This is at the behest of Bill, who wants to turn this thread around, and for David, who I would guess is running around packing, getting excited, not sleeping and generally out of control......
An anecdote.
Whenever I see a five, ten or twenty pound note, or a picture of the Queen ( not Helen Mirren, the real one, Liz Windsor. Lives in Buck House. Married to Phil, wears headscarves, likes horses and corgis) I am reminded of the Rainforest hero Gaston Jackson. Yes I know they don't look remotely alike, but stay with me please.
Towards the end of our holiday, we went on a trip in a glass-bottomed boat from outside the Blue Waters Inn in Speyside. I have to say it wasn't one of the most
exciting outings we had, mainly because we were in that gloomy "holiday almost over" type mood.
The weather was superb, and the Blue Waters Inn looked lovely. We peered through the windows like hungry waifs looking at the posh folks as they ate their breakfast, with me thinking " I wonder if we could stay there another time?" I'd like a break from always self- catering, which we've been doing for years and years and....Trouble is, if we'd stayed somewhere like that, there's the danger of never leaving the hotel!
We sat in the shade gazing at the view, and saw a beautiful dark blue and black butterfly on the sand. We were dissappointed that we never saw that many butterflies; according to Gaston Jackson they have been decimated by pesticides.It's the same old story; the planet would be much better off without humans!
We also saw a hermit crab trolling along the sand in a borrowed shell. Now here's a thought; do crabs think WE move sideways? And are there fashions in shells?" No dear, whelks are SO last year". " Vogue says snails are the new conch".
We also saw a large bright green insect on a wall, shaped like a leaf. A kind of stick insect? I guess it's shaped like a leaf for camoflauge amongst foliage.There it sat on this bare white wall, no vegetation in sight, safe in the knowledge that its shape and colour would make it invisible to predators....
Himself has photos of all these things. I've been nagging him for weeks to get them downloaded so I can show you.
So there we sat,watching a canoe in the distance,and waiting for the rest of the party to get onboard the boat, when who should appear but Gaston the Rainforest man. We had only met him the once, but we greeted each other like long lost family! We were so pleased he was coming on our boat.
For some reason we had come on this trip with very little preparation, unlike the forest where we all dressed up like Indiana Jones,and had plenty of water, insect repellant, first aid kit(!) cameras, notebook, pen, hats, shades(which weren't really needed) sunscreen....
This time we had hats, shades, and a only a little water! We had also not taken into account the fact that the trip included snorkelling, and had not brought any swimming gear!
However, we duly admired all the fish and the two thousand year old brain coral, and eventually landed on Little Tobago. There, by exercising extreme cunning, we managed to kidnap Gaston and kept him as our own private guide for the whole visit. He was, again, full of knowledge about the plants and birdlife,and told us about his grandmother, who was a kind of herbalist and used to experiment with various plants to use as medicines, at a time when doctors and conventional medicines were not easily available. She experimented on herself and lived to a ripe old age!
He told us what some of the plants were used for, and showed us how palm fronds were tied together to use as brooms to get rid of cobwebs in the house ready for Christmas. I might try that on mine...
We also had some in depth discussions on the State of The World Today, and how American culture was taking over the world. (Sorry Bill! No offence!)
We saw a Tropic bird, amongst others, and Himself realised he hadn't brought a notebook, and for once I hadn't either. This was quite a shock for Himself. He and the rest of the family rely on me to remember everything that they might have forgotten, and they are completely lost if I haven't brought everything they need.
Himself did have a pen, however, and came up with an idea to note down what we'd seen.
"I'm about to break the law" he said.
"What on earth do you mean?"
"I'm going to deface some currency.I'm going to write on this TTDollar note."
" It's illegal in the UK, is it the same here?" he asked Gaston, who didn't know, but was amused at the idea.
I told Gaston that it was illegal in the UK because the Queen's face appears on our currency. "Oh " he chuckled." So it's disrespecting the Queen?"
I said it was illegal to deface an image of the Queen, such as drawing a moustache and beard on her face, at which point he laughed his socks off!
That was an example of how we often found Tobagonians so ready to laugh, if you happen to find their particular "funny bone".
We still have that TT note with the names of birds written on it. Don't tell the police...
And that, dear friends, is why the Queen reminds me of Gaston Jackson.
Is that OK Bill?
Signing off, my typing fingers are sore.
Carolnoe
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. Allways new there was a good reason for not learning to surf and is the Oarfish thing for real or was the article dated 1st April 
Still looking foreward to my first dip of the hols next year. 
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