Flying?

It was announced yesterday that the airport project has taken a ‘pause’. This comes as a bitter disappointment to many on the island who see the airport as the island’s future hope of development and survival. The UK government has been debating the airport for many years – it has been a hot topic the entire three years that we have been here – and have now officially delayed it again. The next step is to try source private funding for the airport, or else investigate the possibility of a wharf development project so that ships can come alongside the docks. This would aid in tourism as well as cargo operations.

While the island remains flightless, the flights of the Phoenix are improving. We take him outside a few times a day to stretch his wings, and he can now maintain a long horizontal distance, but with only a slight lift. His steering is also improving and it seems that the wing is healing.

On Sunday we had a lunch party with six invited guests. Our South African friends Harry and Jennifer, who have been here a year, are leaving on tomorrow’s ship, so we had a small farewell do with Steve and Maureen and Mike and Julia.

I made my traditional lasagna (you can’t really mess it up too much so it’s a safe bet; Sunday’s was actually quite good) with plenty of garlic bread and cauliflower to bulk up the meal. I needn’t have bothered with the cauliflower because Jennifer generously brought a roast pork, potato salad and pudding, and Maureen’s green salad was the perfect rounding off of such a bounteous meal. We seemed to be eating most of the afternoon, as pudding followed the meal, then chocolate and coffee, and finally another round of coffee with carrot cake. It was a super afternoon of good conversations!

The boys made this super-duper scarecrow farmer thing in the courtyard. I must stress that although it's wearing my gloves and boots, and other fashion accessories belonging to me such as mop and broom, it bears no resemblance to me.