Bermuda retrospective

Six weeks or thereabouts in Bermuda has gone like a flash. Well not to start with of course. Things never go that way but by about half way things had picked up to the extent that we added an extra two weeks onto our expected stay. Happily it was to see our children who on their own without prompting by us visited Bermuda.

Highlights of course were being with the children but in addition it was all about reminiscing. Would things be like they used? Would there be changes that exponentially change the place? Have things actually moved on, ahead or simply further along? What change to the political environment which when we first left on our travels had just seen an election with a change in government?

So in no particular order, this is what struck me.

1. Bermudaful but...

Well this one is easy. We all knew this but it still gets me that the place is so stunningly beautiful it couldn't really have been manufactured. It has happened thankfully in the typical laid back, somewhat shambolic manner in which Bermuda typically operates. Sounds pretty bad when written like that but for as long as I remember (and that is quite a long way back), there really hasn't been a plan in Bermuda. From an economist's point of view, this isn't ideal but for people living there really it has been a dream. Things meander along for the most part peacefully. People get along more or less and the environment is staggeringly beautiful.

Flatts Inlet

However behind the scenes, maybe under the surface even though it isn't really. Pretty much everything is known within seconds of it happening... often before. In a small place, this is pretty typical as everyone knows everyone else. Viv tells the story of how she was walking along Queen Street in Hamilton when she ran into a couple of old ladies struggling to open a door to a building. She proffered help and was met with "do I know you?" Viv didn't but sort of recognized a family resemblance to a friend so mentioned this and of course it turned out that these two ladies were her aunties and as Viv looks rather like her friend, so the ladies did a momentary double take too. These ladies as it turned out wanted to visit a betting shop but finding it closed decided on a Plan B that included KFC just down the street. Viv said it took an hour to walk the less than 200 yards down the road as these ladies stopped to chat to every other person that happened to walk by. When you are Bermudian and reach a certain age, you know every other person as either a relation, friend or child of a friend. I imagine this is typical in other places with a 60,000 population like Bermuda, but it is also something that makes the island what it is.

A couple of years ago, one of the three Bermuda banks did an IPO (one being sold to HSBC many years earlier and the other involved in transfer of ownership to a private equity firm) meaning that no longer would any Bermuda bank be Bermuda owned. This is important for as a previous CEO of the Bank of Bermuda (sold to HSBC) once famously said to a management meeting "the decisions we take here may not always be in the best interests of the bank... but they will be in the best interests of Bermuda". This has changed with profit motive taking over. Disturbing, for the banks were typically very large employers of Bermudians and just before we arrived in mid-May, this bank laid off 40 staff in one swathe. Most being long time employees. Couched as being an exercise in encouraging early retirement, the reality is simple cost cutting. Something US listed companies do all the time courtesy of their need to report ever improving quarterly financial results. The simplest thing of all to do is lay off staff. I fear that this is not an isolated event but do hope otherwise.

2. Sports

It is that time of the year when the northern hemisphere moves into summer and with that outdoor summer sports. And my goodness there are plenty of them.  Overseas were the US Open (golf), French Open (tennis), World Cup (cricket) and others. I have been riveted to these although I prefer to play rather than watch. Most of all it was tennis at Pomander Gate but increasingly it has become pickle ball too.

Southampton Princess golf course

Tennis at Pomander Gate

So what is pickle ball? It is a construct that appears to me to simply enable older ex-tennis players to play a similar kind of racquet and ball game. The court has the dimensions of a badminton court (without the tramlines) and the net is much lower than on a tennis court. You play with what sounds like a wooden paddle and a large, yellow plastic ball with holes in it. Simple rules that you can grasp on the first try. Simple to learn too as the mechanics of everything are something like table tennis but on a larger scale. Both racquet and ball are light so available for all ages.

