Bahamas Update #28

UPDATE NUMBER TWENTY-EIGHT, HOPE IT PROVES WORTH THE WAIT
originally sent July 15th, 2003

It was all a dream...
This is it y'all: The very last Bahamas Update! And since I'm not even getting around to writing this now (which is midway through July) there may be a bit of a Canada Update in there as well. But for the time being let me just say that this Update is dedicated to all my friends and acquaintances in The Bahamas that helped make my 2 and-a-half years as an ex-pat such a great time. I'll miss y'all but I am sure I'll be tripping over a few of you in no time soon.

I fled the city of Nassau, and the entire island of New Providence, on June 1st, 2003 and woke up the following morning in the home of my parents somewhere deep in the suburbs of Toronto. It made the whole trip seem like some sort of dream that I was only then waking up from, and though I was glad to be back that first morning, it was strange not to be able to walk out to my sun-drenched balcony for a morning coffee overlooking the ocean (see pic on left). However, the thought of a decent meal in a restaurant, and a reasonable price for a head of lettuce, made the trade-off seem a little easier to accept.

I had quit my job at Dupuch Publications Inc at the end of April, and there was a little send-off party for both myself and a girl from the office who was also leaving the company the very same day (it's like rats leaving a sinking ship at Dupuch since we both left). We had a cake, a small party, and a few drinks after at a favourite office watering hole. I was sad to have to say goodbye to all my pals at the office (like f'rinstance the loverly Katrea), but since I had also agreed to fill in for a few days a week during the month of May (the office being a little short-staffed that month) I went from saying farewells on the Friday afternoon to saying hellos again the following Tuesday morning. And here's a shot of the unlucky lad who has taken over my position at Dupuch. "I can train ya bey, but I can't prepare ya for what's to come...."

I had decided to quit my job at the end of April, and then stay in The Bahamas for a month just enjoying the place and trying to tie up all my loose ends before I went home. And everything was "sorta" going according to plan, but about a week into my month-long wind-down I got a freak inflammation at the base of my spine (very painful), and as a result I couldn't sit for 10 days straight. I had to receuperate by lying down or standing (my only options) for the next week-and-a-half. I also had to gulp down a few painkillers and antibiotics along the way. I have to admit that being forced into such a medical predicament is made easier when you can do your lying down on a white sand beach, but I really hated losing all that time that could have been spent sooooooooo much better. Ah well. But I finally got better and could once again enjoy my morning coffees on the balcony.

Losing that much time was a pain in the keyster (literally) so I was quite glad to be back on my feet mid-May. But that meant that my last 2 weeks in Nassau were a whirlwind of goodbye dinners, lunches, after-work drinks and so forth. Then there was the intricate the preparation for my very OWN goodbye/birthday party (held on the actual date of my 39th birthday - May 24th!). Now because I had quite a few people that I wanted to attend this farewell bash, and since I was living in a modest studio apartment that could probably only hold 8 people simultaneously, I ended up throwing the soirée at the home of my good friend Trishka and her mom Patou (both regular guests in these Bahama Update pages, and both gracious hosts that I will forever be indebted to). The party was a huge success, despite a threat of rain that seemed to hover about 5kms due east of us, and almost everyone that I wanted to be there was there, including these troublemakers...

But that wasn't the last of my send-offs. I also got to set a farewell run with my gang The Hash House Harriers, and there was a bit of a bar bash afterwards, where I got to drink out of my specially engraved commemorative beer stein. I also got a few "special" goodbyes, and a few drinks on the house later. Farewells like these made me realize just how many good friends I had made during the time that I had spent out of Canada, but I can also admit that there is a bit of an exodus of ex-pats out of The Bahamas (mine was the second of about 6 farewell parties in the past two months). The reasons for this are varied, but the recently elected government, that seems to think ex-patriots have taken all the good jobs away from average Bahamians, is definitley a BIG factor in this migration. As for me, I was completely sick of the job that I was doing, and the employers that I was doing the job for, but more than that I felt that I had gone about as far as I could in Nassau. There's a big world out there, and even though my time in The Bahamas was a great experience, it's just a wee stop on a much bigger trip. There's way more places I still want to see and experience, so i packed it in and came back to the great white north. So what am I doing back in Toronto? Hmmm... well, it's a great place to regroup, and the summers here are beautiful (despite SARS, West Nile Virus and Mad Cow disease), and I can plan the next stop on my world tour from here.

