Happy New Blog!

3rd January 2025

Welcome back to Pollards Mill. It feels like a long 7-8 weeks since we left. A lot has happened in Blighty – much of it good, some not so good. Into the latter camp fall Storms Bert and Darragh. Bert confirmed our suspicions that we had a leaky roof – hopefully repaired 🤞 – and Darragh left us without power (and therefore no central heating) for nearly 24 hours. Here we are toasting marshmallows in front of the fire on that wintry afternoon:

No such worries here on the Rock. When the plane doors opened we were thrilled to feel a balmy late afternoon warmth compared to the sapping humidity of just a few weeks previous, and the Mill is glorious – the perfect temperature, beautiful breezes and NO MOSQUITOES. Well, virtually none. Hallelujah.

A whirlwind first twenty-four hours began with picking up our new 🚙 at the airport and culminated in celebrating Old Year’s Night (Bajan for New Year’s Eve) among friends on the beach at the Barbados Yacht Club. This venerable institution celebrated its centenary in 2024 and is affectionately known as the hangout for the ‘newly-wed and the nearly dead’. We were freshly engaged on our first visit in 2002 but hopefully haven’t fallen into the second category yet! Otherwise this mad adventure will have been an awful lot of effort for bugger all return…so far 😎

Midnight Barbados time found us with our feet in the sea enjoying a superb fireworks display before tumbling home to bed at a very creditable 1.30am. A sublime swim on the south coast the next morning and a strong black Americano and melting banana bread at Surfers Cafe, Oistins, set us up for 2025.

And so the madness begins again. We have a very busy first week before six VIP guests arrive on Monday and are working on everything for their arrival. There is much to report already and doubtless there will be more japes and scrapes to come. We look forward to sharing. So in the meantime, dear readers, we wish you and all those you love a happy and healthy new year. Stay tuned 😉