Pickle ball at Pomander Gate

The growth has been startling to me. This time last year, the club had two nets that it simply lifted onto a tennis court. One on either side of the net. It was a busy day when 6 people turned up to play and those that were were usually organized by the same two people who had first come across it in Florida where it is very popular. This year, the club has taken over the centre court and whilst leaving the net in place has repainted the remainder of the court so as to create 4 permanent courts, 2 on either side of the net. These days it is typical to have 16+ people come to play... and they play Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings. Tuesday, Thursday and Friday evenings. And Sunday mornings too. It has attracted so many people from outside the club that it created a new pickle ball membership which has proved to be very popular. Far less so with the tennis players who sadly for the club actually don't play that much. Certainly when pickle ball is taking place, it is rare that the tennis courts are in use.

Most interesting to me is the dynamic. This time last year, comparatively speaking nobody played the game. Today there are 40 people that regularly play with more turning up to try it all the time. Quite a few have given up on tennis to concentrate on pickle ball and have become very good players. So much so that there is already the growing question of people not wanting to play with others that aren't up to their standard. Last year, it was great just to play. Now things have moved on very quickly as people's competitive natures kick in.  The first tournament was last week. I took part, lost more than I won but along the way hammered the winner and lost quite comfortably to one of the perceived weaker players. Personally I am just happy to play. I am looking forward to seeing how it pans out.

3. F&B

Being visitors, we spent a lot of time eating, drinking and being entertained. Both in people's homes and out and whilst my waistline expanded at a greater rate than my steely will evaporated, boy are things expensive. Noticeably so since last year.  For sure, we spend a lot of time during the course of the year in Penang, which is a lower cost environment, but really. On our first visit to a supermarket, we saw a cauliflower priced at $11.99. It has always been the way that local produce was expensive, but it didn't feel like this. On the other hand booze and beef in supermarkets aren't that expensive but put them into a restaurant and vroom! Apparently restaurants mark up wine a minimum 4 times these days so good luck with finding a $50 bottle of wine at a restaurant.

This said I did go through my list of favorite things to eat in Bermuda. Pretty much.

 i) Multi-grain roll with tuna fish and chopped egg, lettuce and tomato, butter on the bread and those cute little yellow peppers that go pop in the mouth. 

Only from my friend Paul at Hickory Stick on Bermudiana Road in Clarendon House. I used to eat this sandwich probably three times a week when I was working just down the road. On the other days it would be Paul's fish cakes on Tuesdays and on the other day I'd go somewhere else. I know... traitor. Creature of habit...me? No way.

 ii) Beef patty

Quite a few places do patties but I found one of the nicest to be from Supermart on Front Street. Find them in the hot shelf near the whole chickens. One is not enough, two is too many. These are great hand held foods for maybe a morning after. On such days, an apple doesn't quite cut it.

 iii) Club sandwich with coleslaw

OK, with French fries!

Loads of places, some up market, do perfectly adequate club sandwiches but my favorite is at The Spot on Burnaby Hill. It may not be the best but I like it. You eat at the counter and get to drink their famous coffee which they generously refill whenever you want.

 iv) Bermuda fish sandwich. Layered pieces of fish, lettuce and tomato, butter on the white toasted bread, ketchup, tartar sauce and lots of hot sauce on top.

Mahi Mahi 

Many places do fish sandwiches, most aren't that good. The best tend to be in the least attractive looking places. Viv went to Woody's in Somerset and raved about it. I went on a search for a fish sandwich on a public holiday and found none of the best places open so had to settle for a very poor second best. However I was recommended to the Seaside Grill on North Shore next to the Clay House as the fish was purported to be really fresh. We went twice, the first being mahi mahi, the second and best time being when I had red hind. Boy, was that good.

 v) Liver and onions, maybe with bacon but always lots of gravy

I really like liver from several places but finally settled on the Red Carpet on Reid Street which serves it with mashed potatoes, veggies and lashings of gravy. The maitre d' Chris asked me how I'd like it done... cooked of course. You don't have liver medium rare. It is the gravy that makes it for me and this was pretty terrific.

 vi) Auntie Blanche's cherry and walnut cake

This is almost undescribable as it is so sublime. Traditional Bermuda cakes are rum cakes, Christmas cakes laced with rum, mince pies and somewhere along the line fruit cakes the king of which is the cherry and walnut cake. Our old neighbors Blanche and Brenda were great bakers and fine exponents. Blanche in particular did wonderful cherry and walnut cake. She once told me that her secret was the gin she soaked the fruit in. Others are much dryer but Blanche's are moist and simply lovely. She only made these cakes at Christmas time as she would soak fruit in their respective booze for a month or two before and make them a couple of weeks or so before the big day. More latterly she would make cakes ostensibly for me as I am a fanatic about them. As she has become older, these occasions have grown fewer but a week or so ago, she made me a beautiful cake. Simply lovely. Thanks Auntie Blanche!

