Then the Mad Orange Woman showed up on the Beach
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Saint Martin, Saint Martin
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
There's been such great excitement right here on our Island. Streets have been cleaned,
pavement’s have been scrubbed and everyone is on their best behaviour. The entire population has been totally agog at the wonderful news. The newspapers have been full of it..... and as for the normal locals behaviour, they’ve been put on their best behaviour, (which on this island can mean exactly anything). Pomp & circumstance? Noooooo! Stuffy ceremonies?.......... Nooo! Getting all flashily dressed up?... No.... definitely not! Instead, it’s been a load of wonderful of
beach partying instead. Drinking beer. Dancing & swimming in the gloriously warm turquoise blue waters of the Caribbean. Now I ask you... what else did you expect for the arrival of the Dutch Queen Beatrice’s visit to the Island with her son and his wife.
So along with many other locals we went to a fabulous beach called 'karacter’ right on Simpson Bay to help celebrate her arrival. The candles were lit on the sand as the sun set, (another fabulous sight here), and the party continued. The mad orange woman, (and no, just before you start having weird thoughts about us), actually she was the waitress (and not someone from the tanning shop) dressed up in full Dutch Regalia came to sit with us. Hope you like the picture.
I just know that she also wanted to meet us, just like the Queen and her entourage. And guess what.. everything was going to plan as far as we were concerned. Had the welcoming committee all organised; the herrings and cheeses all ordered, but.... the powers that be must have forgotten to tell the drivers of the cavalcade about what she actually wanted to do. So in the blink of an eye, as we say over here, "here she comes....," and that was it...... “there she goes,” they forgot to stop here!
Now here’s something you won’t know. According to the newspaper, nobody, even in Holland is
ever allowed to quote her. Nothing. Not in any newspaper, blog, or for that matter any of her writings either. So while standing waiting for her to arrive started wondering why exactly this should be. Is she not Regal? Perhaps not diplomatic? Perhaps too many gins? Gets drunk and says the wrong sort of stuff perhaps? Speaks her mind? Maybe it’s just because of what we might call ‘choice language?? I really wonder what it could be... so after the small cavalcade had passed by started to make stuff up in my head about what she might be telling the driver. Stuff like.. ‘I thought you were going to XXXXXXX stop here so I could see Dyana & Mike.......” or, “What’s the XXXXXXX rush. My friends are standing at the side of the road and I want to talk to them!”
And we had such wonderful things for her to do as well. Stuff she’s probably never ever... ever done before in her life. Close your eyes and just visualise the scene... a pile of last night’s dirty dishes still sitting in the sink. Beside the sink on the right hand side is a sparkling white pinafore all freshly ironed for her to wear. A pair of yellow rubber gloves (marigolds) to protect her lily white hands from the soapy suds a little further to the right. Can you imagine her
excitement at having to do this..... And, I might add... having her Son (Prince Willem -Alexander) and Daughter in Law (Maxima, YES, THAT’S HER REAL NAME in case you were thinking I made it up), right beside her to do the drying and putting stuff away! Then, if she still feels up to it, the ironing board with the weeks laundry just waiting to be done as well..... and once they’ve all finished the work, a quick trip in the dingy from right outside our apartment. We could either go straight to where many locals go. A cafe called Lagoonies where the special of the day is always good. And only costs $ 10.00 a head including a beer, juice or water. Now that would be great You never know what the special is going to be as it changes every day. And she’d have a big surprise sitting on hard wooden seats as well. Another new
experience. And after a great lunch, clambering back down into the dingy, with Will & Maxima (hope you’re keeping up with the Royal Party names) and then letting her steer the boat under the bridge and out into the sea. Turning hard right then along Simpson Bay. Maxima throwing the small Anchor into the water, waiting for it to bite into the soft sand and then her and the party finally dropping over the side and into the cool water. Just total bliss.
Enough of this rambling. Instead of these wonderful exciting things we had planned, there’s lots of formal boring stuff she’s done a thousand times. So rather than sticking to the wonderful exciting stuff we’d planned for her, the politicians unfortunately made her stick to their script.... Both Dyana & I know that being cooped up with all the government stuff is sooooooo boring. Lots of unknown people to meet; miscellaneous hands to shake of people she’ll probably never ever see again: making inane conversational banter to them as each one passes and watches
with a fixed smile on her face as they either curtsey or bow. Watching stuff she’d rather not be watching because she seen it all before....
Now which sort of day do you think she’d choose?
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