Sunday, May 25, 2008

La souris est morte, vive la souris

Many hours were spent last week cleaning mouse corps off the bottom of the kitchen drawer underneath which it had started to putrefy. And once the bleach had settled and the kitchen was spotless I foolishly thought it was over ...it wasn’t.

Now angry, bitter and vengeful teeth are once again chewing their way through in an attempt to find the trail of the ancestors. Lisette says the man can’t come this week because it’s Mothers’ Day (All week??) but that he’ll be back soon to brick up the gap. But honestly, if they can get through glass and steel I can’t see how brick will stop these mighty beasts. I think the man needs to build me a fallout shelter and then put the house inside it. And then we might be safe.

Nelta invited us to a karaoke evening last night which was good fun. Everyone had to take a number out of an envelope when they arrived, and these numbers were then pulled out of a hat so no one could get out of singing. The theme for the evening, printed on the t-shirts of the hosts was ‘O.P.P.C’ (‘On ne peut pas critiquer’ – i.e. ‘We’re all rubbish so let’s not make fun of each other.’) And I was glad to find out that the standard of karaoke in Martinique is almost identical to that of the UK. The only difference really is that people don’t drink so much here so the words are more comprehensible, even when they’re not in English. I was quite nervous before I had to go up but I got some cheers and whistles after my ‘Killing me Softly’. However I was totally upstaged by J’s impressive rendition of ‘I’m a Barbie Girl’ which went down a storm, especially the parts where he inserted his favourite (and only) creole phrase, ‘Ba mwe sa’ (‘Give me that’), eg. ‘Come on Barbie, ba mwe sa, oh oh oh oh...’

J’s taking advantage of the hot weather here and has turned the kitchen into a brewery for ginger beer and mead. I only hope they taste better than last year’s attempt which had a lovely lemony yeast vomit flavour – he forgot the sugar. Other recent projects include a solar powered oven (the first attempt didn’t work but we’re still trying) and living off the land. It must be the fruity season now because there’s a mango tree on Dead Cat Alley shedding fruit left right and centre, the prunes de Cythère have gone yellow and are starting to drop off, and we were introduced (thanks Nick) to a delicious plum-like fruit the other day too. I don’t know what it was called but the ripest, brightest red ones tasted a little bit like bubble gum, and the slightly less ripe ones had an interesting tartness which was most refreshing.

We also bought a telescopic fishing rod and have been out a couple of times trying to catch dinner. So far J has caught an enormous (at least 2 inches long) shiny anonymous fish and I have caught some seaweed. Not bad for beginners but I think we need a bit more practice.

Oh yes... our flights are booked. We're coming back via Saint Lucia. Leaving here on June 30th by boat, staying there for ten days and then flying directly to the UK arriving July 11th. Can't wait!

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi,
I've enjoyed reading about your year in Martinique, especially as my wife and I and our 2 daughters are planning to spend this coming school year in Tartane or near Francois. My girls speak a little French, are 9 and 6, and we're planning to enroll them into public school. Would you have any suggestions for us, or be willing to chat a bit? please replay in this thread to me know. We've relatives in Martinique, and have been there twice before on vacations. Now that you've only a month or so left in Martinique, best wishes to you for this last stretch. I think we'll be looking for a 2 bedroom rental house that advertises itself as mouse-free!

Tartempion said...

Hi,

There are lots of primary schools between Tartane and Francois. I think Tartane would be a much nicer place to live though - great beaches, great walks etc. And there's a school right on the beach front!

If you have any questions you can email me at iamthebiskit@yahoo.com and I'll try and help if I can.