I had planned on doing some shopping beforehand, to get some use out of the day, and not just be a beach bum. I went to Masters, a rather huge hardware store in Bermuda, that resembled more a small version of Canadian Tire, with much less happy people working there (not that the Canadian Tire staff were always handing out rainbows and sunshine). I'd gone to get a Magic Bullet blender (best invention ever, not a fact), and a clothes-horse to dry my gear. They had neither. Then I went to a beach store called Making Waves to buy a beach blanket, a beach chair, and a bag to carry it all in, and they had not one of those things. I then went to the baking store, they have everything that you would ever need to bake or open a bakery, except the pastry cutter that I needed.
That part of the day was a fail. A sweaty, sweaty fail.
It was time to make the most of the afternoon, so I walked to the bus station, but came across some awesome on the way!
1. Turns out there is a Pickle Barrel in Bermuda! No food, but the good news, it's pink!
2. Bermuda has signs specifically for horses and carriages. Love!
3. The "Quickie Lickie Laundromat"? I'm... what?
The bus arrived the second that I walked up to bay 7 ($2.50 each way, unless you get a day or monthly pass, of which there are three different ones, I believe), and because the world was making up for my shopping letdowns an hour earlier, the driver had the air-conditioning on. He, at that point, was the best person ever, in life.
The sign on the clear divider in front of where I was sitting has the rules for the bus. Actually, I believe it was titled, "Bus Etiquette". So that we're all on the same page here, in terms of what I've been saying about Bermudians being extremely polite to each other, the fifth item on the list says, "Always use headphones on low volume." Respecting peoples' ear space is a concern here. It's incredible.
Moving on to the actual beach! Elbow Beach! After a short bus ride, say 15-20 minutes, you arrive at the Elbow Beach Resort & Spa.
If you think we're going there on this little blog beach trip, you're off of your hand-crafted teak rocker. We're going down the street, to the right of the sign on the picture, to the "common entrance" (it doesn't actually say that anywhere, but I mean, it's implied), you know, for the people who can't pay with bricks of solid gold.
This is what it looks like.
Not too shabby, but it's no spa with dudes and warm hand-towels! The first time that I went, I walked down the Elbow Beach & Spa entrance by accident, and they were nice enough, but did hurriedly get me off of that part of the beach and over to the "public" section.
Whatever, cool and the gang!
Moving on. I finally got to the part where I could actually see some water. The absolute beauty of the beach continues to shock me. It shocks me to the point that I wonder if my mind sometimes makes colours more bright and vibrant than others' minds. I just seem to get such excitement out of colour. I wonder if the blue that I am seeing are actually that blue in everyone else's minds. If the sand is really the stunning light tan that everyone else see's, and if the amazing greens are as green as I perceive them to be. I suppose it doesn't matter (and everyone see's everything differently anyway), but it just feel like it can't possibly be this beautiful. I feel profoundly lucky to be able to not only experience this, but to be able to get to it any time within twenty minutes. Truly amazing.
Also, I bought a floppy hat and huge glasses. Woot! The hat was brilliant because it not only blocked the sun from burning by head, but it also blocked the sun from the book that I was reading.
Yes. I was reading a book. This may come as a shock to the people who know me well, and while I haven't "taken up" reading, I figured the beach was a perfect place to read a book that I have been trying to get through for over a year. When I say "over a year", I mean it literally, like, three years.
I digress. The book is called Stumbling On Happiness, and no, it's not a self-help "how do I be happy" book (though, I mean, I've read those too). This book is about the psychology behind the brain's understanding of happiness. One quote from the book that I love is, "To see is to experience the world as it is, to remember is to experience the world as it was, but to imagine - ah, to imagine is to experience the world as it isn't and has never been, but as it might be."
It's not all that hoity-toity, but dude makes a good point. "Dude", as I refer to him, is Daniel Gilbert. Read it if you have a chance, it's really quite good.
This last picture? Yeah, I just love these two.
LOVE LOVE LOVE!
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