I’ve been able to do more and more exercise-wise, so after a successful walk from the bus stop to the house yesterday, thought I’d get my lard arse back into walking properly again today.  A perfect day for it, a little cloudy, twenty six degrees, and a mild North South West breeze blowing to cool me down.  Part of the reason for my enthusiasm for walking, is simply that I really enjoy it and find it helps to clear my mind and prioritise my thinking. But also because of my routine being disrupted I’ve already stacked on a kilo and a half!  Being fifty-something really is a battle between getting enough exercise, not to wreck oneself, and eat healthily enough not to put weight on, and the feeling of ‘fuck it’ other people eat cream buns and chips and don’t have my struggle.  

So I put on the shoes and the Lycra and off I went.  Today I walked along the reach, that’s Ferry Reach, using the railway trail.  This is my favorite walk as I always meet people I recognise and the sea views take you all the way to Dockyards at the other end of the Island.  I could tell there’s two massive cruise ships docked there today.  Sometimes I even get to give a dog or two a pat along the way.  I also wanted to find out how Hurricane Humberto recovery was coming along.  The Government sure has their work cut out for putting things back in order.  First it’s making sure the main roads are clear to ensure emergency service vehicles can get through if they’re needed.  Then it’s power, making sure homes and businesses are up and running as soon as possible.  People don’t last long in Bermuda without the use of fridges, freezers and air conditioners.  Most water pumps are power driven, and even though we can access our water without a pump, a lot of homes can’t.  The internet and phone lines get a look in, and our wi-fi has been very fickle and drops out for whole periods of time that frustrate me when I have an online course to do. Barely able to move while my body repaired, I could have had it done and dusted by now.  I remind myself of how lucky we were in comparison to Hurricane Dorian in the Bahamas.  A lady I was talking to the other day said ‘there’s no luck involved, God gave us the ability to prepare, and we did!’.  Well, what can you say to that?!

So the track is looking pretty good right up to the last kilometer towards the Martello Tower.  Right around the point trees have come down, and one has toppled the other so they look like fallen dominoes.  Their root plates are vertically perpendicular to the ground and their trunks horizontal looking weird in their angles suspended in the air.  If I was little, I would have made a fantasy cave of the dirt, tree roots and stone alcove it created and probably worried my parents sick in case it all came down on top of me!  I wonder if the trunk can be cut off, then righted to re-establish themselves to reroot and grow again?  I guess with the amount of trees down it’s probably easier to plant new ones.  A clean up crew have been in along the track, and park and started cutting up the trees that have fallen.  I thought I heard the whine of chain saws recently.  There’s at least a walking track wide enough for a pram and it’s good to see recovery has started.  At the very end on the point, the sand and coral fossils and shells are completely missing off the beach with only bare rock exposed.  I ‘borrowed’ some recently to make up the weight for a door stop, and now feel righteous that I might have the only tiny bucket left!  I do intend to put it back when I don’t need it anymore. The sand in Whale Bone Bay is recovering, but I see there’s a new wrecked boat sitting on the rocks that has washed in.  The plastic is back, and I chided myself for not taking a bag to collect it up.  Next time.

The other thing that amazes me, is with the trees down, so much more can be seen.  There are houses on the hills that I had no idea were there.  Parts of the Island are much narrower than I expected with the foliage all missing, I can see right through to the coast.  The landscape is the same, but changed as a kind of natural thinning out has occurred.  Some trees are beginning to recover, changing from crispy brown to that heart lifting spring green colour.  So my head gets a little messed up because I have to remind myself it’s autumn, but with spring growth!  Coming back on the bus yesterday, a lady I know sat beside me which was so nice.  We went around a corner, and all of a sudden she said ‘there’s a house!’.  On prompting she explained that she had never known that a house was on that corner.  Being Bermudian and in her seventies, that really amazed her and she was still exclaiming when I got off at my stop!

The sparrows still beat him hands down, so I have to throw peanuts in a different direction for them so he gets a fair chance.  He’s now under the hedge in the shade, hopeful I’ll make that noise again.  When I took the photo of the ants last week, I popped a piece of chicken out to attract them.  Later I thought ‘I must pick that back up’ and would you know it, there was George!  He was working his way along the hurricane shutter, looking a bit skinnier, but eager for his chicken ant dinner all the same.  How daft to be relieved that a Jamaican Anole is okay.  I tried to get a photo, but of course now he’s scoffed, he’s disappeared again.  I wish I could lose weight as easily as he can, though I guess he’s not interested in cream buns and chippies! So unfair.

More soon – Sally