Week in Limbo

OK, I am bored. I have hit one of those weeks when I ... am ... waiting ... waiting ... for ... all ... sorts ... of ... things ... to ... happen ...
I can't stand weeks like this. There is a lot of clock watching, email checking, phone holding...Ugh.

However, the fact that it is spring and beautiful, and not winter and not hibernation-inducing is a great help. I don't want to curl up under the duvet, I want to walk in the park.

So this afternoon I put on a skirt, no tights, and went out. I watched the little blossom petals sliding over each other on the pavement beneath the trees on my street. I noted how the trees in the gardens and the trees on the verge were old enough to arch over the pavement the way they usually do over the road. I took a big sniff as I passed the hedge being trimmed outside the portered mansions. I listened to the blackbirds singing at all hours, not just in the evening.

I spoke to my mother in New York last weekend and she said it was freezing. At that moment, I was about to break into a sweat because it was 24C (75F). That day in London was even warmer than Houston, which was only 20C (68F).

Now, however, she is in Guyana for the first time since she left in 1971, and she will be there for 5, yes five, weeks (!). Some of you may remember the cousin I mentioned who moved back there because of her husband's business. This was my mum's very cute email to me today:

Hey Ba, I am so happy here with Andrea and the children and Ray. The
wind is so fresh and cool most times and the rain comes and wash away the dust and we get so sleepy after an hour sitting on the balcony. So we eat, sit out, sleep and go bathe. The fruits are so fresh and so is all the food. I am taking some pics of the pomegranate, pineapple, mango, psydium and everything else. I will send them in Picasa when I get back.

I am going to the market now and I want to see if I can do some fruit shopping. Andrea's maid is so sweet and so are her watchmen, they are like family. I wish you could see here for a week or so. When I go to the UK we can come to NY then come here for a while, it takes 6 1/2 hrs to fly from NY. I love you and think of you all the time I'm eating or enjoying something.

Ah bless her. I know I told her to take photos of everything but I didn't mean the things I already know, although I have never heard of psydium before...


Mum is in Skeldon, near Corriverton on the eastern coast - they grew up here on a sugar estate, but are originally from Port Mourant, near New Amsterdam further west.

Skeldon is a 4-hour drive from the capital Georgetown, the Garden City of the Caribbean.


Georgetown city hall, in front of St George's cathedral, the tallest wooden structure in the world