Living in paradise

Let me tell you about my day yesterday. 

Got up, had breakfast, watered the garden, drove to the ferry because I had to go to town, which I hate doing, to have an x-ray. (Another story for another time.) Thought it would take an hour, tops. Took three hours. Fortunately, I had a book with me. 

After x-ray, headed to the printers to pick up the banners for the show next week. (Said I’d do it because I had to go to town anyway for the x-ray.) Thought that would take five minutes, but when I checked, discovered that instead of printing two banners they’d only printed one. They asked me if I could come back tomorrow and I told them I couldn’t. They then asked if I could come back in an hour and a half. Told them I could. Went to one of the many malls in town to pick up some things from the Body Shop I would otherwise order online, then went to Chapters, browsed and bought a book. (The new Jo Nesbo – hurrah!) Went back to the printers, picked up banners and headed to the ferry. 

Just missed one and had to wait for the next, which meant that by the time I’d dropped the banners off with the producer I had no time to come home before meeting some friends and their UK visitors for dinner at the pub. Nice meal, good company, beautiful view. 

A suggestion was made that after dinner we should check out the outdoor jam that started a few weeks ago. Fine by me. I haven’t been to one of the other weekly indoor jams since they lifted the vaccine mandate in 2022. (At the very first jam after said mandate was lifted, Joe managed to catch covid and, unaware he had, came to a rehearsal for A Divine Comedy three days later and gave it to half the cast.) 

Another lovely setting and a very enjoyable couple of hours of music. 

One of the UK visitors voiced his surprise that there were so many musicians on the island. Told him you couldn’t go to the grocery store without tripping over three of them – or painters or sculptors. (Which is a line I added to the panto script last year.)

Oh, plus, when I wandered down to the water I spotted this.

Yes, a woman managing to balance a very long stick on her chin. Impressive, eh?

Between dinner on the deck at the pub and a beach jam, the frustrations of having to spend a day in town evaporated and I was reminded (as I sometimes need to be) that I really do live in paradise.