Tag Archives: renting

Missing France. (Maybe not).

It is 6:30 in the morning here in the BVI and the sun is rising over the hills on the other side of Road Harbour, showing that today is set to be a day of light breezes and clear blue skies.  Not good news for the folks who are racing today, but a blessing for the owner of the motor yacht that last night was moored further down the dock outside the house but is now 100 feet and 90° from where it ought to be and banging its now unprotected starboard side against the end of a dock and other boats.

Suzanne, the lady who takes care of Les Terraces for us, has just emailed me to let me know that a teaspoon is missing from the inventory since the last renters were in the house, and that we’ve a lock that is giving us problems.  She thinks that it is possibly a result of the cold, and hopes to have someone deal with it later.  But right now she is snowed in and thinks that it will be some time before she can get out as a foot of snow fell overnight and it is still snowing!

Ah, now the fun begins.  There are a couple of men down on the dock.  One is the owner of the little boat with the green awning (called a bimini). The other is crew aboard one of the boats that runs days trips for cruise passengers.  They are futilely trying to push 50′ of boat off the dock.  This will be a pantomime and potentially very funny to watch, unless you happen to be the owner of the boat that is.

Well that didn’t last long.  A phone call has been made and the crew man, a Jamaican if his accent is anything to go by, has tied a line from the stern of the boat to the dock to try and stop it hitting another and returned to his work.  I am guessing that he knows who has the keys for the boat and that it will be properly dealt with shortly.

No, I was wrong.  Now the 2 men are rigging another line to hold the bow of the boat off the dock.  There’s really nothing more that can be done until either someone arrives with keys for the boat, or lots more people with a dinghy or two and much more line.  Much as I would like to stay and watch this play out I have some grocery shopping to do.  I expect that by the time I return home it will all be over!