Apologies for the late and haphazard entry, but Blog has been unobtainable all weekend.

This week has been all about cricket and, contrary to the rumours circulating in Wiltshire, we had nothing to do with Freddie Flintoffs misdemeanours in Rodney Bay - although we were in the vicinity at the time!

We were asked to form a cricket team for the World Cup Wet Cricket in Marigot Bay. The rules were simple; no more than five people to a team, two of which must be women or children, and all would be required to bat and bowl. The palm trees acted as fielders and if you hit them without the ball hitting the ground first you were out. If you managed to hit the ball into the sea you could take as many runs in the time it would take to retrieve the ball. Our team was named the ‘Pitoneers’ – after the local beer – which meant that Jeff had to be captain (of course!) We were confident with our team as we had managed to persuade an Indian that used to play for Ontario to be our opening batsman. This worked wonderfully in the opening stages, however he had to leave for Trinidad on the day of the quarterfinals. However his brother volunteered to play instead and, as he he used to play for Canada until last year and now plays for St Lucia, it had to be in the bag - well almost. Unfortunately our ringer forgot about the match on quarterfinals day and we were forced to find a substitute at short notice. Where better to look than the local bar where a diver named Paul was having a few beers, and at that stage of ‘relaxation’ when all ideas sound great. Paul is not known for his cricket expertise but is a jolly good swimmer, can drink copious amounts of beer and he was a willing volunteer – all prerequisites for a place in the Pitoneers! . My job as manager required me to re-supply the team with beer before, during and after the match, shout encouragement and make sure that head gear was worn at all times. Our quarter-final was a close run thing and, despite reaching the second highest score of the competition, we were narrowly beaten. Never mind, next year things will be different!

The rest of the week was spent looking at final drawings, finding window suppliers and getting the builder to start next week. We are not sure that will happen – this is after all the Caribbean - but we are ever hopeful.