January 10, 2009

January 10, 2009

It is Saturday or as I like to think of it 5 days until pay day. :o) Today I went into Fredericksted twice; once to drop off my neighbor at work and once to pick her up. I know, I know…I’m a soft touch. She bought me a cup of coffee in the morning…it was nice although odd to sit at a bar at 9AM for coffee. I got to hear the story of the bartender owner. He was talking about how he spent twenty-something years in San Francisco as an executive chef and went to school for 5 years or so. His coffee was good. :o) However, and here is where I am trying to be diplomatic, he may have been a touch misogynistic. Or a lot misogynistic, since he also told us the story of how his twenty year old girlfriend (he seemed about 50) needed to shape up or he was going to kick her to the curb and bring over a new girlfriend. *sigh* Some men really deserve to be punched in the nose (or lower). It is not always easy for me to hold my tongue in situations like these but being new to the island it is a prudent thing for me to do. I told him he was an asshole but I did it with a smile on my face—he laughed *sigh*.

Yesterday (or was it Thursday) I was discussing dogs (I know, I am totally a crazy dog lady) with a fireman (as I have said, my office is in the fire station). He was very much into dogs and told me all about his. It was a great conversation which suddenly took a horrible turn. I am going to paraphrase here because my brain kind of shut down,

“so there I was at the dog fighting pit, and one of the owners gave their dog some kind of drug that made him uncontrollable so I climbed a tree to avoid what I knew was about to happen. All my friends made fun of me until the dog went bat-shit crazy and attacked a bunch of people.”

All of you who know me know that I saw purple (far past red) when he talked about this. But, I was diplomatic. I said nothing, changed the topic to something bland and tried to forget. This may be a US protectorate but it is certainly its own culture with its own customs—and it is not my place to judge. But when I am alone in my car it is my place to cuss like a roughneck. I almost made the paint peel.

So, between dog fighting and women treated as objects—I may have my work cut out for me in the fitting in on the island front.

Please keep in mind that although there is a darker side to the island there also beauty, kindness, and courtesy. With the good there will always be the bad—such is nature and such is life (the concept, not the dog.)

Life (the dog, not the concept) is doing a damn fine job on the protectiveness front. She remains at my side even when off leash and although she is friendly to all she does not like it when strange people approach. There is a certain security when having the 119lb dog next to you when walking downtown, on the beach, or going to a bar. Yes, Teak (the other dog) is also there but in all honesty he is more into self-preservation. He remains on high alert in case some food or other item is dropped or passed to him. Teak remains, as always, beloved excess baggage. :o)