A bit of a journal - two.

I’ve knocked around the world a bit but there’s something about dear old Bim that keeps
calling me back. Maybe deep down I’m just a tired old jaded colonial in a pith helmet
and Bimshire, as us tired jaded colonials call it, is my natural home.

Back in the day Barbados, ninety miles east of the main chain of Caribbean islands and the
only coral and not volcanic dot in that chain, made it the natural centre for British 'trading'
as we called it back then. We traded everything - sugar, rum, spices, slaves, more slaves, and
even more slaves. It was the first port of call after the long voyage across the Atlantic
and many a British gentleman came here and remained.

It was a British colony for more than 300 years until it gained independence in 1966 - the
year we won the World Cup (well, when that date pops up the world cup has to be
mentioned). It’s parliament, founded in 1639, is the third oldest in the Commonwealth and
George Washington came here with his brother Lawrence in 1751 in an attempt to cure
Lawrence’s tuberculosis. Sadly it didn’t work and I guess he’s buried here somewhere on
sunny Bim.

Today, as I may have mentioned, it’s a playground for the indecently rich and has a thriving
middle class that would rival many a shire around London - Essex included. There’s almost no
unemployment - mind you work is not quite the same as we understand it in stress laden, on
24/7, no time to stop, gotta have more, Britain thank goodness. Yes, life on the island the
locals call ‘de Rock’ is pretty good. even bashy Bim one might say.

And then there’s the rum. De Rock’s national sport and pastime (well mine when I’m here
anyway). The soul of the island, the sweetest of spirits from the sugar plantations that form
a lot of the interior of the island. It’s sold in over 1,200 tiny rum shops all over Bim. Some of
them are no more than a few boards hammered together, most of them look so local you need
to be brave (as Britishers rarely are) to enter. I've done a few, and they are Bashy most of the
time, and off course there's always the supermarket where a litre of rum is less than a tenner.

Rum and coke, rum and ginger, rum and sprite, rum and coconut, rum and ice, and of course
rum punch. What's not to love about rum?

And with that, I'm off to pour me one - Yo Ho Ho me hearties.