3rd February 2026
We introduced you to our new gates on 21st October last year (‘The Gates of Delirium’) and, inevitably, our minds soon turned to the state of the pillars on which they hang. They’re rock solid and vertical – which can’t be said about everything around here. One is taller than the other, but you’d never notice. So far, so good! However, the paintwork was a little tired and flaky in places – I know the feeling – and the monkeys love hanging around there, peering at their reflections in the lantern glass and scrambling across the gates. Anyone with a troop of monkeys in their hood knows that these guys aren’t tidy in their habits – one bite of a fruit and it’s discarded, and they’re not fussy about where they do their business. They had left their calling cards on the pillars over the years:
Between the gates and the front of the house is the plantation’s original bell, housed in a structure which one of our friends rather grandly called the belltower (whilst doing a creditable impression of Quasimodo). The tower and the pillars complement each other, so we decided to call on the superior decorating skills and excellent work ethic of our returning friends Sarah and Chris (see ‘The Sistine Chattel’, 22/3/25) and tackle the whole lot in one go:
Alongside the gates is our mailbox. You can just see it hanging at a jaunty angle on the wall in the first of the three photos above. Half eaten by rust and expertly repaired with cardboard. Nicola had long pined for a replacement, but the excessive cost of all options in Barbados combined with the extreme rarity of us actually receiving any letters had put us off. We finally decided that with the repainted pillars it was letting the side down and had to go, so we bit the bullet, bought a new one, and the Driller Queen and her assistant set to work.
An excellent morning’s work. Final results? Ta-daaaah:
POST SCRIPT (groan)
Farewell, Rusty. You delivered! (that’s even worse…)
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