more silly business

Greetings from Eleuthera.

Okay, found the camera charger. That was a huge relief. It was in my bag, where I looked for it no less than 5 times, including totally emptying it out. It must have been in a shoe or something.

I keep revising the house plan to fit the land better, so I totally started over the other day. The architect who is the building inspector is pretty cool, and he looked at it with me, he's saying he'll help me with my structural drawings. I did the blueprint part, but I still need to produce column detail, electrical and plumbing risers,and stuff like that. It's funny, looking around here, you'd think there was no building code at all, yet it's actually way stricter than the states in some ways. Apparently there's some issue with "hurricanes" or something. Those are a pretty good drink, but I can't imagine them bothering a whole building, unless you drank about four of 'em and the whole thing started spinning around.

I'm in work mode and am not into blogging when I'm making progress and have stuff to do, but I realize it's been a while, so I'll give ya the latest in my foibles.

The boat came. THe trailer is all twisted, it looks like someone had it hooked up to a vehicle and tried to pull it around a corner and didn't go wide enough. It's really screwed up royally. This guy at G and G apparently felt bad enough that he's having a local welder try to repair it. Very cool of him, since it wasn't his fault.

Got approval for the temporary building from Rainbow Bay, but still waiting onthe City to give me their thumbs up. They don't meet for two weeks, but I'm bugging them to give me a thumbs up sooner. THe neighbors would probably appreciate that, because it looks like a hobo shantytown over there right now. My stuff is everywhere.

The water department lost my application. Yes. I'm trying to not explode as I write this. I've called them at LEAST ten times, they said they'd call me back that many, they FINALLY sent someone out to look at the lot ("I think I'm here. Is yours the one with the barbells and the card table on it?" Actual quote). SO now that they "have received" my application, they say it'll be 10-14 days to get it hooked up. You'd think they might have realized that they lost my application on one of these many, many, many phone conversations. ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH.

I can't do ANYTHING till I get water. I can't excavate, because there's a bunch of nice palms in the way, and you can't move 'em without a bunch of water. I asked my neighbor if I could have some water, and run a hose over if I pay 'em, but they use cistern water and don't want to part with any of it. I understand that Jewish people are known for being generous, but they just shook their heads. They did give me a cup of coffee though, which was delicious.

They have a pretty awesome house. There's not one right angle in it. Must have cost a fortune to build, but very cool. Makes me want to redraw everything I planned again. Very nice people though, and this lady has an amazing garden. He's running for the board here and they asked me to vote for him. I can't imagine why anyone would come here, and be on a board of anything.

SO anyway, no water.

It's unreal the amount of red tape there is to get
water
electric service
a bank account

They all want endless documentation. Kinda like the movie Brazil, except with better weather.

I dug a hole for my temporary electric pole and i have to tell ya, it's unreal how hard it is to even do that. The whole thing was mostly rocks, so it literally took about 45 minutest to dig a hole 18 inches deep. Glad I'm gonna get machines to do the excavating.

These two Haitian guys Nelson and Citizen helped me clear the lot, and when I have water, I'll start to burn all this brush they cleared. For some reason I had this horrible image of Haitian people, heard how dangerous it is, how they'll kill you over a nickel,etc. I've met maybe 6 Haitians since I've been here, and every single one was incredibly polite, kind, and positive. They were super hardworking, and only asked for $50 a day to swing the machete and clear everything. I gave 'em some extra.

I just ate grouper in a restaurant for lunch, and there were four surfer americans sitting in the place, being really rude to the waitress. It made me embarrassed, once again, for our typical collective arrogance. These people should be grateful this woman brought them this great meal, is asking "May I get you anything else?" and they're laughing with each other and ignoring her, just enjoying making her stand there. Assholes. I told the waitress I was embarrassed for the way they acted, and she sure knew what I was talking about, she said "it's fine. IT's not important." Pretty mature for a 15 year old or so. She should be teaching classes in graciousness to these guys.

I got a skype headset the other day. I might try it soon, but I hate talking on phones, so I might just leave it the box and tell you all I miss you on here. Especially you, Ruth. SOmebody go give that girl a hug for me. WIthout her, this, and me being here, would absolutely NOT be possible. She's back there making things happen that I could not do from here. No way, no how.

Four days ago was Ruth's birthday. SOmeone please give her another hug from me for that.

YEsterday was David's birthday. Someone please slug him in the arm and buy him a beer from me.

I guess I'll get going. Miss and love you all, but especially you in particular.

Huh?gs,
Jack