Hungry horses = trouble

The cruise ships returned - not with a vengeance as such, but they still returned. Made sure we had plenty of work to do, which always makes a day pass quicker, but it's so deceiving when it's so quiet in the morning...

We had tropical downpours on and off all day, so I surprised all the cruise ship rides came - albeit a little late. This meant my lunch break was pushed back and I wasn't able to try and call A, although he was probably face down in a wine-induced drunken stupor - haha, I'm so harsh...

Altogether I took out 3 rides, all 1-hour so nothing too difficult. Sometimes 2 hours can be almost painful if you get guests that don't talk much... But most people that came were connected with the cruises so it was a quick in and out for them. Being on a tight schedule for their day on the island, there's not usually much dilly-dallying.

All my rides tipped, and many of them were Canadian (again) so that was a pleasant surprise. My last ride, an Asian couple that lived in Canada, tipped me well and capped off what was my best tipping day for the year. It's good to see things looking up - I was beginning to worry everyone spent all their money in 2011, or even worse, I was a shit guide undeserving of their extra sumthin' sumthin's. It really is so important when you live in a place like this.

Eating breakfast, my old neighbour told me about a cruise ship that had run aground and killed a handful of people... never did find out more about that, but it made me think, only recently I had wondered if they ever had accidents anymore these days. You always think of the Titanic, but when do you ever hear about modern cruise ships having an incident? Either way, it was a shame to hear.

I helped put on a mother and (only) child for J's private ride, and was instantly glad he was taking it out when the kid - probably 10 or 12 - tells me, "I have a phobia against bugs, is there some kind of spray you can put on the horse to stop them coming near me?" The mum apologetically says he put a whole can of spray on himself and what happens happens, and I added we didn't actually use spray on the horses as they don't really need it. He pointed to the flies at the horse's feet and said, "Well, what are they?" Flies, my dear, flies. Geez, you wouldn't last a minute in Australia. "Once you get out on the headland, the wind is so strong I doubt any flies could stand it." In other words, fuck off you needy, annoying little person.

While the guys were out on rides, I was left to do the rest of the feeding - a rare occurrence, and gladly so, as I get SO angry with the horses when I'm trying to feed. They're extra cheeky and troublesome, and I find myself almost beating them (to no avail, they'd rather a slap on the neck if it got them an inch close to the feed shed) to get them away.

R, the office manager, came up mid-anger spurt and I had to tell her to get away before I exploded unintentionally on her... well, she didn't like that one bit! Came back later and told me I'd better be careful saying that or she'd tell the boss. I calmly explained to her that she didn't want to talk to me in a mood like that, and so I was trying to get her away before I inflicted it unnecessarily on her. I think she understood. Either way, she is welcome to tell the boss on me. I wasn't being disrespectful - in fact, the opposite - I didn't want to be mean to her just cos of my mood when she didn't deserve it.

And so the day was at its end. My horse, Chico, followed me down (cute) before he probably realised I had no carrots and I sat drinking some beer on the internet before going home. The bar girl, S, had said we'd go to a Spanish bar and do some karaoke but I didn't hear anything by 10pm so I just got (some of) my washing done and chilled out. Then A called me for a nighttime chat, which made me feel all warm n fuzzy, and J called at the same time but by then I was too far into bed to go out. Tomorrow is a day off and I am looking forward to the sleep-in, granted my body gives me one.