A Saturday jaunt with a difference

We have many hotels on the island which have fallen by the wayside...some due to mismanagement, and others to what we shall call, "don't carishness."
Almond Beach Village, Heywoods, St. Peter, in the north of the island, was an all-inclusive 4 star hotel, built in 1975.
Located on 32 acres of a former sugar plantation, with a mile long sandy beach, it offered its guests 395 rooms, several restaurants, six interlocking pools, spa, gym and water sports, as well as other upscale amenities. A complete package....a real village that had everything. There was no need for the guests to leave the property...the all inclusive, great  value for your money hotel.
It's main restaurant, The Horizon, even served a British-styled high tea every afternoon.
The hotel ran into financial difficulty a while ago, and it was closed on April 30, 2012, after huge losses and negative cash flows. Loan arrangements to help the property get back on its feet were canceled by the lending institution, and staff members were sent home. The hotel has sat there until now.

To this end, an auction sale was advertised for the sale of all the hotel's assets, in an attempt to recover some of its losses and satisfy the shareholders whose equity had gone to naught.
Saturday, being girls day out, we headed north to check out the sale.
What a big mistake!

Cars and vehicles parked higglety-pigglety on the highway.
This should have been our first indication of the utter confusion on the inside.

Headed in

 

Boxes everywhere  and TONS of people EVERYWHERE.

I have never ever seen so many people at an auction sale.

Do you see those boxes of VIRGINIA FINE BONE CHINA - Made in Korea? Hahaha!!!

All manner of beach water sport equipment....hobie cats

Jet skis and speed boats

Comfy air-conditioned buses for airport pickup and drop-off, and perhaps a tour or two

Empty forlorn-looking fountains

Sad abandoned property

 

As we were leaving, we could hear the auctioneer raising bids for an air-conditioned container.
What was that?  $42,000.00?  Too rich for my blood.

The auctioneer is in there....somewhere

We didn't stay very long, too many people,......total chaos.
Usually, for these large hotel sales, the items are staged on different days.
Several days for the smaller items like housewares and linens, drapes, etc.
A separate day for the large items like cars, boats and buses.  Sealed bids are also accepted for these items.
There are usually pre-sales, whereby the rooms and their contents are sold as one item.
What is not sold this way is then sold at an auction or a regular hotel sale, where the items have a pre-determined price. You walk in, select your items, pay for them and go.

Almond Beach Village in its glory days

Picture Perfect Postcard beach front hotel

In its heyday, it was the cat's meow....check out some of the reviews on the link below:
http://www.expedia.co.uk/Barbados-Hotels-Almond-Beach-Village-All-Inclusive.h28620.Hotel-Reviews

This is so sad, that this hotel that once stood proud, and was responsible for increasing the airlift totals from the UK, is now on the brink of "no more."

A jazzy evening at an old fort

Friday evening I attended a jazz event sponsored by the National Cultural Foundation.
Billed as E-Create Barbados Cultural Industries Symposium & Showcase 2013 - Bajan Soundtrack, Side B, it's goal was to showcase and promote local Bajan talent to invited guests (key persons in the visual and music industries) from Brazil and the USA.
Given that technology is an integral part in developing and fostering the Barbados-Brazil/USA connection, the NCF also included the tech community into this Symposium, with the aim of generating business for Bajan artistes in Brazil and the USA in both areas.

Featured artistes were: Gabby, Arturo Tappin, Terry "Mexican" Arthur & Friends, Debbie Reifer, Kellie Cadogan, 1688 Orchestra, Christal Austin, Nikita, NJ30 jazz Band, and Music Will Play.

Knowing the "going home from work traffic" was going to be a headache, I set off in a timely manner in order to arrive early at the event, which was held at the Old Charles Fort of the Hilton Hotel.

This new Hilton Hotel replaces the old Hotel which was imploded back in 1999.

It is situated on Needham's Point,  a peninsular surrounded by 2 lovely beaches.

 

 Looking across the bay (Carlisle Bay) towards the city of Bridgetown in the fading evening light

The sun had decided it had had enough for one day, and was already retiring......

.....but these tourists had other ideas.

It was getting late, and still no sign of my girlfriends....I continued to wander around.
The 350-year old Charles Fort was a military fort back in the 17th century, and had been elegantly decorated for the evening's event.
Despite this, I couldn't help but notice the evidence of the fortification all along the ramparts of the fort.
We must remember that Barbados was once an important British military base, and was used to protect its colonies in the South Caribbean.

All original cannons

The best preserved specimens had recognisable markings such as this raised crest.

.......and were also numbered.

I found this baby cannon fascinating.

Another interesting fact to take note of: Barbados has the world's rarest collection of 17th century English iron cannon.

It was getting late, so I made my way over to the stage area to find a good vantage point for the performance.

