Today was a fairly uneventful day, going to work by eight, and working on website-related issues all day.
It rained a fair bit on the north end during the last 24 hours, and things are still damp. The island seems to be a bit more green than when we lived on Bonaire (perhaps 10% greener), and there are some people that actually have lawn mowers!!
The website is starting to take shape, and we were able to set up various options. I was working on inserting audio samples, and writing up a list of the bugs in the program that remain. As usual, I brought sandwiches with me, and worked a bit on my blog during my lunch.
In the afternoon, Laura arrived, and we worked together on the website. We are connected via Skype, even though we are only 30 feet away in different offices. Whenever we have questions, we run over to the other person’s office and try to sort them out. I am very lucky that Laura knows the principles of webmastering very well, and we seem to be on a more or less even playing field that way. If anything, she is a little quicker than I am.
When five o’clock came, I packed up and decided to drive to the hardware store in Antriol. I picked up a soap holder for the shower in the guesthouse, as the existing one was badly rusted. I keep having to pick out bits of rust from my soap bar each morning. I quickly found what I needed, and also grabbed a higher wattage light bulb for the bathroom. I bought a fold-up lawn chair as well, and that’s what I’m sitting on (which I’ll leave behind when I return to Canada).
I then decided to go across the road and see what the Kentucky Fried Chicken was like. It is rather a novelty that they have exactly the same thing as we do back home in Canada. From the ads to the food, everything was exactly as it is in all KFC’s around the world. One interesting thing was that they charge a 6% sales tax if it is eat-in. Six per cent is not as bad as our 13% in Ontario.
I headed up to Lookout Mountain to take some photos. The actual name is Seru Largu, and is located here:12.19409, -68.27314 (Copy and past this into the search bar of maps.google.com.) I didn’t have my regular Canon camera with me, but used the iPad’s built-in camera. It seems to take decent pictures. There was a mockingbird that came to visit, and a few goats dropped by as well.
I’m dictating this just before 7:00 p.m., and the lights are beginning to come on below me in Kralendijk. On the mountain ridge to my right, there is a complete subdivision built up that wasn’t there 30 years ago. The tanks from the water plant are still there, but now there are about a hundred homes beside them.
The water plant that is by the shore in the distance, opposite Klein Bonaire, only does water desalination. The power plants are located elsewhere around the island.
I understand that Trans World Radio broadcasts from an FM transmitter up on this mountain as well, which I intend to visit at some point. This is a local FM transmitter just for the island of Bonaire. Like our main transmitter in the south, it is remotely operated and fully automated.
As I sit here dictating my blog, the birds are singing, and it is just such a peaceful scene altogether. I’m not diving today, as my left ear is still bothering me somewhat, although it seems to be getting a bit better.
I’ll sign off for now, and go back to reading my book about Sir John A. Macdonald on my iPad.