continental carrots and flying cows

hi everyone

so a few weeks ago i flew up to california, to sacramento, to be exact, to do some work with KT on the accounts. i had been getting in a real old mess with my accounting, primarily because i am not an accountant, nor do i wish to ever be one, so it's a combination of not being able to do it, and not wanting to do it. hmm interesting situation. anyway, we solved a lots of the problems and i felt a lot better after the 3 day trip. on the first flight from belize city to houston (which i pronounce who-ston, and robert tells me is hugh-ston), they brought round the snack. it was turkey or ham sandwich, i asked if there was a vegetarian option. she glared at me and in silence removed the sandwich from its little tray and passed me the tray complete with just a bag of ruffles and a sachet of mayonnaise. thank you, i said, frowning. the next snack from who-ston to sacramento was the same, but she was much smilier and more apologetic about my vegetarianism. i got a small bag of carrots and a sachet of mustard that time.

going through customs in america is so little fun. i think they try to make you really stressed out so that you will inadvertently blurt out that you are a terrorist when they ask you what the purpose of your visit is to their country. my customs man asked me what i was doing in belize for so long. i said oh just hanging out you know. right on, he said, i wish i could just hang out in belize. i thought you probably couldn't fit on the plane to get there you big fatty. but smiled and said yeah it's pretty nice. so how do you afford to do that? oh i saved up some money in the uk before i left, i answered breezily. right on he said. great fishing there. oh yeah it's amazing the fishing i said, thinking of that trip robert had videod for me with the fish having their eyeballs smashed out with a hammer and writhing around on the bottom of the boat. i didn't bother telling him about that. right on. so, lucy pickles, he said looking at my passport. yes that's me i said. ok. cute name. yeah, real cute. oh. thanks, i said. thinking this is weird first he's trying to catch me out now he's trying to flirt with me. they have really strange tactics those customs officers. well that was that, then you get herded along and screamed at by highly stressed and totally jobsworth airport workers, who tell you to take your laptop out of its bag and your shoes off and your belt off and your shoes don't go in a plastic box but your other things do. everyone asks why the heck that is, everywhere else you have to put your shoes in a box.they shout some shouty answers at you and roll their eyes. i drop my laptop on the floor in an apathetic protest against all the orders, and go as slowly as possible through the scanners to annoy them.

KT's daughter hayley had recently auditioned for american idol, she's into singing and playing the piano. i thought this was pretty cool. on the audition panel was russell brand, can you believe it. she didn't get through but he had said nice things about her singing. they had had to sit there all day waiting their turn, there were so many people there. KT's son kevin was also there, he is making the website for hatchet. he was planning on cycling to san diego the following week, which is pretty far but a really nice ride, down highway 1 like me and robert had driven last year in monty the motorhome. 

we went on a brief shopping trip to walmart to get some things (knickers being one of them, i don't need luxurious knickers - you get 6 for 4 dollars at walmart). we went to barnes and noble too, the bookshop, but didn't have much time to browse as we still had work to do. i got a book for my neighbour in cayo, called eat pray love. it's a film featuring julia roberts, out in the states i guess not in uk yet. i read the whole book on the way home, it's really good i loved it. she basically is going through a divorce and depression and goes away for a year to figure things out, and spends time in italy eating pizza, then india doing yoga and meditation, then bali doing other nice things. that makes it sound pretty vacuous which it really isn't, it's a real journey and interesting insight into a whole load of things. i also got 2 more graham greene books, the comedians which is set in haiti - the only novel i know of which is set in haiti, and our man in havana, which is of course set in cuba.

up in cayo we have been doing some really nice early morning flights in the ultralight, i like flying low over the cows and watching them look up dumbly at us as we whizz past. they are really cute, and i hope they know i'm their friend and don't eat them. robert got a cool new high definition camera and we got some cool video and pictures. in other news in cayo, our shower set on fire one night - it's one of those that has an electric heater attached to it as we don't have hot water, and it had just got all old and shady and the next thing there were these sparks flying out of the shower and flames. robert said i think we pour water on it. i said i don't think we do if it's an electrical fire, so we flapped at it with a towel which put it out without electrocuting us.

and here i am in placencia today, where it's the height of the low and slow season, so not much is happening of any note apart from lots of languishing around and sweating and melting. i am trying to write the business plan for the island, for the owner's next visit next week. i am not a business person so this is one big large hassle and stress. all i really want to do is cycle and do some yoga. i got some great new pedals for my bike the other day in cayo and had some really good rides. i rode the hummingbird on sunday on our way down south, then we jumped in a river and had a picnic. on that ride i was going down a hill, quite fast, and a bee flew right into my groin and stung me. i haven't ever been stung by a bee before, so i didn't mind as i now had an interesting first bee sting story. it hurt a little, and i had to get the sting-y bit out myself as it was still there. i still like bees. did you know the colour of honey depends on the type of flower used to make it?


we went to the island on monday which was pretty cool, the 3 cabins are finished out there now, and the restaurant is nearly done. the boat ride was really smooth and we saw a few dolphins at one point, but only fleetingly. they are still doing lots of construction out there (not the dolphins, the workers i mean), but a lot has been done since my last trip. i'll put some pictures up soon.

that's all my updates for now, i'm going home to eat some beans and eggs for breakfast now and try to figure out the payroll for friday which is payday. i have to make a special mention of sarah bullock and rod and nick and john who are cycling to italy, all the way to brindisi, they finish on saturday i believe, they will have done 3 weeks by then. totally amazing and cool, and all for macmillan cancer support - you can sponsor them on their website here: http://www.justgiving.com/rodnickjonsarahdotiptotoe

thanks and goodbye for now from extremely hot and languid belize. xx