Back to... no tips? Grrr.

Back in St Maarten and back to work. And man, I needed it, after spending spending spending my way into 2012. To be fair, I was quite good with my money and come out with a few hundred to spare, even enuf to buy my boy a new camera and send it back with E.

What I didn't count on the next morning was rain. My first thought: shit, no rides, no tips. And that was how it went. J and I worked all day and it wasn't until the afternoon I got a ride. Man, that day was boring! And to make it worse, it was residents so they didn't tip a thing. I often wonder if these people think we're on some mega good salary, or if they are themselves, or if they would get pissed off if I got a service off them and didn't tip them. But it amazes me how no residents ever seem to tip.

It was T, the Dutch intern's last day before his 2 weeks holiday and then home, so I took him and R, the office manager for a brief ride. Neither could ride very well, but T just hangs on, so he was fine when we went faster. R, on the other hand, was a little stiffer and rode English so had much less to hold onto and plop! Off she came. At first I was worried then she got off, brushed herself and said, "Well, my brother always says you're not a rider til you fall off!" Phew! At least she was still smiling.

The best part of my day was going home with E and seeing that she'd spent the whole morning cleaning my bedroom and packing, and it was spotless. Finally! She'd also finally gotten into Philipsburg after every bus and taxi seemed to pass her by, and bought a camera for A.

I'd clued up T that E thought he was a bit cute, and he was keen as for a bit of Aussie lovin' so invited us out to his final night dinner at Peg Leg's Steakhouse. With 3 more workmates in tow, we waited for To pick us up in his friend's car. Up he pulled, cranking the Eurotrash dance music and waving his arm out the window as every Dutch person seems to do, cling wrap holding the passenger side window of the car together. Pure class.

At Peg Leg's, everyone decided to make it a massive debate about whether to eat there or not, and we eventually settled on going for "one drink" and some appetisers at Peg Leg's since T had a voucher to use. Well, we got on the Cafe Petrons and before we knew it, the bill was over $200 and we'd drunk ourselves silly and even eaten dinner. The other 3 workmates were not so keen, going to Burger King for dinner and coming back n forth, undecided about staying with these 3 white drunks.

There was talk of going to Soggy Dollar, a cheesy club favoured by Dutch interns, but I wasn't into it. I was more than happy to leave E and T to enjoy their last moments in St Maarten together. And I doubt either would have complained at my decision. I had to work the next day (as appealing as work was to me at this point) and I thought they might get jiggy wit it anyway.

Got home and didn't really sleep all that well. Was worried E would come home too late for her flight, even though I KNEW she would never miss it. But I couldn't help worrying, and it was hot anyway so hard to sleep. But sure enuf, she came in about 4am, and got about an hour sleep before getting up to ready herself for her flight home. Sad times.

Drizzly, unmotivating day... wait, am I in London??

I struggled to get out of bed today... it's been a steady decline in the morning stakes since I realised how long I've been doing early morning starts. Making matters worse, it was raining (my body must've known) and dreary so we were naturally instantly unmotivated by life. In general. Felt like I was back in London.

Brandishing whip and a fuck-you attitude, I moved the camels around and succeeded in not having Mustafa make a mockery out of me today. Still got the factory hand to help me tying him up though... on G's orders, of course. I would've managed... maybe. I felt like we were moving in slow motion - maybe because each step we took was calculated due to extremely slippery conditions - but at the end we weren't finished all that much later than normal.

The boss was due back today after her 10-day health retreat, sure to be brimming with life and energy, so I wasn't quite sure if I was ready to have her back in the picture. On one hand, I was excited about having her back because she is a funny little ball of energy that always has new things to do... on the other, she could start ordering us around doing this n that every second because there are two of us now.

Happily, she was the former, mostly concerned with unpacking and settling herself back into the house than finding chores for us to do. I showed her what we'd done while she was gone, and that seemed to please her. I am actually surprised, she hasn't pushed us to do much at all, I guess figuring the weather was a bit of a dampener (bad pun alert)... or maybe the worst is yet to come tomorrow. Eeeeeeeek!

L is still praying we get to ride, I guess I am too but I know how shitty it can be when it's wet n slippery. It will be funny to see her try to move the camels but I know it takes some getting used to, so I wouldn't be surprised if she just moved around the edges silently for the first few times. I just hope her presence means less effort for me and therefore less whip blisters on thumbs.

My old school friend rang today re Vienna - seems she's still keen as mustard to come along, just looking into trains now. Would be awesome if it all worked out... Vienna is such a nice city and there is still so much of it I haven't seen. Like the butterfly nursery!! Also wouldn't mind getting some pints in with aforementioned mate, it's been a while between drinks - literally!