We had a very pleasant weekend. Five of us went to the east coast, supposedly to swim and have a picnic but it was also part of a recce to look at some land for sale. This coast is on the Atlantic side of the island, it is wild and windy and the few trees to survive such winds lie on their sides as if they have had their branches covered in styling gel and blown dry into a 1950’s quiff. The seas are big and the rollers thunder onto the sandy beaches throwing up driftwood and seaweed. We have no intention of buying any more land; it was one of our party who was looking at investment opportunities. We met up with an Indian guy called Rambe, who had previously been in charge of our excavating, and he showed us all the best spots and knew about all the future plans for the area. After we visited lots of great beaches we were invited back to his house for lunch. This was totally unexpected but he had obviously planned it as his wife had put on a great feast. The table was groaning with dishes from Trinidad as well as the more traditional Easter fare of turkey and ham. We ate very well indeed and the idea of swimming was put aside for another day. On the way back north we stopped of at the fish market but there was none to be had and we couldn’t be bothered to wait for the last boats to come in so we drove back to Marigot through banana plantations and down tracks - just to see where they went - and discovered some stunning scenery and breath taking views.

On Easter Monday we had an invitation to the opening of a new tile centre in Bexon, just down the road from us. Once again there was food galore, sweet drinks and loud music, all very Indian/Caribbean. The owners of this new enterprise are Doreen’s niece and her husband Ish (he is the ex-Canadian cricketer who didn’t turn up for the quarter finals - but we have forgiven him). They had good tiles, all imported from China at a reasonable price, so we are now measuring up to ensure our order arrives in plenty of time.