The annual cottage trip, again

Just like last year, but with fewer fish.

Five adults and four children under the age of seven, all under one roof for a long weekend. It wasn’t restful, but it was fun, and a nice break from all of those reports I keep whining about. I think this is the twentieth year in a row we’ve done this on the August Civic Holiday weekend, but I confess that I haven’t really been counting since 1989 or so.

Except that this year, there were no fish to be caught. None. Probably because the only morning we all didn’t sleep in, it was raining, and if there’s something I like even less than getting up early, it’s getting up early and getting wet at the same time. By the time the rain had stopped, it was way too late and the fish were engaged in other pursuits, like hiding under the dock, lounging around chatting with each other, and generally not eating rubber and epoxy imitations of food items that they probably wouldn’t be interested in even were they made from meat and skin and bones and tasty, tasty worm-flesh.

How’s *that* for an image, hm?

Anyway, there were some nice fungi:



a walloping great insect or two:



a lot of trees and undergrowth:



and some really impressively curly birchbark.



As well as a rather nice white-tailed deer, running off into the bush, lots of very attractive orange-and-black Monarch butterflies, black-and-orange Netwing Beetles, and the usual not-so-attractive mosquitoes. Plus some rather nice spiders down on the dock. It always helps to have a friend who's a technician in the entomology department of the Royal Ontario Museum along for the trip to identify these things.

And no major quibbles, problems, hassles or other hiccups – just minor ones like slightly damaging the car’s front fender while executing a less-than-elegant three-point turn rather close to a large rock. Fortunately, my brother was around, and with his experience in rallying he’s become rather adept at fixing cosmetic (and not-so-cosmetic) damage to a wide variety of vehicles, including our aging Mazda Protegé, as it turns out. So all is well.

It wasn't, however, exactly a vacation in Antigua. And for that, I am thankful.

(More photos on Flickr).

Vacation, part II

Sorry, I've been on vacation, but at the cottage rather than in Antigua, thank goodness. Photos and things from that trip will be over on Flickr as soon as I get around to uploading them at the mighty speed of 128 kilobits per second; posts here might have to wait a bit. In the meantime, here's part II of the previous Antigua trip part I.


It wasn't all terrible:

1) The crabs turned out to be quite cute.

2) As were the blackbirds.

3) The rum. Super-premium English Harbour, about $4 US for a big bottle. Mmmmm.

4) We saw a mongoose.

5) We saw a cotton tree.

6) We saw lots of cute lizards.

7) Historical sights - Nelson hid his fleet in English Harbour, apparently.

8) Complimentary rum punch on arrival.

9) Happy hour at the poolside bar.

10) Some guy offered me a "trip to paradise". Naively, I asked what he meant... a joint (spliff, doobie), apparently. Come to think of it, he *did* look a bit too Rasta to be a native Antiguan. And no, I did not partake... but it was worth a laugh that he took the time.


It was still kind of disappointing though. As a vacation destination, Antigua gets a 3 out of 10. Try somewhere else.

This public service announcement brought to you by the good people at Ricardipus Tourism Advocates and General Complaining About Things, Inc.

Vacation, part I

In lieu of a topical post, you get this.


Once upon a time, Mrs. Ricardipus and I went on a Caribbean vacation. This, of course, was before either of the Junior Ricardipi arrived. Nowadays - vacation? Um, no.

We went to Antigua, a lovely country that "has an economy based solely on tourism".

Warning bell: the functional translation of "has an economy based solely on tourism" is "everyone will try to sell you anything at all, all of the time, and bother you until you are parted with at least some of your money".

Sigh.

Worst things about Antigua:

1) Everyone trying to take your money. All the time.

2) Sunstroke (our fault).

3) Crap beach and silty water caused by construction of nearby resort annex.

4) Missing our friends, who'd been in the same resort the week before, without our knowledge. Their postcard was waiting for us when we got back.

5) Frightening, enormous spiders in holes near the beach.

6) Finding out later that they were actually crabs, making us look (and feel) like idiotic tourists.

7) Extortionate and inefficient cab drivers, and active discouragement from taking the local bus service, which we found out later was apparently both cheap and convenient.

8) British West Indies Airlines - second-hand Air Canada planes, insecticide spray (on the way south - what, they think Canadian mosquitoes are going to invade the Caribbean?), "hint-o-fishstick" (southbound) and "particularly nasty omelette" (northbound) for dinner. And the broken seat that wouldn't stay vertical.

9) Aggressive "red caps" at the airport, ready to move your bags the 10 yards or so from the curb to the check-in desk. And take your money.

10) "Eastern Caribbean Dollars", i.e. monopoly money that cannot be used outside the Caribbean and can only be exchanged for U.S. dollars at exorbitant rates.

11) Cancelled glass-bottom boat/snorkeling and sunset catamaran cruises.

12) Mesh around the trunks of the palm trees to stop the rats from climbing them and subsequently falling to their deaths on the pathways through the resort.

Gosh, sounds bad doesn't it? Stay tuned for the plus side.