Bird flu - samedi, 27.01.07

samedi 27.01.07 Bird flu

Another assistante is having a farewell do today. The Canadians are drifting. Heather never returned from her trip to Mexico and Sam is leaving next weekend so she’s having a bit of a gathering at Les Salines today. Karla and Kyla are said to be considering leaving after February as they both have jobs lined up at home in the States.

If I hadn’t got a class this morning I’d be off on a TaxiCo to either Anse Trabaud for the farewell or to another nearby beach with James and his gaggle of Spaniards. But this morning duty, or more so, money talks English with Madame Bonne’s daughters Euryle and Kelli-Ann. Madame Bonne herself isn’t in. Her husband tells me she’s at the hairdressers as he hands me a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice and places a white envelope with payment and compensation on the table in front of me. Do Black people pay-up using white envelopes and White people with brown ones?

Mr Bonne-Francil works for the fisheries board here and he tells me of his trip to Ireland a few years ago. He landed in Donegal. I ask if whether he caught a cold or some cod but he assures me that the July weather was kind to them. I wanted to fill Jacqueline in on the state of affairs in the assistantship realm but instead I’m giving the low-down on the French presidential race. It turns out that Ségolène Royal visited Euryle’s school yesterday. I also find out that Ségo actually attended this school when she lived in Martinique and she also spent a stint at the Rectorat. Although Ségo makes la une (the front page) of France-Antilles les gros titres (headlines) circulated around town on the characteristic orange France-Antilles bulletin paper tell of a hold-up in MacDo! Braquage à McDo: un surprenant complice. I immediately think of Nicola and that strange MacDo worker woman I met at the bus yesterday. Nicola has a meeting at MacDo this morning with some lady and her son, who is visiting Ireland in a few weeks. They end up at Deli France where poor Nic can’t eat a thing. However, the lady later buys her a melon and gives her some prospective private students’ details so all round it’s a productive way to spend the morning!

Nic and I meet for lunch in the gay café – Cyber Délice. I think the air-con is too effective today because we’ve been out in the heat half an hour and I’m still chilled. The sky seems threatening and we’re feeling a bit bunged up so we decide to abandon our plans to hit Anse Mitan across the bay and head home with mounting head colds. God must have been on a bit of a binge lately as the heaven’s open the instant we step off the bus. We arrive home sodden despite having our brollies at full mast. My nose is both blocked and runny and I’m sneezing so much I’m actually beginning to loath what should be an upshot of this force of nature! I retreat to bed with a sore head and a wad of tissues. How can I be dosed in the Caribbean? I didn’t suffer the big freeze this winter so the big sneeze is payback I guess.

I later rouse from my stuffy sleep. My tuna salad lunch has long been propelled along my intestines by the sneezing fits so I rustle up a fry and have numerous cups of Lyons Gold Blend to mend me. Of course stronger stuff is needed and as I’m not particle to solitary sipping sessions I wait until Nicola rises before offering up some whiskeys. We skip the hot whiskeys and just pour letting the alcohol and ailments exude from our pores. Will rings to see if we’re up for a few drinks in town. We tell him we’re house bound. We’re not quite on the ground when Chloé calls. She’s all dressed-up with nowhere to go so we invite her over. She texts a while later saying she can’t find her way. We’re not surprised as she’s a bit hesitant and irresolute about the simplest of things. There’s nothing we can do but carry on and talk away until both our heads and both bottles of whiskey seem clearer. The glass is indeed cleaner on the Irish side.