The week in Review

Me: "What?"

Neal: "We're picking up the new truck."

Me: "Huh?"

Neal: "We got a new truck and we're here to pick it up."

Me: "What the...?!"

Neal: "What don't you understand?" Slowing down his speech so I could more easily comprehend: "This truck right here is now a museum vehicle and we are going to drive it home."

A couple of months ago the old museum truck bit the dust. It took a wrong bounce and the body collapsed on the tire. Two days later the road crews filled the pot holes.

We've been making due with the Jeep since then. Taking numerous trips for things, like picking up the archives materials. For heavier jobs: we borrow.

You don't just get a new truck on Grand Turk. You have to order it and ship it in at extraordinary cost. Or find someone on the island willing to sell theirs and hope it lasts long enough to return the investment. So how can it be that we suddenly have a new truck? Things just aren't that easy on this tiny island. Surely I'd misheard what Neal was telling me.

Then the Jeep started having engine problems. I was sure that soon I'd be walking to work. Which wouldn't be such a problem here, except those 8:00 AM tours can creep up on you the morning after a 12 hour work day. Rushing to work is difficult on a bicycle that has almost as many operating issues as the cars.

Once you have one problem - like a failed car - it can seem like a million others rise up right next to it. Suddenly you are conquering one nearly insurmountable obstacle after the other. The last few weeks seemed just like that. Everyone arguing - not all about the same thing - with no end in sight. When it drags on, like it has lately, it just gets tiring.

Neal gave me the look of death when I expressed my frustrations. Of course, I haven't been dealing with the issues on Grand Turk for very long so I don't have a right to complain. And I don't have a family, like he does.

Who live far away.

With kids who are preparing to go to college.

Yes, in retrospect, my issues aren't that severe. But that doesn't take away the fact that they aren't easily resolved. Or tiring.

Everyone's got problems. Our maintenance man - the most upright, honest, and intelligent person I've met on this island - has problems: family members need money all the time, never has time for himself, never has a chance to be happy.

"Life is rough," I said, "The only thing we can do is laugh in between the tears and let the rest work itself out."

I tried to take my own advice.

Last week we had house guests. We managed to get tons of work done and swim almost every day at the same time. We swam for 3 hours on Saturday out to the remains of a steamship that wrecked on the reefs off our beach in 1890. We watched an eagle ray feed, swam with a turtle, saw a reef shark. We participated in Moroccan night at the Bohio, which provided not only a fabulous tangine, but a new friend. We hosted a dinner before everyone left on Sunday, went to a local bar and laughed and danced like we were the only people on the island. (Dave and Joel at left.)


This week we completed another edition of the Astrolab and I got to spend the week in the archives - with helpers! In just one week I've jumped light years ahead. Relations between records are emerging, boxes are getting labeled, and I have ideas for 2 new Astrolab articles.

It's a beautiful thing.

That's what happens when you get a new truck without a headache. Everything seems possible again. Let's roll with this.