Post 21 - Party Time!

I handed out about 75 invitations - I reckon about 65 people came or popped in for a drink...

I wanted to have a private party here in le Marin to celebrate my boat purchase with the many friends and associates that I've met since arriving here last December. So many people offered me help and friendship that I'm able to drop-in to pretty much any bar and chat with a familiar face or two. That's been so cool...

Former model and entrepreneur Maggie sometimes runs 140km, non-stop with her partner Rudy!!!

The party happened a bit last minute, largely due to the fact that the bars and restaurants are under increasing pressure to pay more than just lip service to the restrictions. However, as it turned out, I couldn't have chosen a better venue than the Double V restaurant bar owned and run by Eric.

Eric and his staff did a fantastic job. They also managed to serve just my invited guests with drinks and the superb tapas. I gave a little speech to thank everyone for coming and they seemed pleased to share this time of exceptional joy for me.

I didn't get too drunk and managed, perhaps rather surprisingly, to get back on Beluga without any dramas involving the police, my dinghy or the briney. Thought you'd like to know that Ed and Loretta. lol.

Rudy studied post-grad in Glasgow and does a brilliant Caribbean/Scottish accent

top left - Alex, Maggie, Vojtech and Rudy, top right - Carlito, bottom - Laurdes & Ricardo and Michel & Mara

Shoes

I was warned before my party that it's considered disrespectful by some of the locals on Martinique to have bare feet in public. Oh well, too bad, they've never seen me wearing shoes but I might paint some shoes on my feet next time, just to keep the locals on-side - perhaps baseball boots, what do you reckon?

I much prefer to wear no shoes but these are acceptable to me...

My only pair of deck shoes mysteriously went missing from L'Annexe one afternoon. They were a bit scruffy but still completely fit for purpose. Now I'm down to just one pair of flip flops  - oh well I hardly wear them. I've always hated wearing socks (and shoes for that matter too) and nothing used to disappoint me more, than when my five girl cousins gave me socks for Christmas. In fairness, it was my two lovely aunties, Gwen and Olive that had bought them for me. I will be buying appropriate footwear for when I'm sailing because sailing bare footed is both dangerous and stupid! 

My best ever boss John Arthur, once told us this little ditty...

A sales manager of a shoe company is given some new territories out of the blue. These new territories include some remote islands and the boss sends two sales people to each island to report back independently, on the market potential...

1st salesperson's report stated... Bad news boss, on the island of Shagnasty, unfortunately none of the people wear shoes, so there would be absolutely no point in opening up a shoe shop...'

2nd salesperson's report stated... Great news boss! You won't believe this, but nobody here on the island of Shagnasty currently wears shoes. We'll have the whole market to ourselves without any competition... I can't believe this wonderful opportunity boss, I'll open up a market stall this weekend....

Me, I've absolutely no desire to wear shoes and socks ever again.

But remember, a Positive Mental Attitude (PMA) counts for so much, especially during these difficult times...

Waiting to Sail on Beluga...

I have owned Beluga for two complete weeks today and I can't believe I haven't sailed on her yet. The rigging survey revealed that most of the shrouds were showing signs of fractures due to their 16 year longevity. There was no option, if I wanted insurance, it had to be replaced. The majority of the cost was paid by Vincent, the previous owner, but I still had to find another 3,300 euros.... owch! 

Gaetan runs Caraibe Greement and he will test sail the boat with me after the rigging work is completed and the correct tensions adjustments are finalised. He's warned me that he will put her through her paces but he doesn't really know me yet, I wouldn't have it any other way. And if anything breaks during the test, Gaetan picks up the tab! Yahoo, get up them stairs!!!

This is the Dyform cable that is used on performance yachts

Beluga's mast, minus a spar during the re-rigging process - it took two days

'Service' in Southern Martinique

I've tried, Lord knows I have tried. But I'm sorry to say, I can't stand it any longer. The level of service is worse than appalling here in le Marin, particularly in the bars. And everywhere else on the southern half of this island is just as dreadful. 