4. Transport

For such a small island, getting around Bermuda is really key to enjoying it properly and fortunately we had a car at our disposal for much of the time we were there. Thanks Dave and Jeremy! However I had a fantastic time on the local public transport as with the passage of time, I turned 65 and on renewing my driving license, the fine people at TCD also awarded me a Bermuda Senior's ID card. Nice photo too! Amongst other wonderful things, this little card enables me to enjoy free travel on buses and ferries!!! Beat that! So I did at every opportunity and found the number 1 and 3 buses are pretty darned good.

We went for quite a few walks on the Railway Trail which I really do enjoy. I am impatient by nature and do wish they'd rebuild the trail more fully than it was before/is right now. Progress is great but to me painfully slow. Looks like volunteers only at the moment. I wish it were a higher priority.

5. Beaches...

I was really trying not to do beaches again this year but really couldn't avoid it. Truly they are lovely. This year however there were a number of storms out to sea and these storms brought in mounds of brown sargassum weed which is piled high on most beachfronts from Horseshoe Bay to Coopers Island. Still the best I've ever seen.

***

Looking forward to returning again soon.

Odious Comparisons

I just found this post that I wrote back in 2012 when the global economy was in tatters following the Great Recession and I was trying to make sense (to myself) of some of the why's and wherefore's as to why Bermuda was struggling while Cayman was booming. Why should I care? Well my company has offices in both locations so clearly from a business perspective it is absolutely essential to figure out where to use your precious and limited resources. Why do I do it this way? Well some people are able to talk about things. I am not one of those people. I have to write things out in full to make sense of things. This is what I did. Does it make sense today? Is it even relevant today? Well not entirely relevant as there have been 2 elections in Bermuda and at least one in Cayman so what was envisaged back then has actually happened/or not and other things have moved into prominence.

I read only today some 6 years after I drafted this post that 99.7% of all businesses in the US are small businesses and employ 90% of the total workforce. That means that what goes on at Apple or General Electric, say, is irrelevant to the greater population hard as it is to imagine that in all the hype that accompanies their every movement. Of much greater import is the small business. Where small business goes, so goes the national economy.

In a Bermuda/Cayman context it is difficult to see this is the same thing but I would think that a far larger than 50% amount of the local workforces work for smaller companies. Like ours. So despite the fact that small business is largely ignored by both media and decision makers in government, it really it us that still makes it all happen. As a small business owner we knew this and were perennially aggrieved that decision makers didn't really care about our needs despite our relative importance to the economy. Amazing as it is to hear, government actually said that the trickle down effect well known in economic theory does not apply.

I never posted this note as at the time I thought it was potentially inflammatory in the same way as my note on a Bermuda bank (that I prepared for my business' clients) was inflammatory. This bank had fallen foul big time of sub-prime mortgages in its investment book to the point that it was realistically insolvent (the CFO tried really hard to tell me it was all a question of timing... but it wasn't). I spent a lot of time reviewing this and talking openly to the CFO who very generously gave of his time and I just knew they'd need to get massive outside assistance (which did happen). However I was left with a very tough decision. Do I make public my findings and create the self fulfilling prophecy in which there very may well have been a run on the bank, or do I not do this and make a decision based on what was best for the public who had no idea this was the case (just read a 10k issued by a listed company and tell me if you undertsand any of it. I do because that was my job but it takes a heck of a lot of training and then work). The bank took the bail out and has survived with no depositor losing any money as opposed to the Greek and Italian banks whose depositors took a haircut when they had to seek support from their 'friends' in the EU and the IMF. So, happy ending there.

