Sorry to all those awaiting the update on the end of Jade's trip! It's been a busy week and I've only just got around to writing it up! On the day before she left, a trip to Fort George Cay was in order - thanks to our landlords who have their own boat!
It was a pretty good day out on the water, the sun was shining and Wally, the driver, was providing the jokes all day long!
The water was still as turquoise as ever! Jade and By got to do some snorkelling and they even managed to find some of their very own sand dollars. The locals call Fort George Cay 'Sand Dollar Island' because apparently you can always find sand dollars there, and aren't they amazing!
Here is one that Jade found...
and here is By chilling out on the boat trip home back down the canal! In the evening we had a beach BBQ which was awesome.
By cooked the meat on top and the jacket potatoes underneath with the coals! I liked the staging of this pic with our little pre carved s'mores sticks in the foreground!
Yes no beach BBQ is complete unless you have s'mores! Here is our friend Milah toasting the marshmallows up to perfection, she's a bit of a pro so she was designated toaster for the evening! Jade had never had a s'more before!! so we quickly changed that...
and I think the look of pure delight on her face is a testament to their tastiness!! They were pretty spectacular s'mores that we were making because we had found some toasted coconut marshmallows and some white & coconut lindt chocolate, so put it all together with some honey graham crackers and you have one gourmet s'more right there!
On the morning of her flight we stopped off at Saltmills for a tasty fry up...and a root beer float because Jade had never had one before!!! Shock horror! especially being the root beer lover she is, I had to change that! They were so good! and our breakfasts were pretty amazing too!
....and of course Jay-dee had to order some conch fritters as a side to her breakfast because she had to get her last little conch fix before she left, who knows when she will get to eat it again! When we took her to the airport her flight had been delayed by 2 hours, hooray more time to spend with us! so we took a quick detour down to Blue Hills and Jade bought some decorative conch to take home with her.
We also found out she's pretty good at blowing out a tune on the old conch shell too, Lord of the Flies style! unfortunately that picture is on her camera so you will have to wait 'til she puts it up on facebook to see for yourself! We took our last pic together by these cute little coloured huts, had a last minute drink at Sharkbite and said our sad goodbyes as we headed back to the airport again.
Jay-dee we had the best time with you, and will always treasure the memories we made! I thought at the time 6 days wouldn't possibly be long enough but we packed plenty in and I definitely got my Jade fix!
Now on to why I love Jade...we have been friends for nearly 12 years now. We met when we were 13. Jade was a newcomer at my school and she happened to be in my tutor base. Back in the days of Year 8 people were deemed 'cool' by the shoes they wore to school! Lucky for Jade she was wearing the right shoes on the day that we met so I introduced myself and we hit it off, at breaktime my sister and Jade's brother Chris came to find me (they were also in the same year group) to tell me that Chris' little sister was starting at St.George's today and that I had to be nice to her! but there was no need because by the time they found us we were already friends! and how grateful I am for that pair of Kickers shoes because Jade has been the most loyal and lovely friend anyone could ask for! She must have been lovely to have put up with my shallow 13 year old self!
All my old school pictures of us together are back in England so you'll have to make do with these more up to date versions, they're far less embarrassing anyways!
I've always loved the quote 'Wherever you are, it is your friends who make your world' and Jade is living proof of this. We've lived in different areas and different countries many times! In the picture above Jade was about to leave for a year of working in Singapore. When I was 18 I spent my first year of university in Stirling, Scotland. Jade mega-bused it the 8 hours to come and visit me even turning up in an 'I love William Wallace' homemade T-shirt to try and make the peace between the Scots and the English! It was an eventful visit that led to her being kicked out of my halls of residence (it was exam period so no overnight guests were permitted and we got busted sneaking her in) and us having to roam the scottish villages at 1am looking for a B&B to stay in but with no luck ended up having to sleep all night on the chairs in my psychology building on campus!
When I was at university in Reading she came to visit me and I was able to introduce her to her first ever Shakeaway milkshake!!! It was such a momentous occasion we had to take a pic (sorry it was on my phone!) in fact there have been many firsts we have shared together like her first ever trip to Scotland, as mentioned above and I also was there to experience Jade's first ever Krispy Kreme experience at Harrod's!
Jade shared my first ever cupcake hunt in London with me and our friend Laur and her recent trip with us here was full of firsts: first time scuba diving, first time trying a s'more, a root beer float, fish taco's, jerk chicken, conch and first time experiencing waters as turquoise as these and beaches as beautiful as they are!!
This picture here is when we were reunited after Jade returned to England from Singapore...no doubt there will be a similar one taken when I return to England in less than a month! and I'm pretty sure a cupcake feast will be involved in that homecoming too!
I couldn't ask for a better friend than Jay-dee and hope that in the future we will have many more firsts together and get to travel to many more places to visit one another!!
