The Year of Celebration

Sydney Harbour Snowboarding injury. My clumsiness hasn't changed. Today in 1889 female journalist Nelly Bly began her successful attempt to circumnavigate the globe in 80 days. She beat it by eight days and back in 2004 I beat it by ten days. To be fair technology in the 115 years between our voyages might  have made my trip a little bit easier. As per Instagram it seems that Thursdays are Throwback Thursdays these days. So as a result I visited my very first blog...my travelpod blog about my trip around the world. What a trip down memory lane! I suppose then I'll share some snaps. Between my London departure and return, my journey included surfing in Bali, museums in Melbourne, snowboarding in New Zealand (inevitable injury included), suffering from the flu in Sydney, beaching in Hawaii, loving Los Angeles, losing money in Las Vegas, locked in Alcatraz in San Francisco, mooching around Miami and burning around Bermuda on a moped. Beautiful memories were made. Celebrat...

Non-Mariners' Day is considered one of the best days in the Bermuda calendar. Hundreds of boats go to Mangrove Bay in Somerset and "raft-up" together, creating pockets of parties all along the water that you can swim between. There's also the Non-Mariners' Race, which involves people building floating crafts out of various pieces of debris and attempting to "race" them. They mostly involve funny jokes, and there's a pipe band. People gather at the shore to watch the hilarity. I stayed away and just hung out on the boats partying. I was supposed to go for a farewell dinner for Jen at the lighthouse, but that was impossible as I fell asleep at 7 and have only just woken up!

Raging. Boating. Raving. Boating again. A few tumbles and falls (and a bruised bum). What a smashing weekend.

Ahhh....it's summertime in Bermuda, and that means RAFT-UPS! For those non-Bermudians/islanders raft-ups are essentially everyone taking their boats out and tying them up to each other and just having a huge party in the water and on the boats. Today was the "Winter-Babies Raft-Up". It's purpose is to celebrate birthdays for people who couldn't raft-up in Winter because it was too cold. Alicia Churm organises it and provides children's party bags with lollipops and rice krispies treats and other goodies. Ahhhh childhood party memories. Too much fun, so just photos for today.

This Monday in June is Bermuda's National Heroes' Day. It was only established 4 years ago, but I think it is an important holiday to commemorate the great leaders of our society, who often get lost in the pages of today's newspapers and knowledge. I was especially proud this year as Dr. E.F. Gordon was celebrated and I am very good friends with his granddaughter. His daughter, Pamela, was the first female Premier of Bermuda. Pictured are her two grandsons, Ethan and Elijah, who collected the awards on behalf of the family (not pictured is granddaughter Elan). Dr. Gordon was a medical doctor who is regarded in Bermuda as the father of the labour movement. Being a member of the Bermuda Progressive Labour Party, I am clearly a supporter of Dr. Gordon's. He was a Member of the Colonial Parliament (MCP) and challenged racism at every opportunity. When White Parliamentarians refused to refer to him as "Dr." Gordon he changed his name to "Mazumbo" in prot...

I have never read Ulysses. Yes, I admit it. So celebrating Bloomsday is a little indulgent. Additionally, it is meant to be celebrated in Dublin, but I clearly can't hop on a plane...so I'm celebrating here. Bloomsday is a commemoration of the life of James Joyce and his book Ulysses, which took place in Dublin on June 16th 1904. The day generally involves cultural activities, pub crawls and general merriment. My version of a cultural activity in Bermuda is a trip to Paradise Lakes on a boat and sitting off enjoying "nature". So that's exactly what I did with Alex and Amy (pictured). Now, if only I'd brought Ulysses to read on the boat, the day would have been complete. After a quick change on the boat, Alex dropped me off to the dock at Newstead Hotel for a cocktail summer kick-off party hosted by BEPRO (Bermuda Emerging Professionals) and it was an excellent opportunity to see a bunch of friends I hadn't seen for four months. A few hours later I stopped ...