However time is a great healer and what was inflammatory back in 2012 is today merely history. And history as the name suggests is merely a story about what transpired at a certain time according to the person who followed it -- that's me. So please bear this in mind when/if you read the following. It is how I saw things at the time.

***

25 years ago when I was working at the Bermuda Monetary Authority in my first Bermuda role as sole regulator -- essentially the only Banking Supervisor pre-these Basel I, II or III days, collator of Balance of Payments, Controller of the Currency and the then in situ Interest Rate controls as well as the supervisor of the Bermuda Stock Exchange -- I had a staff issue where I wanted to hire another person and needed both budget approval from the Ministry of Finance and permission from some obscure government department whose name I forget.  It couldn't happen until a Board agreed and the MofF signed off -- quite why is beyond me as the BMA was and remains a quango responsible for setting its own budget.  I was assigned a member of this department who would plead my case in front of the board -- I was not permitted to talk at all although I could observe.  I briefed this person in detail and agreed a strategy that he totally ignored starting his presentation with the immortal words: "I know comparisons are odious but..."

Our case was thrown out and ever since I've always tried to never, ever use that ridiculous statement in any way shape of form however with this post I simply cannot think of another way to head it.  My intent is to try to compare some key elements of Bermuda and Cayman, their politics, economy, etc. -- similarities there are but also differences, both cultural and economic.

I care because I have spent considerable time in both countries and my firm has an office in both jurisdictions. I simply don't want either to fail.

The first similarity is the airport.  Both are aging and in need of a spruce up for sure and both don't have those pod things that slide out at door level to allow passengers easy access straight into the arrivals area -- the old fashioned ways rule.  You climb up or down stairs and walk along the tarmac (see note at the end of this post for an update).

Another and probably more relevant comparison is the fact that both are offshore financial centers; Bermuda primarily insurance related while Cayman is big in banks and funds.

Both too have UK common law systems but this is where things are a little different for Bermuda is self-governing whilst Cayman is still just a colony.  This means that Bermuda charts its own course even though it has a UK appointed Governor who has titular responsibility over the Police and certain government functions such as the office of the Auditor General.  Bermuda also has responsibility for its own budget.  Cayman's UK appointed Governor is still the head of government although there are elected officials as well, the leader of whom carries the unofficial title of 'Premier' is actually legally titled 'Head of Government Business'.  Cayman does not have responsibility for its own budget and must seek approval from the UK each year.

And herein lies the rub.  Bermuda has been able to finance its ongoing deficits with increasingly large amounts of borrowing that they drive whilst Cayman has been denied that privilege by the mandarins in Whitehall.  On the day I arrived in Cayman, the front page of a local newspaper carried a story in which the Premier was triumphantly announcing the final agreement of the 2013 expenditure budget with the UK in the amount of $575 million.

I'm not as close to Cayman's budget issues as I am to Bermuda's (I used to compile the BMA's own contribution to the Bermuda budget so retain a keen interest still) but this seems either an awful lot or an awful little... and I cannot figure out which it is.

The reason for my being in Cayman is business development which means visiting as many local businessmen as I can in my allotted time here.  In practice, you don't talk about the real thing that you want to talk about, you edge into it.  You chat.  My 30 or so meetings in 10 days therefore have taken me to talk to a number of highly placed business people who have opinions extending beyond their business and like me want to see their jurisdiction succeed.  Many have very strong opinions and some even have specific knowledge -- Cayman like Bermuda is small so people tend to know other people's business in far greater detail than they may in a larger jurisdiction.

Distilling it all down for Cayman is the over spend on 2 new schools for Caymanians.  In itself a laudable project of course for raising education levels across all classes is a vital way for a country to stay ahead of the competition.  It was the cost apparently that was the issue: I heard figures of $80 to $100 million for each of the schools from different people.  Now I haven't a clue what a true cost should be but know that the Berkley project in Bermuda a few years back was budgeted around $60 million and came in around $150 million so government overspend isn't that unlikely an outcome.  Its just the size that is the variable.  Again the same people suggested that these Caymanian schools could have been built at half the cost which suggests to me that government overspend on these projects could be around $100 million.

