The drought continues unabated.

Our garden and indeed the rest of the Island are turning into a dust bowl. We are giving a few plants some water, as they were hard to come by, but the rest will just have to survive as best they can. The government has declared a state of emergency as they predict they only have water until the end of March and the long term forecast shows no signs of significant rain.
There are wild fires all over the Island and little means of putting them out. In fact some fire hydrants have no water in the storage tanks below as people have been taking the water away at night. Our pool has become a haven for thirsty birds and goodness know what nocturnal creatures- we only know they have been by their poops, large and small!The actual weather is quite pleasant, hot with a  warm constant breeze, like a Mediterranean mistral .
Last month we had our water tank repaired so this month we bought 3000 gallons of water and tried it out. Great dismay! After only two days the signs of seepage appeared and we knew that the fix hadn’t worked. We lost 2" of water in one day so Jeff searched around for a water pump to get the remaining precious water from the leaking tank to the sound one. So, it’s back to the drawing board.

We have had some fun days though; we wouldn’t want anyone to think it is all doom and gloom.

At the beginning of the month we met up with a really nice group of youngsters, spending time at the bar and also taking them sailing. We also had friends, Dee and Mike, visit for a week as part of their two-centered holiday. They must have thought we were a rum lot as all conversations were about the lack of water!

At the end of the month Jeff set off on a friends boat to compete in the Independence Day annual round the Island race. This is a fun event that has a night stop at the south end of the Island before ending back at Rodney Bay. They were doing very well, would have come in third apart from approaching the final marker from the wrong way, so actually they are still at sea. They were then told they came sixth. The positions are all a mystery but they had great fun and we all enjoyed their prizes of beer and wine.

A final note about the dogs - Obie continues to lack the necessary courage as a guard dog and even succumbs to Foxy’s rights as the older but much smaller dog.