Shibby made it in time for a quick visit with the Edmonton friends before they departed for home. Brad gives good hugs I must say, and Tracey loaded me up with extra food and a new hat. Her hug was good too, but it was the glance out the window as the taxi pulled away that made me want to grab on to the fender and just drag behind for a while to extend the farewell. It was so incredibly wonderful to see them again that I was remiss to let them drive off. I also got good hugs from both boys, and my daily hug from Sherbert, the world's most amazing Teddy Bear...the tales I heard of that bear...let me tell you, he is one busy bear. His fur is almost rubbed right off, the sign of a well loved bear. Their family has been in my thoughts all day, and I am hoping to hear that they are home safe and sound, and that all is well soon.
When friends leave, I always feel a little sad, a little lonely, a little homesick, even a little lost. It usually only lasts a day or two, but it's not my favorite feeling. Fortunately, I had Shibby on the back of my Scooter and Dev was pulling in just as their taxi left. We had cameras ready for an adventure and headed off to Ferry Reach where I wanted to find an abandoned train station I had heard of. We added sunscreen, and went in the park area which was even more beautiful than the part I have photographed earlier. We roamed a few trails without pulling out the cameras because we had our hands full with picnic supplies. We found the cemetery made for the soldiers who died of yellow fever and it is striking. I made a note to get back to it once we had unloaded after our lunch. As a cloud moved in on our beautiful blue sky day, we sat down to have lunch and let the cloud pass. We enjoyed Alexander's left over pizza from Tavern at the Sea, Tracey and Brad's leftover Wahoo from the same meal, and some fruit from their hotel fridge. That little grey cloud started to sprinkle, so we decided to wait it out since it was just a drizzle. A few seconds later, the skies opened and a downpour ensued. We were a good 10 mins from the bikes, and with all our camera gear. We tried to burrow a little deeper into the trees....but that just resulted in water pouring off the leaves and running down our backs.
Nothing we could do about it, we were already wet, we were only going to get wetter, so we decided to walk in the rain back to the bikes. The thing about it is, summer just refuses to arrive this year. This rain was not warm summer rain...it was really really cold rain. And that theory about not getting any wetter was proven wrong about a minute further down the road when the rain intensified into an absolute deluge. Shibby and I took refuge under an outcropping in the trees that was moderately less wet, but there was only room for two. Dev went a few paces ahead to wait under another tree...but even though we were a little sheltered it was clear that he was getting pelted and drenched. Dev has a very distinct accent that is half British and half Australian. Shibby and I had just wordlessly agreed that we couldn't stand in the shelter while he was getting wet when we heard "Aaaah, the sunscreen is running, it's burning my eyes!" Once more, we said, it isn't going to get any worse than this, so we plucked along the trail. "Today's blog should be called Three Drowned Rats," Shibby said. As we got to the bikes, the rain let up. Had it been warmer out, we may have dried out a bit. I looked over at Shibby, dishevelled, dripping wet, but at least still smiling in her khaki shorts and floral print top. Then I looked at Dev, who was wearing boarder shorts and a Lycra T-shirt that were now clinging to him, and thought "hussy." I tried not to imagine which of the two of them I resembled.
Since the rain had stopped, we started making plans. For some bizarre reason X-Men was only playing at one time on a Sunday and we had already missed it. We considered trying to head to St. David's for photos, and fortunately I was overruled. I say fortunately because about 200 meters into our drive the rain started again. A hard heavy rain, even worse than before. At the first intersection I stopped to see if Shibby wanted me to take shelter with the bike somewhere. She bravely said to carry on. And we made it about 2 more kilometers before the pounding rain wore her down, which feels like hail on your face and body on a bike, and mid story she says "It's very painful this rain." Much to the amusement of a few cyclists already sheltering in the bus stop (the very bus stop the police jumped out of to ticket me a few days ago), we walked in and waited for Dev to arrive on his slightly slower rental scooter. There was nothing to do but laugh at how ridiculous we looked and wait out the rain. It did eventually subside, and we were able to carry on the long, cold ride back home -- not without enduring the splashes from oncoming traffic, one which was big enough that we both shrieked as a wave of water crashed down on us in the wake of a taxi and re soaked us from about the chest down. "At least that was kind of warm water," Shibby said. We scooted past poor Dev, leaning forward on his scooter going up a hill trying to gain speed, and laughed the rest of the way home.
So, that was it, the Bermuda expedition was a bit of a fail today. But the day is rarely ever a total fail, so we regrouped and went to the Hog Penny for an amazing supper and were joined by the lovely Helen and Beattie. The food was really really good, and I always love the music, so The Hog Penny gets a thumbs up! Will Black, the resident rock star, walked in and walked by our table and gave us a sly grin, which we had earned during our Friday night expedition in Hamilton. That particular expedition had many legendary moments that will keep us laughing for years, but this photo surfaced today which at least explained Will's grin.
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| Who can resist belting out a Bryan Adams song? |
That story lead to a lot of riotous laughter and a recap of Friday night, and many from the past. But that is another story for another time.
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