That's a lot of money for a population of 55,000.

But is it?  Well, it sure sounds it of course but when you consider that Cayman's population is just about the same as Bermuda's and its land mass is somewhere between 4 and 5 times larger but Bermuda's expenditure budget is around $1.2 billion -- doesn't that make Cayman sound fiscally prudent?  Or putting it another way, how on earth can Bermuda spend twice as much as Cayman?

It sure beats me but I suspect much of it comes down to economics.  Everything ultimately does.  I've just finished reading a great book entitled "The Lords of Finance" -- a book about the 4 leading central bank heads just after World War I faced with a world in recession, then depression, war debts of such enormity that even today look to be completely unrealistic (way worse than what the bankers have done to the world), reparations that the victorious nations imposed upon the losers and the inflexible, outdated gold standard.  Essentially this is a book that Ben Bernanke of the Fed must know inside and out for those 4 men (heads of the Bank of England, New York Fed, Banque de France, Central Bank of Germany) did everything that could be done to fix things but using solutions that were outmoded and not of a size able to dent the problems facing them, everything they did made things much, much worse.  But do read the book.  Just wonderful if you like that sort of thing.

The point I was coming round to was that the root cause of WWI was actually not the inherent distrust of the French for the Germans, or the desire for territorial gains but simply economic: Germany resented Great Britain's economic dominance of the world, the French were trying to get back the reparations they were forced to pay in the 1870/71 war with Germany that they cataclysmically lost, the Brits wanted to keep every foreigners hands off their foreign possessions and trade routes and the Russians ... well they were different and nobody really knew why they fought the war.  Every one of these countries was warned categorically by their advisors in the years leading up to the conflict that going to war with another great power was economic suicide.  That was why the French and Germans didn't go to war in 1911/12 -- both backed away as their advisors told them they couldn't afford it.  So sadly both nations went away and built up their gold reserves to the point where the rulers felt that they could ignore the accountants -- they were wrong!  Accountants are always right.

I don't believe that in either Cayman of Bermuda governments really comprehend the basic GDP equation: GDP = C + I + (X - M) + G.  By far the largest component of GDP is C -- which is we the consumer.  C is all the stuff we buy, eat, wear and generally consume.  Typically in advanced economies this is around 65-70% of the total.  I represents business investment, typically 15-20% depending on the business cycle. X is exports and M of course imports -- which offset one another typically. G is government, and in developed economies comes in at around 15%.

When times are tough, governments step in with 'stimulus' raising G in the equation.  By far the most important part is the consumer and then businesses.  Business will not invest in uncertainty and consumers won't spend if they don't have a job or are concerned that they may not.  But when G is already more than 30% (as it is in Bermuda, I don't know about Cayman) how on earth do things turn around?

Cayman is lucky in that there is the Dart family willing and able to throw billions of dollars into infrastructure -- Camana Bay is the highest profile example of the ultimate "Field of Dreams".  This is a billion dollar new city built on swamp to a very high standard where it is almost impossible to consider that there will be a return on capital any time soon.  Stunning place, simply wonderful.  Other projects including re-siting the dump and building another near billion dollar new resort on Seven Mile Beach including the redirection of the by-pass roads, which under Dart supervision is nearly complete already.  I wish there was someone like him willing to take that sort of chance in Bermuda!

That is the I part of the GDP equation and thanks to the Dart family, Cayman's GDP is somewhat bolstered during a tough time for both the banking and fund business, their financial services staple.

Obviously there is a quid pro quo for a couple of billion dollars of speculative investment and the Cayman government has made significant concessions (tax and work permit) apparently in the greater good.  I wish it would be so in Bermuda where government seems resistant at almost every opportunity to make concessions other than the most minor kind.  For example, waiving the 60/40 rule only for Bermuda listed entities means that only 4 or 5 of the larger companies will seek this waiver and while it is nice to think that foreign capital would flow in via this source, the question has to be: into what?  More likely the waiver is being sought to provide greater liquidity to the individual company's shares as chances are step 2 will be a listing on NASDAQ, TSX or FTSE.  Why not make it a blanket 60/40 waiver for all companies?  There's far greater chance that new capital (or I) will come into Bermuda if you actually enable it.

