8th March 2025
Chatting with some cruise passengers this morning and seeing their photos of St Lucia reminds me of our first visit there in 2008. This stunning island, whimsically called ‘the Helen of the West Indies’ (as in of Troy) features a World Heritage site in Soufriere Bay, the home of the jaw-dropping Pitons – possibly the most stunning vista I’ve ever seen. Mind you, a close contender would be the old jalopy we rented to pootle around the island’s vertiginous switchback coastal roads on that trip. Central locking? Forget it – you couldn’t even lock the driver’s door with a key. The car had two redeeming features: it worked, and it had one (just one) magnificently pimped windscreen wiper. This had been lovingly sprayed silver metallic by its devoted owner. Quickly we christened it ‘Mr Bling Wiper’ and happily sang that refrain whilst driving, set to the Lennon-McCartney classic ‘Paperback Writer’. Such happy carefree days…😆
Fast forward to 2025 and our Barbados ride, the muscular X-Trail. Very happy with it so far 🤞🤞🤞, but I noticed the other day that the tyres had no valve caps. I asked for them in the hardware store last week, and the helpful assistant produced these beauties:
I mean – not only azure blue metal…but…
emblazoned with the flying boots of Mercury, the Winged Messenger?! Excited didn’t quite cover it. Instant purchase for $7 (£2.71 at current exchange rates). Whoop!
Bajan friends – look out for me on the highways and byways of this beautiful island – the ageing boy racer. The spirit of Mr Bling Wiper lives on!
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