When my girlfriends finally arrived, we were treated to a lovely evening of music. Once again, patrons were not allowed to film or photograph any of the performers, hence no photos.
Arturo Tappin has made a name for himself as a jazz artiste worldwide with his saxophone, and I must admit that I have all of his cds. His performances never disappoint....ever.
You can have a peep at Arturo performing at a previous jazz event here.
I tip my hat to the young musicians who performed, I am very proud of them. 
There was the NJ30 Jazz Band, a 4 piece jazz band, which was formed only one year ago, and did a wonderful job. I will be keeping both eyes on them.
The 1688 Orchestra also did a splendid job and left an indelible impression on me...but then again they usually do.
Terry "Mexican" Arthur & Friends shone as well. Terry is an exceptional pannist, and I love his renditions of various covers. His nickname "Mexican" comes from his wearing different sombreros every time he plays.
Music Will Play is a band  of guys who come together every Sunday morning at Browne's Beach under a certain tree, and create music all day long. They were the most experienced band for the evening and it showed in their musical ability.
The ladies, Debbie, Christal, Kellie and Nikita, held their own as well, and crooned many jazz standards throughout the performance.
We have a lot of talent on the island, and I am in total agreement with showcasing it to the world.


On our way back to where we had parked, we walked through the hotel lobby......

.........glancing into a few of the shops.

Loved the red bows on the potted golden palm

I especially loved this glass room divider with lovely Bajan sayings etched into the glass.

Tek time en' laziness (taking your time isn't laziness)

I believe that the aim to generate business for Bajan artistes in Brazil and the USA was achieved as planned with the evening's performances. I wish all the performers well.
It was a lovely enlightening and jazzy evening.

Second helping

Well we have ripe mangoes in the house, so for breakfast fresh mango is on the menu.
Remember way back when, when a certain someone, who shall remain nameless arrived, his consternation at tasting the fruit for the first time?  Remember the twisted up face and the spitting back out, and the unenthusiastic eating ritual that ensued?
No more.....by the time I am slicing the fruit up, he is sitting comfortably looking in my direction, with his best beggar face on (or maybe it's his game face...yes, his game face on).

Juicy ripe mangoes for breakfast

Hope she can see me down here, and not eat all for herself

                               Yeah...this is so good

Please Mum, may I have some more?

Wow....his second helping all finished before I even started to eat mine.

But that's the trick you see, gobbled his up quickly, and then sit beside me with pleading eyes to rob me of more from my plate...very smart that one.

I know a few of you will be wondering, so I must point out that the plate above is Brownie's own personal plate...it is part of a plastic set of ware that I purchased specially for him. It is not one of  the plates used by us humans...smile.

Catching up

Still no sign of the real rain as yet. There were some dark clouds earlier in the week, and a few drizzles came forth followed by a shower of rain, that lasted all of 10 minutes. Talk about a teaser.

With this cloud cover, I had my hopes up high that the rains were finally here...no such luck.

The high breezes are still knocking around and some folks are making the most of it by flying their kites at any opportunity.

This guy is probably headed to a nearby pasture to fly his kite, or  it may be a surprise for his son.


Was sleeping soundly on Monday night when I thought I was dreaming that broken glass was falling on me, cascading all around my face.
Horror of horrors, when I jumped up the light fitting above my bed had somehow broken apart and the shards were strewn all around my face on my bed.

That was pretty scary. I still can't figure out why a perfectly good light fixture would suddenly break apart like that.
Cleaning up broken glass in the middle of the night is not my idea of having fun. There I was, dragging out the vacuum cleaner and making sure the floor and bed were cleaned thoroughly before allowing Brownie in to investigate, and wrapping the shards in newspaper before placing in the garbage bin, giving my hair a good comb out, and wondering over and over, how on earth did that happen?
At least I won't be sentenced to nine years bad luck.

One of my girlfriends came by to visit and brought me some mangoes, and some mango pulp for smoothies. She also brought me a ticket to an upcoming jazz event. I've got the best friends in the world.

The mandarines I bought last week were sweet and juicy, and I shared  a couple with my friends.
I came across some reasonably-priced figs at the market, so I bought quite a few.

Figs.......I adore figs, since I can't have bananas.

The mean bad-nasty pigeons and I are still having our daily showdowns. They want to  continue to roost in the eave above the patio, but every time I see them I've been using the garden hose to squirt them away again. Wonder how long this is going to go on, before they get the memo.

My garbage collection is now between Thursday and Friday,  and that's all I am going to say about that for now.

I am smack dab in the middle of planning my yearly Swap and Tea Party afternoon for my girlfriends, and also taking care of some household chores like scrubbing the tile grout on my floors.
No rest for the weary they say.

Something that had puzzled me for quite some time has now been solved, but that deserves a separate post.

I refuse to believe........

........that you're still on the computer!!

Where's my lunch?
It's getting late, and no sign of anything edible as yet.......come on......get with the program....it's time for my lunch.