Both Bermuda and Cayman face impending elections at some point in the next 6 months so politicking is growing and the hot air of rhetoric is blowing from all corners.  Bermuda has constituencies and a 1 man, 1 vote system based on the UK's first past the post system so pretty straight forward ignoring the perennial boundary changes every government does seemingly all the time.

Cayman's system to the outsider (well this outsider at least) is unfathomable.  There are constituencies but for some reason they are grouped so in West Bay, for example, there are 4 seats. In Georgetown 6 and in Bodden Town 4 more.  The East End and North Side have 1 each and the outlying islands a further 2.  If you live in Georgetown, you get 6 votes and so on, so technically speaking someone from Georgetown could be seen to have 6 times as much political say as someone from the East End (actually not so as you cannot vote for the same person 6 times).  Cayman's 1 man, 1 vote referendum to change to the individual constituency vote system was defeated earlier this year not necessarily because it wasn't wanted (it was) but because neither of the parties gave official and vocal sanction to it so the turnout was of a level whereby the required majority simply couldn't be achieved.  I can't say I understand why this would be so for as someone explained to me the opposition party strongholds are in Georgetown and Bodden Town so the possibility for them to lose the vote at the next election is actually very high.

Both countries have party politics, Cayman's being the more recent.  Personally speaking I am an opposer of party politics as all that does is generate a divide between the parties making consensus for the good of the country being impossible on occasion.  The US is a prime example of this at the moment.  The entire world (well certainly my financial services world) is watching and hoping like hell that the politicos climb down off their high horses (actually there are pretty low in my estimation) and agree on something, anything really that moves the country away from falling over their fiscal cliff. Not doing so is irresponsible.  Doing what's right in this day and age though seems to be going out of fashion.

Party politics also stifles debate.  There's no debate really any more as on the one side, you have one opinion and one party line and on the other, there's the other one.  The ruling party wins because everyone votes the party line for to not do so means the potential end of their comfortable sinecures, which is the lot of today's professional politician.  The 'good of the country' therefore becomes whatever the ruling party says it is.  How is that democratic?  History has shown us that governments get it wrong all the time.  Human nature doesn't change.  But because we say so, it is so.  No wonder politicians the world over are increasingly detested by the voters.

And finally back to the present day (2018) for the moment. The following comment is truly timeless...

And then there's the beaches and OK here I am truly biased.  Bermuda's pink coral sand beaches are the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen anywhere.  Grand Cayman has Seven Mile Beach which while lovely white sand and mainly very calm water simply cannot compete.

***

Note: Since writing this in 2012, Bermuda has committed to building a new airport as has Cayman but utilising very different means. Cayman has also stated that they have the intention of growing their population to 100,000. Bermuda has not made any announcement of any sort related to this. Infrastructure building in Cayman is still massively ongoing. Go visit both places and enjoy them for what they are.

Recapping

We've had three and a half months away from Penang, half in Bermuda, half in Toronto, and it was a great time. Visiting the place where we'd lived for 32 years, seeing friends and hanging out, going to concerts of rock bands from the 1970's who are just about hanging on but still rocking. It has been great.

Here are some highlights.

1. Bermuda Beaches

No words necessary here. I'd forgotten how beautiful they were. Here's a brief reminder.

Warwick Long Bay and one of the many nameless beaches at Coopers Island

Who wouldn't want to swim here?

2. History and Tradition

I don't think people look back enough and consider where they come from and just why what exists today exists today. It all comes from the past and whilst the way history was taught to me when I was at school was largely an exercise in rote learning dates and in a way that tried to parcel up history into chunks -- mine for example was at O Level from 1485-1688 and from 1688 to 1815... we had two exams, written essays both, covering each of these periods. In isolation this means that history did not exist either before or after these dates which is of course ridiculous.

History writers today cover this much better and attempt to contextualise history in that they also explain or rather try to explain the 'why'. Much of this is down to conjecture as nobody alive then (say in Roman times) is alive today.

