Today we need to go back to Fort de France to collect the laundry, but first I go to the local supermarket to get some washing up liquid. Well, I say I go to the supermarket but actually I get 300 yards down the road and the heavens literally open and give us the heaviest downpour for ages. Thank goodness there is a fisherman’s building with a canopy for me to shelter under. The down side is that it is also sheltering hundreds of hungry mosquitoes, who view my unsprayed, bare legs as a late breakfast. I wait until the heaviest of the rain seems to be over and dash back to the boat, stopping every few yards to scratch my ankles. Little buggers.
We drive to Fort de France, the city of the crazies. Honestly, I think all the ‘care in the community’ equivalents that live on Martinique, actually live in the capital. I have never seen so many people talking, even shouting to themselves as they walk along the road. It is quite disconcerting, especially when you cannot really understand what they are saying because their French is so heavily accented.
On our way back to the car, we wander into a shop which we think sells batteries, as Mike wants to compare prices against the ones we purchased in St Martin. Well, they do sell batteries here, but the rest of the shop is dedicated to all sorts of weaponry. There are 12 bore shotguns, handguns, wicked looking knives, knuckle dusters and cans of pepper spray, mace and cs gas. And it is all so cheap! There are shotguns for less than 400 euros. And with all the local crazies around. God, it makes you shudder. I find it all terrifying and eye opening. I don’t even know what some of the stuff is!
We pick up the laundry and something for Frank from Sea Services and drive back, doing some supermarket shopping on the way. Inboard Diesel Services is bereft of engineers when we return and so is our boat. We have no idea if our port engine is fixed so don’t want to turn it on – no hot shower tonight.
Mike has a nap in the afternoon but sleep eludes me and as we have a good internet connection I do some work on the PC and use Skype to talk to Victoria who is on her residential course in Kent. I can’t wait to see her next weekend.
Frank returns towards the end of the afternoon and reports on today’s progress. It looks like all the work will be complete by the end of Thursday.
We eat another strange concoction from the supplies in the freezer and watch a film which turns out to be complete crap. Still, it passes the time!
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