Now you see, I consider myself more than a bit of a coward on the whole, as I’ve said many times before. However, as this photo will tell you clearly, I am incredibly brave really! What? How? Why?
Well you see…..
This photo was shot in Juliet’s Garden – in our view and based on a sample of a dozen or so establishments, Juliet’s is without equal in terms of the food she serves. Utterly delicious, a lot of it is fresh from her own farm. Yum. The surroundings are just glorious. A garden facing out across the archipelago, with views of most of the other islands. The wildlife in the garden is what really makes it for us though.
You see there are sparrows, blackbirds, thrushes and finches all so tame they will eat out of your hand. It is quite an experience, let me tell you. We have been thrilled by this twice now, having eaten there twice and loved both times.
On the first occasion, we met a boatman. A very nice chap, who works the tourist boats and we’ve bumped into him three times since, once when on the Seahorse – the boat he works on, then later on in the pub on the cyclone day. The man actually went out fishing in that lot. I can’t believe how anyone could be so brave.
I though, am braver than him. You see, he’s scared of sparrows and when he sat at the next table to us in Juliet’s Garden, he kept shooing them away because he couldn’t bear to be in such close proximity to them. As you can see, I have one on my fingers, eating from my hand! Hence, I am braver than a fisherman!
OK OK, it’s a bit tenuous, I know. I realise he’s actually bucket-loads more brave than me but I would just like to claim this one small victory.
BTW – this shot was difficult – if you’ve ever held a 5d single-handed for twenty-mins or so while spaglet after spaglet comes, takes his/her bread before you’ve managed to frame the shot and go click then you’ll appreciate how heavy it is and how hard for a short-armed person like me to hold the bread far enough away from the lens to get focus. However, it was the greatest joy for me trying. At one point, I got a shot, the spag flew away and I cackled with laughter just as a large party of walkers came in and sat down at the next table. I apologised for my outburst but they agreed they’d have been the same in the circs.
We got chatting to them - as you know, I’ll talk to more or less anyone! They were camping but had spent last night in the Town Hall because their tents had been blown away in the cyclone. They didn’t know where they would be tonight – maybe back in the Town Hall! You see – I wasn’t exaggerating – it WAS a cyclone!
Last year - do you want your boils lanced and sucked? Just ask Peter Greengrow!
