in the traffic if you are close enough to see the yachts sail through and today we were.

All manner of craft take the opportunity to come through into the enclosed and safe harbour and nestle up alongside the super yachts.   One Trident today was an absolute monster, literally breath-taking, jaw-dropping.

We took our books to breakfast today because TBSITW also has a fabulous rear terrace where you can watch the little tender boats, the outboard motors, come to fetch the French sticks and stop for a cappuccino while they are there. So today we stayed a little longer, in the fabulous breeze, alongisde Simpson Bay Yacht Club which has some pretty nice homes and rental properties in it.

Watching the water is hypnotic and endlessly fascinating.   Even as we are sitting still and resting, holidaying, the real world is buzzing about us, doing the jobs which need doing.   But I notice that the heat forces them to take life just a tad easier than I do at home, taking the time to stop for that cappuccino for instance, and sitting down to enjoy it rather than taking it on the run.  

The former is living in the moment, the latter is feeding a caffeine habit.   I know which I prefer. Let’s hope I can bring that wisdom home with me and live it.   Of such moments is a life made, a life worth living.

Today we brought home from the patisserie a beautiful individual lemon tart to share.   It was decorated with a little fringe of meringue, a slice of lime, a chocolate stick and a grape and that sounds a lot, but it wasn’t.   It was perfect.   We shared it this afternoon at the pool.   We are in Patisserie Heaven.

We are grateful to have this new laptop with us on holiday as we can look up EVERYTHING; we havent, however, been able to find out much about Kingdom Day, except that the Dutch side of the island is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and today we appear to be celebrating that.   Bring it on!

I don’t know what came over me this time with the packing.   Despite admonishing N not to pack too much and hers weighed in at about 11 kilos, I went completely – and uncharacteristically- over the top and my luggage weighted in at about 28 kilos.

In my defence, I looked at my suitcase after I had packed it and thought “if I can live out of that for a month, what the hell else is all this stuff for around the flat?”

And also, in my defence again, I am here for a MONTH and I did bring about a dozen books, and one of them was a hardback!

AND I had packed my Swimfloat, whereas Nicola carried hers as hand baggage.

But, Gentle Reader, there’s no way around this admission, I have packed FAR TOO MUCH.   I don’t know what I was thinking.   We have the full American efficient combo of washing machine and fabulous dryer and I could have got away with less than half of what I brought.

But the tragedy is that my favourite holiday things are stuggling to cope.   I have this beautiful pareo which is full of my favourite holiday colours – pink, orange, and turqoise and I flatter myself that I look elegant in it despite the fact that it is alternately known round here as “that rag” or “blank”.   Today we discovered it had a hole in it.   I almost cried.   There are so many beautiful holiday memories tied up in that rag, I couldnt bear for her to die.   Not now. Not ever.

My holiday nightie is also in the same state of holeyness, and bears some gorgeous little stitches of mine (school needlework prize 1972) when I mended it on holiday in France in 1992, yes, you heard that right!   1992.

And my pink swimming costume is sagging a bit and could use a stitch also.

If I were in England, and I had a sewing machine, I would do that thing which old ladies used to do with sheets, cut them in half and sew them back together again so that the edges are now the new middle and that would sort out blank and she would live on for another decade of sunshine fun to come.

Happily, thanks to @AnnHarrison and Lands’ End, I have a couple of new holiday favourites – my gorgeous sleeveless pink T-shirt which is soft (softness being an essential quality of all favourite, fading clothing items) and my new holiday shoes which I admire like a little girl every day I wear them: “I love my new trekkers!”

I have always wanted a pair of those quite sad shoes which everyone wears on holiday – they are all straps and look very sensible and indeed they are but boy, are they ugly!  And girly?   No, they are not girly.   But my new Lands’ End trekkers manage to be all those things and pink & girly too and I just love them.  

Things come and go and we must ease our attachment to those precious items which fade away and sometimes get “donated” (for which read left behind) to where we are staying, and yet, all the while, we are forming new attachments.

Life’s ebb and flow, ebb and flow.

Me: “I’ve finished my John Grisham.”

Her: “I know.”

Me: “How do you know?”

Her: “You’re talking to me!”

A quiet day at home by – and in – our own pool.   It’s small but perfectly formed and although it doesnt get the sun all day, it gets more than enough in these somewhat fierce sun conditions and it overlooks the lagoon.   The lapping of the water just over our terrace is the most wonderfully relaxing sound I can think of.

I promise I will eventually get around to getting my camera out of the safe and taking some photos to share with readers – soon.

I was able to finish my second novel, a Jodi Piccoult, and start the uber holiday page-turner, a John Grisham.   I’m saving my improving literature for later in the holiday!

We are going out for coconut shrimp tonight and our first frozen cocktail, neither of us are big drinkers, and hoping to re-visit Lee’s Roadside Grill which we enjoyed more than once on our previous trip.

Following goings on this evening remotely as SCD and XF grind to their inevitable conclusions.   I follow the former and N the latter and we are keen to make sure you get it right in our absence.   Somewhat shocked to realise that XF have managed to spread the proceedings across two evenings?