I really enjoyed Quebec City but one of those history 'why' moments was the best. Napoleon's blockade of Britain during the Napoleonic Wars forced Britain to look elsewhere for timber for the Royal Navy... hence the opening up of Canada.

Trooping the color... all in French!

The St Lawrence Seaway, one of the great sea lanes that opened up the entire continent

3. Tennis

Both of us are tennis players and were able to indulge both playing and watching whilst we were traveling. I still think that our 'home' tennis club in Bermuda is one of the nicest places to play tennis and as hard courts go is up there with the best.

Beers under the trees in between the courts is very nice indeed!

We only planned to watch one day of tennis at the Rogers Cup in Toronto but ended up going 3 or 4 days... ironically the worst day was the one we'd originally chosen and the others ended up being far better. We also had visitors over this time too which made it doubly nice.

How do they manage to hit the ball?

4. Eating

We like to eat. Simple as that. So finding great places to eat and nice things to eat are important. We got really lucky!

Dodge City steak

Milanese from an Italian in Miami during our horrible hiatus

Quebec lobster

Poutine and traditional Quebec meat pie

Amazing French stick from Toronto

5. Music

Given that we went to all of those concerts, this just had to be included. I enjoyed all of the shows but if I were pushed would have to give pole position to Lynyrd Skynyrd, the last show of all. ZZ Top though were the only band to have not changed personnel for whatever reason over the years. They ran close but...

6. Selfies

Selfies are a great notion and do enable you to take interesting pictures but they do tend to be really awful a lot of the time. We tried to do at least one selfie each day and in almost all occasions deleted them immediately. Perhaps my arms aren't long enough or just as likely I am not that great a photo snapper.

See what I mean?

7. Traveling Companion

Of course the best thing of all was to have a wonderful traveling companion and I was lucky enough to have the best!

Really Bermudaful

I make no apologies whatsoever for saying unequivocally that Bermuda is the most beautiful place in the world. Bar none. Full stop.

The beaches at Coopers Island I think are the most beautiful anywhere

We've lived in Bermuda since 1985 and just returned after a long period of traveling so on the first few days I did a circuit of the island archipelago. By bike of course which is the best way to get around I think and see the island. The first few days are always the days when you have the greatest immediate opinion about things and for some reason time I felt that the island seemed smaller than I remembered. Slower too, of course the roads; quiet, old.

We have spent time in Penang in Malaysia which is a Unesco World Heritage site. It is lovely in its way too seeing as its heritage goes back to 1786 with much of the Georgetown buildings dating back to the 19th century. It however is neither slow nor quiet. Much of it is not old either being a sort of Silicone Valley of that part of Asia. In Bermuda too, the old capital St. George's is a Unesco World Heritage site. It dates back to the first settlements which began in 1609.

The view from our apartment over St. George's Harbour

It actually makes me wonder why the entire island isn't a Unesco World Heritage site.

Don't take my word for it though. Check out the photos.

Two different views of Warwick Long Bay. Our first home overlooked this beach but whilst we enjoyed it I don't think we fully appreciated how lovely this is. I always felt that if I was not moved by this view then it was time to leave. I never have.

Church Bay from above. This is a lovely snorkeling beach as it gets quite deep fairly quickly but the reefs are literally 20 yards offshore so very accessible.

South shore near John Smith's Bay. One of many, many random views.

Coopers Island again. Being at the end of a road and then half a mile walking, this beach is always empty. What colors though.

One of the bays at Ferry Reach. This one is where whaling ships used to come in as it is so shallow.  The small boats would beach themselves and the whale here and do the grisly dissection and boiling.

Three great views of the Railway Trail around Ferry Reach and what I only recently discovered is Ferry Point. The pre-railway ferry used to be to the left of the railway arches whilst Ferry Point is to the right, where there is a nice little fort dating back to 1668.

Sunset over West Whale Bay from Landmark.

View from the top of Knapton Hill over south shore

Tough to argue, isn't it?

Paget

In the time we've lived in Bermuda, Viv and I always lived in Warwick. It wasn't planned in any way, that's just the way it happened.

