We
arrived in St Lucia around 0900 and it was 27 degrees and the sun was shining
but it took quite some while to tie up as the ship is longer than dock so the
ropes had to go a long way back and connect with buoys.
Check
the news and found that Chelsea won by five goals, brilliant.
Prasad
our Pakistani Butler arrived with the full English and we sat on the balcony
waiting for the ship to tie up and then left the ship at around 0930. On the
dock the passenger were lining up for the tour coaches but our plan was to walk
in to the town of Castres. Outside the Cruise port gates many official and
unofficial taxi drivers and tour guides were offering their services but we
continued walking with driver touts telling us downtown was closed and the only
way was to take a tour, no thanks. However this does raise a question why we go
to ports on a Sunday when all the shops are closed?.
We
walked down-town which was about 2400 steps according to Jennifer’s little
gadget and found a bar with free WiFi which in the end turned out to be
ridiculously slow. I needed a strong signal as my word processing software
which I use for writing this blog would not open or close and I required a fast
internet connection to allow Bill Gates and his friends to sort it out. Clearly
the bar Wi-Fi was okay for email but not for my requirements. This is a dirty
town with rabid dogs and dirty street and the side walk covered in locals
barrows selling fruit and really as they had mentioned on the previous days
talk on the ship about St Lucia was be careful and don’t stray away from the
main roads and certainly don’t flash huge amounts of cash and or jewellery
around or you stand the strong risk of losing it, sounds like Glasgow to me.
After
a couple of local beers when the café bar was quite full of people from the
ship we walked backed to the cruise port and checked out their Wi-Fi at $6.00
for a day when we only need half an hour, oh well, had to be done to enable
Bill and his team to work on my computer so let’s hope it works.
Got
back on to the ship in time to see the end of the first half of the Manchester
City vs Arsenal game which Arsenal finally won by two goals, brilliant that
means that Man City are some extra points behind Chelsea.
We
enjoyed the quiet afternoon and looking forward to our Asian food tonight so
did not have lunch but some fruit form the baskets they keep bringing us which
are having trouble keeping pace. Perhaps trot down for some afternoon tea and
perhaps a bit of cake, wow that will make a change.
Watched
the news this afternoon and the Pope’s visit to Manila where six million people
turned up. The Government cannot cope with the enormous population growth which
is making poverty a greater problem and are working on this subject using
conventional means of contraception etc. The Pope during his speech referred to
this subject and said it was wrong for the Government to interfere, is he mad? Something
must be done to help these people and allowing a fast birth growth to continue
is stupid. I also note that he said he agreed with Freedom of Speech and
expressions, but don’t you say anything bad about the Catholic Church?
It was Asian Buffet tonight which we sort of enjoyed, not like the real thing though. After dinner we sat outside under the evening sky listening to a selection of music whilst