So, as the sun sets for the last time on Love Beach (see pic), I look back and realize just how much I've been through, and how much I will always remember these past two-and-a-half years. I also exit Nassau as reigning Scrabble champ (I had a farewell game with my arch rival Paul a few hours before my return flight, and managed to nab the final victory for myself). However, my last few days in Nassau were not quite so smooth. I also tried to have a yard sale before I left, but it was rained out three times in one day. Luckily I had sold a few of my belongings, and vehicles, in the weeks prior to my departure, but on the that last Saturday (the 31st of May) I decided to have an outdoor yard sale in which I could unburden myself of all the now useless junk I had accumulated since arriving in Nassau in January of 2001. Unfortunately I could barely get anything out to the street long enough before another tropical downpour ruined my chances of selling anything. In the end I gave up on the yard sale, and the next morning gave half my stuff away to neighbours and the other half to charity groups. But even after divesting myself of all this excess baggage, I still had FIVE full suitcases to bring back with me to Toronto - and I was flying stand-by! I kinda regret selling my digial camera in the week prior to leaving cuz now there are no shots of me winning my last game of Scrabble, taking my last dip in the ocean, or waddling with a overloaded computer bag down to the departure lounge gate after they finally gave me the OK to board only 20 minutes before my flight was due to take-off. There was a small and hurried champagne send-off with a few friends prior to this last dash, and then before I knew it I was winging it northward and fighting back a wee tear as I thought of the pages closing on this chapter of my life. Ciao Nassau! It was a the longest, strangest and best vacation I ever had.

And so, back to Toronto. I am now renting a good-sized 2-bedroom apartment in the Queen and Bathurst area, but I am actually writing this last update while on a family reuinion in the cottage country of Manitoba. There are 31 of us gathered here (representing three family lines) for a week of family fun and games (mmmm.... blueberry picking). Unfortunately the weather is not fully cooperating, and after more than two years in The Bahamas my threshold for cold weather is signifigantly reduced. But I'm surviving. The setting for this family function is a place called Westhawk Lake, where 30 odd years ago we all had cottages within canoeing distance from one another (though sadly no one has property here anymore). It's good fun, but halfway through the trip I dropped, and severly damaged, my new digital camera, so you won't be getting pix-a-plenty from this outing. Dang!

And that's that! Nassau in a nutshell. Hope y'all enjoyed these sporadic Updates, and you can still click here to see the monotonous weather forecasts I will be bravely putting up with now that I'm back in Toronto. What?... cloudy AGAIN?!!

B.

previous update

return to index page

next update

It was all a dream...
This is it y'all: The very last Bahamas Update! And since I'm not even getting around to writing this now (which is midway through July) there may be a bit of a Canada Update in there as well. But for the time being let me just say that this Update is dedicated to all my friends and acquaintances in The Bahamas that helped make my 2 and-a-half years as an ex-pat such a great time. I'll miss y'all but I am sure I'll be tripping over a few of you in no time soon.

I fled the city of Nassau, and the entire island of New Providence, on June 1st, 2003 and woke up the following morning in the home of my parents somewhere deep in the suburbs of Toronto. It made the whole trip seem like some sort of dream that I was only then waking up from, and though I was glad to be back that first morning, it was strange not to be able to walk out to my sun-drenched balcony for a morning coffee overlooking the ocean (see pic on left). However, the thought of a decent meal in a restaurant, and a reasonable price for a head of lettuce, made the trade-off seem a little easier to accept.

I had quit my job at Dupuch Publications Inc at the end of April, and there was a little send-off party for both myself and a girl from the office who was also leaving the company the very same day (it's like rats leaving a sinking ship at Dupuch since we both left). We had a cake, a small party, and a few drinks after at a favourite office watering hole. I was sad to have to say goodbye to all my pals at the office (like f'rinstance the loverly Katrea), but since I had also agreed to fill in for a few days a week during the month of May (the office being a little short-staffed that month) I went from saying farewells on the Friday afternoon to saying hellos again the following Tuesday morning. And here's a shot of the unlucky lad who has taken over my position at Dupuch. "I can train ya bey, but I can't prepare ya for what's to come...."

I had decided to quit my job at the end of April, and then stay in The Bahamas for a month just enjoying the place and trying to tie up all my loose ends before I went home. And everything was "sorta" going according to plan, but about a week into my month-long wind-down I got a freak inflammation at the base of my spine (very painful), and as a result I couldn't sit for 10 days straight. I had to receuperate by lying down or standing (my only options) for the next week-and-a-half. I also had to gulp down a few painkillers and antibiotics along the way. I have to admit that being forced into such a medical predicament is made easier when you can do your lying down on a white sand beach, but I really hated losing all that time that could have been spent sooooooooo much better. Ah well. But I finally got better and could once again enjoy my morning coffees on the balcony.

