Alright, I'm going to cover three things in this posty post. Storms, tourist lack and food.
TROPICAL STORM LESLIE, YOU JERK!
Leslie, who was supposed to be a hurricane, but was thankfully downgraded to a tropical storm, was something else! I'm told that it wasn't even as big as some storms get in the winter here, but to me, a non-islander, I was pretty sure that I would be indoors for a month, with no electricity, and only a bathtub of water to keep me alive. Oh me, such a flare for the dramatic.
Essentially, in the days leading up to the then, hurricane, it was a mad rush to buy the necessities. There were flashlights, matches, candles and water at the front of every grocery store, all of which you could see dwindling minute by minute. I personally made three trips to the store to stock up. I went a little crazy/awesome with my food purchases. The junk food I bought was gone the night I bought it, which, I should note, didn't have the storm even approaching yet. I needed comfort from the impending doom, hello! And those raisins, yeah, they're still in the exact same place, still wrapped in plastic.
The day after the storm, the clouds did some fun stuff!
Essentially, in the days leading up to the then, hurricane, it was a mad rush to buy the necessities. There were flashlights, matches, candles and water at the front of every grocery store, all of which you could see dwindling minute by minute. I personally made three trips to the store to stock up. I went a little crazy/awesome with my food purchases. The junk food I bought was gone the night I bought it, which, I should note, didn't have the storm even approaching yet. I needed comfort from the impending doom, hello! And those raisins, yeah, they're still in the exact same place, still wrapped in plastic.
The wind from inside the house sounded insane. We all have shutters on our windows, and made sure to lock all of those down before the storm really got going. Again, apparently this wasn't much of a storm, but for me, the naive girl from Toronto, it was kind of a big deal.
This is the wind from outside our front door, just before the storm really picked up. It was eerily hot and muggy, which I don't usually associate with wind and rain, but then again, brainbuster Malcho, it was a tropical storm!
The day after the storm, the clouds did some fun stuff!
And then it was done. I have boxes of candles, boxes of matches (they come in these bunches, tons of matches, they must be the cheapest thing on the island), three flashlights and enough D batteries for seven.
TOURIST LACK, AND SIDEWALK FREEDOM!
So, I know that the tourists in Bermuda, from the cruise ships mostly, who dock for close to a week, are kind of what help keep Bermuda's businesses going. This, though valid information, does not matter when half of my lunch hour is spent dodging human beings, walking FOUR abreast on the sidewalks.
It's hilarious. That type of hilarious where you have to summon the gods to keep your hands at your side and your mouth shut.
It's like wherever these people migrate from, other people don't exist, never have and never will. When they walk off of the cruise ship, it's a friggin' free-for-all. No rules, manners are out the window, and lord forbid they try to understand that they're not in their hometown.
You took a huge boat on purpose, for a lot of money, purposefully, with intention, to LEAVE your home!
If you haven't noticed, this is a rant.
I was in the coffee shop getting a sandwich (D'Angelini's makes a mean chicken fajita wrap) one day (most days, let's be honest), and this woman walked in, ordered her latte, and stood there, tapping her hand on the counter. Her hand was basically whispering the Jeopardy theme song.
I looked at the woman making the coffee, and I'm pretty sure that she was 3.2 seconds from launching the hot milk at the woman's face. I feel like she deserves an award for having not done that.
Then it came time to pay for said latte. Let me set the scene. We're not twenty steps from the ferry dock at this point, where most if not all of the cruise ship goers are shipped every day from Dockyard. So, it's a very obvious tourist trap, just like Dockyard, where they came from twenty minutes earlier, and likely paid $24 for a dry chicken sandwich. Given that the ships have been coming to Bermuda for 27 years, I would think, and sure as hell hope, that Bermuda has thought of taking slight advantage of their tourist destination.
Just saying. Scene set.
The latte was $4.50. Yeah, not ideal, but yo, been to Starbucks, or another anything but your kitchen lately? She made a comment, "under her breathe" to her husband, saying, "Really? $4.50, Bermuda isn't that nice! That's ridiculous, I mean, I can't believe this!"
I shit you not.
Oh, it kept going.
Respecty McTonsofclass got her latte, and promptly walked over the to "dressing station", and complained that there wasn't any whole milk. I stood there, looking directly at the container of whole milk, just waiting for this situation to get more awesome. The lady chose to share her non-medical inability to see with the woman who had made her latte, and I swear, I have never seen a better face on a human being.
I literally had to put my hand over my mouth to stop both, a) yelling at Ignorant McShutyourface, and b) laughing to the point of public urination.
I'm going to stop there because I'm reliving this as I sit here, and getting enraged!
Anyhow, digressions galore, this is what Dockyard looks like when the ships aren't in. It's a thing of non-ignorant beauty.
I see this boat (following image) every time I'm up at Dockyard, and it makes me wish that I had the ladyballs to jump on the boat, magically learn how to sail it (I literally almost types "how to fly it", is how much I know about boats), and just sail away to the middle of the ocean, and rock out to a lifestyle with Ariel and Sebastian. King Triton, not invited! More dingelhoppers and snarfblats for me!
This is the boat. It has hardwood "floors", stunning bits and pieces (I should really do my research on boat parts before I choose to try and describe a boat, jeeze).
FOOD, MADE BY A MAGIC MAN
Finally, a new restaurant that I found. It's called Beluga, and they're all about hand-crafter, meticulous sushi. Their downfall, they're located in a mall. They have a bar setup and quite a few tables, but, the ambiance isn't ideal.
However, they make up for it with this!
This dish didn't have a title. Well, I called it the Magical Dish of Happiness and Fire in my head, but chose not to, until now, share that with the public for fear of a straight-jacket.
Take me away.
I've made friends with the dudes (at least I tell myself that), and I said to them one time, "Whatever you think is delicious, I will have!" They made me this! Essentially, the last one was scallop (at 2pm, if these things were a clock...), and I was told to alternate from the top rolls, then a bottom roll, then top, and so on, until I got to the scallop last.
I followed the rules, and whaaaaaat? Best sushi dish I have had, ever, in life. Also, as you can see from the shot above, it involved fire, which, I mean, come on!
