Pink flamboyance
What is it with goats? They’re so mercurial. They just stare at you. A Beaconite encounters up to ten goats every time he tries to get into his apartment. The animals are strangely passive yet fierce, and they seem to casually judge you without getting out of the way. Nevertheless, the reporter has grown to find their seeming weary disdain strangely comforting. They block the lane to his house and refuse to budge. Yet they will then suddenly gambol away en masse when the mood takes them. It’s one of the many lovely things about living in the Virgin Islands. Like the weird, majestic iguanas or the swooping pelicans. And now, it is such a joy to have the return of the flamingos at Josiahs Bay pond. Once rare in the VI, the dazzling pink creatures — a group of which is known as a “flamboyance” — now flourish in several of the territory’s salt ponds. Nature’s Little Secrets is blessed with plenty of exotic wildlife. The riches flourish all around. Just don’t tell the goats they could end up in a tantalising Caribbean curry.
From here?
A Beaconite has come to wonder what people consider to be the qualifications or requirements to say they are from the Virgin Islands. This should not be confused with the question of belongership, which is a distinction made formally through the government. As someone who has lived here for a mere two years, the Beaconite is well aware she will never meet the qualifications to say she is “from the Virgin Islands” (whatever those requirements are). And rightfully so. But in the short time she has lived here, she has met several people who have told her they were not born here but have lived here since they were small children. Many of them nevertheless shrug in response to the question “Are you from here?” Then the question shifts: If someone has lived in the VI since childhood or even infancy but was not actually born here, where should they say they are from? Must the answer be where they were born? Or could it be where they grew up? Perhaps the answer should be up to the individual to determine.
Adventures
Getting around Tortola can be an adventure in itself, whether you’re behind the wheel or not. A Beaconite has learned that not only are there rules of the road, but an entire language as well. Hitching has never been too much trouble, but he has caught certain misunderstandings on his part that may be contributing to his occasional difficulty. Having never hitched prior to his arrival to the territory, the Beaconite immediately ran with the iconic image of the traveller with his thumb up in the air, like a fishing line cast into some body of water. But the gesture was often met with a return thumbs-down or the revving of engines as cars sped past. It wasn’t until this week, while he was trying to get a ride up Joes Hill, that he was approached by an elderly woman who told him that he was letting drivers know it was okay to pass him. Instead of flashing a thumbs-up, she explained, he should stick his arm out straight with his palm flat and facing down. With perfect timing, she stuck her hand out to demonstrate, and a car immediately rolled to a stop. She secured the ride for the Beaconite and sent him on his way. He has also learned another acceptable way to flag a ride: pointing in the direction he wishes to go.