Losing that much time was a pain in the keyster (literally) so I was quite glad to be back on my feet mid-May. But that meant that my last 2 weeks in Nassau were a whirlwind of goodbye dinners, lunches, after-work drinks and so forth. Then there was the intricate the preparation for my very OWN goodbye/birthday party (held on the actual date of my 39th birthday - May 24th!). Now because I had quite a few people that I wanted to attend this farewell bash, and since I was living in a modest studio apartment that could probably only hold 8 people simultaneously, I ended up throwing the soirée at the home of my good friend Trishka and her mom Patou (both regular guests in these Bahama Update pages, and both gracious hosts that I will forever be indebted to). The party was a huge success, despite a threat of rain that seemed to hover about 5kms due east of us, and almost everyone that I wanted to be there was there, including these troublemakers...

But that wasn't the last of my send-offs. I also got to set a farewell run with my gang The Hash House Harriers, and there was a bit of a bar bash afterwards, where I got to drink out of my specially engraved commemorative beer stein. I also got a few "special" goodbyes, and a few drinks on the house later. Farewells like these made me realize just how many good friends I had made during the time that I had spent out of Canada, but I can also admit that there is a bit of an exodus of ex-pats out of The Bahamas (mine was the second of about 6 farewell parties in the past two months). The reasons for this are varied, but the recently elected government, that seems to think ex-patriots have taken all the good jobs away from average Bahamians, is definitley a BIG factor in this migration. As for me, I was completely sick of the job that I was doing, and the employers that I was doing the job for, but more than that I felt that I had gone about as far as I could in Nassau. There's a big world out there, and even though my time in The Bahamas was a great experience, it's just a wee stop on a much bigger trip. There's way more places I still want to see and experience, so i packed it in and came back to the great white north. So what am I doing back in Toronto? Hmmm... well, it's a great place to regroup, and the summers here are beautiful (despite SARS, West Nile Virus and Mad Cow disease), and I can plan the next stop on my world tour from here.

So, as the sun sets for the last time on Love Beach (see pic), I look back and realize just how much I've been through, and how much I will always remember these past two-and-a-half years. I also exit Nassau as reigning Scrabble champ (I had a farewell game with my arch rival Paul a few hours before my return flight, and managed to nab the final victory for myself). However, my last few days in Nassau were not quite so smooth. I also tried to have a yard sale before I left, but it was rained out three times in one day. Luckily I had sold a few of my belongings, and vehicles, in the weeks prior to my departure, but on the that last Saturday (the 31st of May) I decided to have an outdoor yard sale in which I could unburden myself of all the now useless junk I had accumulated since arriving in Nassau in January of 2001. Unfortunately I could barely get anything out to the street long enough before another tropical downpour ruined my chances of selling anything. In the end I gave up on the yard sale, and the next morning gave half my stuff away to neighbours and the other half to charity groups. But even after divesting myself of all this excess baggage, I still had FIVE full suitcases to bring back with me to Toronto - and I was flying stand-by! I kinda regret selling my digial camera in the week prior to leaving cuz now there are no shots of me winning my last game of Scrabble, taking my last dip in the ocean, or waddling with a overloaded computer bag down to the departure lounge gate after they finally gave me the OK to board only 20 minutes before my flight was due to take-off. There was a small and hurried champagne send-off with a few friends prior to this last dash, and then before I knew it I was winging it northward and fighting back a wee tear as I thought of the pages closing on this chapter of my life. Ciao Nassau! It was a the longest, strangest and best vacation I ever had.

And so, back to Toronto. I am now renting a good-sized 2-bedroom apartment in the Queen and Bathurst area, but I am actually writing this last update while on a family reuinion in the cottage country of Manitoba. There are 31 of us gathered here (representing three family lines) for a week of family fun and games (mmmm.... blueberry picking). Unfortunately the weather is not fully cooperating, and after more than two years in The Bahamas my threshold for cold weather is signifigantly reduced. But I'm surviving. The setting for this family function is a place called Westhawk Lake, where 30 odd years ago we all had cottages within canoeing distance from one another (though sadly no one has property here anymore). It's good fun, but halfway through the trip I dropped, and severly damaged, my new digital camera, so you won't be getting pix-a-plenty from this outing. Dang!

And that's that! Nassau in a nutshell. Hope y'all enjoyed these sporadic Updates, and you can still click here to see the monotonous weather forecasts I will be bravely putting up with now that I'm back in Toronto. What?... cloudy AGAIN?!!