Vroom vroom

29th October 2024

Another bonkers day in paradise. During an al fresco dawn yoga session rudely interrupted by a torrential downpour (rainy season innit) I scuttled indoors to find water pooling on the kitchen counter…again. This time I finally found the source – it’s running down the wall and dribbling out of the bottom of a defunct electric socket. Great, eh? There’s clearly a problem with the valley between the pitched roofs above – add it to the roofing to-do list.

After meeting the two wedding planners, having an unexpected but very pleasant visit from our neighbour Paul, and running our cleaner home, we went to see a man about a motor. En route we stopped at local eatery Cutters for a quick bite. The owner, Roger, recommended two particular vendors at Oistins fish market and suggested we mention him when we go there. Everyone we meet is so welcoming and supportive once they learn of our adventure. It’s a real boost. We need that sometimes!

By now it’s mid/late afternoon but we head to Stoute’s – a long-established family car rental business our family has used for years. Friends have said they sell used cars from their fleet during quiet periods. We’re warmly welcomed by David Stoute with some lovely words about Nicola’s dad, saying he’s a true gentleman – which is absolutely true. For nearly twenty years Nicola’s parents turned up at Stoute’s on January 1st without fail to pick up a car for their long winter break. Stuff like that matters a lot around here. It builds trust, and after a few minutes with David we know that if we can acquire a car from him we’ll be in good hands.

It turns out we’ve just missed the quiet period, so sales stock is limited. We’re under pressure: if we don’t buy very soon, we’ll have to try and rent in the new year high season, when prices rocket and we may not get anything anyway as rentals are so in demand. Plus it’s dead money of course. On the other hand, cars are ruinously expensive to buy in Barbados. At home we’ve already become a one car family and are happily sharing our 11 year old Ford Fiesta. Incredibly, buying a similar car here would be likely to set us back as much as we got for the Audi we sold. We’ve always said we just want a little run-around here, but we baulk at how much it would cost. Nevertheless we test drive a Chevrolet Spark – David has a few. Very underwhelming. We also look at a Suzuki Jeep. Great fun for a short beach holiday but hopelessly cramped and impractical for us.

Just as we’re feeling slightly forlorn, David asks if we’d consider an SUV. Now there’s a question. I’ve never contemplated buying one despite living in the country in Blighty – unnecessary, vain, heavy, thirsty, dangerous to pedestrians, I felt. Opinionated? Moi?! However, David gently suggests that with the general state of Barbados roads, access to sandy beaches, and the fact that we have to drive down over 200m of unmade ‘cart road’ from the highway to get to our own house, it would be a wise decision. And what do you know? He has just one for sale – a Nissan X-Trail.

Needless to say we know absolutely nothing about this car and are rather wary, but the moment we see it our spirits rise. It’s amazing how necessity focuses the mind. Naturally it costs considerably more than a Spark but it’s in a completely different league. To our astonishment, after fifteen minutes of taking it for a spin and some nifty mental arithmetic, we’re convinced. Yet another deep breath moment. We’re having an awful lot of those. A friendly wrap-up chat with David and we shake hands. Still a few hoops to jump through, but it feels right.

To quote my amazing Mam – who herself was quoting my lovely Mamgu – “Be brave”. Dwi’n trio, Mam. I’m trying. ❤️ 🚗

PS a totally gratuitous photo of sunrise from the patio the next morning. A reminder of the big picture! 😎