The service in this bar is typical of the majority of bars in and around le Marin

The KokoaRum bar in the marina is a case in point. This large open plan bar is pretty empty these days. If you go in and sit down at a table, the waitresses will start pretending to be busy. They'll avoid making any eye contact, whether you're black, white, male or female. Most of the white population here are French expats and most of them have worked in some of the top places in Paris, London and New York. Places where service is the difference between life and death for any bar or restaurant in these metropolises. 

But when they arrive in Martinique they have to take a one week training course on how to provide the appropriate level of service. The program includes how to look busy when you're doing diddly squat. How to ignore customers who are stood immediately in front of you. How to make a succession of addition errors when totting up the bill. How to prioritise your work, ensuring serving customers comes last, below polishing glasses or having a cigarette break. 

And the English are singled out for special treatment. You try very hard to speak pigeon French but they look at you as if you're speaking Mandarin. I asked for a Ricard at a bar, a Perno like substance that rots your eyes and liver in equal measures. Because I pronounced the 'i' and didn't say Rrr'car, I might as well have been asking for a 'cockroach cocktail'. 

But this dreadful service is not limited to just bars and restaurants. Software developed here for shops, businesses as well as bars and restaurants ensures it takes at least 5 minutes to pay for anything, from 500g of sausages to a small draft lager. 

There is a Boots the chemist franchisee here in le Marin. I waited behind a local woman who had brought three items of children's clothing up to the till. The clothes had barcode labels on them but the server went to find the store location of the each item in turn before she could add them to make a total. Seriously, it took about 8 minutes to process this customer and allow me to be served...

They graduate from the course with a practical exam in a real bar that lasts about an hour. To obtain maximum marks, you need to avoid serving any actual customer during the exam, even under extreme provocation from a highly agitated, English customer. The pass rate for this exam is extremely high though, the French seem to take to this 'new' work practice, like frogs to water...

I'm told this culture is only present on the two French islands of Martinique and Guadalupe. Service in St. Lucia for example, is pretty normal, bordering on very good! I can't wait to go there and I'm planning to go and quarantine on Beluga for 2 weeks, 'cause I'm ready for a change of scene. I could be tempted instead to go to Guadalupe. Because it too is part of France, there currently aren't any quarantine restrictions from Martinique.

Most of you are now thinking... Gem it's the Caribbean, just chill man! But I'm still struggling at times to do this. I think it's because I spent almost 40 years providing and training others to provide, world class service. In the technically complex world of selling analytical instrumentation to laboratories, surprisingly often, service would be the main differentiator that customers really valued. I made it my business to never, ever lose a sale, because a competitor claimed to offer a higher level of service than me or my company... I'll shut up now about service.

Hot off the Press...

Just 30 minutes before publishing this latest post, I received a phone call from the rigging company asking me to go back to the boat immediately. Somehow I knew it wasn't going to be good news. The underside track on the boom is so badly corroded that a new boom is the only solution. What a bummer, so I won't be test sailing anything tomorrow...I was hoping to tag along to join up with friends on two other boats for a four day sailing extravaganza up to San Pierre over the long Easter weekend. That will be touch and go now...

While replacing the corroded rivets, the full extent of the corrosion was revealed

Thursday 25th March

Gaetan's team started work on the boom the very next day. Kevin pictured top right gave me a lot of confidence in their work. He was precise and meticulous and was very effective as a team leader. Thanks mate!

the boom is an extruded aluminium tube into which various components are riveted

Thanks for reading my blog and I'm sorry if I moaned a bit in this post. I need to remember, I'm so lucky to be here in this chilled location with so many lovely people...

God bless you and please take care x

Remember, anything written in italics, is probably a little Porky...🐷

Blog hits by country for 24th March 2021 at 21:00hrs GMT

I'd love to know why I've got followers in Hong Kong now. How did that happen? If you're one of these followers, I'd love to hear from you, could you please write a comment? 

I spent many weekend stopovers in HK when I was travelling on business in Asia. On one such occasion, I was fortunate to be taken sailing by a client on his gorgeous wooden boat, we ate the most fabulous steamed fish in pretty basic restaurant in Aberdeen harbour...