Map of Bermuda showing the 9 parishes. Warwick is the green number 3. We started out bottom left and progressed to end up top right of the parish

I'd found our first house called Anchor Down, a typical Bermuda cottage next to Warwick Camp on South Shore Road overlooking the beaches purely by luck. I hadn't had any real plan, this place turned up and I was first to reply to the advert. It was pretty much on the border with Southampton Parish and for the next 32 years we moved progressively nearer to Hamilton… again not through any specific decision taken by us. 

The top picture shows the bottom left part of Warwick with the Camp on the left and beaches at the bottom. To the right of the collection of houses is a green field and single building. That is the old Military Hospital where soldiers would be moved if they caught diseases (which they did a lot) for the soothing sea breezes. To the left of that building is Anchor Down where it all began for us. The lower picture blows this up better.

Next was Paddock Drive for a decent spell in between Middle Road and Harbour Road, just off Burnt House Hill opposite St. Anthony's Catholic Church where we have been irregular frequenters over the years. After that a short stay in Ord Road, in the Forest Hills area for a couple of years before moving to Marine Villa right on Harbour Road on the border with Paget which was Cobbs Hill Road, a road that ran over the hills to South Shore at the other end. It was probably a Tribe Road back in the day.

Then finally two years ago we moved across the garden and parking area to Inverness right smack bang on Cobbs Hill Road -- Marine Villa was all of 50 yards away to we were still getting nearer even though this time it wasn't by much.

Cobbs Hill Road and Harbour Road junction. The Inverurie Hotel and Wharf Condos are the harbor side buildings with Inverness the first house up the hill on the right. It is peachy pink with green shutters. Marine Villa is the house just below Inverness right on Harbour Road.

Inverness was a lovely, old Bermuda cottage which had been reimagined over the many years since it had been in existence, mostly courtesy of our friend James who had lived there a couple of tenants before us. Hard to believe but the cottage had simply rested on top of the hill so it was infested with bugs of all sorts and was very damp, the damp that only a Bermuda stone cottage can have. James had done his best and really did work wonders so we were very happy there. So when we'd finished all our downsizing, selling, chucking, gifting and other means of getting rid of our stuff, we had a few days before we left on our adventures which coincided with our eldest son Indy and his new wife Cat being away on honeymoon. So we got to house sit and cat sit for a few days. 

The house is called Pennywise and is in Paget.

Bermuda's lovely beaches are bottom left of Warwick Parish where we started out. 32 years later we had moved in small jumps from bottom left to top right on Harbour Road. The boundary line with Paget to the right is Cobbs Hill Road where Inverness, our last home, was number 2. Mind you the condos on the other side of the road were also number 2 which caused much confusion when the time came to give directions.

Even before this but only by a couple of days, we'd been sleeping in Pennywise as we'd sold our bed but returned to Inverness to continue our moving work but this time it would be for real as we also took our cat, Bella, with us to join her sister, Chessie, and in fact rejoin her as family for once we moved on our travels, Bella would stay with Indy and Cat.

Viv liked Paget. She said that it was only a few minutes away not like before… where we were 10 minutes away. For my side, I didn't care for Paget that much. The weather wasn't as good for a start and the main feeder road, Middle Road, was nasty and quite busy where we were. 

Moreover, Warwick was named after the Earl of Warwick, not the king maker from even older times but an Earl who considered Bermuda to be a great investment when he and a bunch of others set up the Somers Isles (Bermuda) Company soon after the accidental discovery and colonization in 1609 by Admiral Sir George Somers. He turned out to be wrong. It wasn't that great an investment. The other new colony of the time, Virginia, was much more fertile... and bigger. Here's the Wikipedia link so you can read more of the history of Bermuda which I find fascinating. So much came down to chance in the old days. I don't really believe that an island of its size can really be otherwise. Even the island's motto "Quo Fata Ferunt" (wherever the winds blow us) reflect this.

Anyway when our taxi picked us up from Pennywise to take us to the airport, whilst I was sad about leaving Bermuda with all its familial history for us, leaving Paget was a snip. We'd only lived there for 4 days after all. Now Warwick Parish, that was something else.

Full aerial map of Warwick in the foreground with Paget beyond stretching out to the east end