NEW YEARS DAY

Well it just doesn't get any better than this! The first day of the year was spent at the ocean and playing a round of golf! The weather was outstanding- it looked like it might be a day for long pants and long sleeves when we ventured out today but by the second hole, the sun came out,the cotton sweater came off and it ended up being a gorgeous, warm afternoon for golf.

This was my second round at our new club and only my third round ever but I did see some improvement in my game and loved being out on the course. Many of the holes overlook the ocean and even those that don't are gorgeous- palm trees, cactus, tons of flowers and beautiful homes line the course. Its nice having a membership as we don't have to schlep our clubs back and forth when we play and the people are quite friendly. Its not snooty like I imagine some golf clubs would be and they have a lot of social events in addition to the golf so I think we will end up spending quite a bit of time there. One of the benefits of joining Riddells is their affiliation with the Fairmont Hotels. We get discounts at all the Fairmont restaurants and bars as well as the use of their private beach and the pool at the Southampton and Hamilton Princess. We have our own pool where we live but sometimes its nice to go to the private beach as they have the nice loungers and umbrellas plus facilities which a lot of the public beaches here do not have. I also like the spa discounts and am planning a spa day as soon as year end is over at the office.

Christmas and New Years were pretty quiet for us and it seems like everyone has gone off island for the holidays. Traffic has been really light with school out and not a lot of people working last week so it was a really easy commute last week- even on the bus it was only a 15 minute ride into town last week instead of the usual half hour. Spent Christmas Day at the beach as is tradition here in Bermuda, although we went to our favorite beach Chaplins Bay which is relatively deserted, especially as on XMAS Day all the Bermudians head to Elbow Beach. We could not believe how many people were headed there- cars and bikes were parked all up and down south shore road and southcote road and there were thousands of people there with champagne and picnic baskets. Even our little beach was busy (usually we have it all to ourselves) There was quite a bit of action at Horseshoe Beach too although only the tourists and expats seem to actually go swimming at this time of year. Boxing Day we wound up at the Dockyards on an errand to pick up our house sign and had lunch in Somerset at the Country Squire. We are on a mission to find the best pubs in Bermuda and have been to a number of them. So far Northrock Brewery is the best pub that we have found and while the food at the Country Squire was good,the atmosphere reminded me of being at a Nascar event- the owners love car racing and every surface is plastered with race car memorabilia- nothing wrong with it, just like my pubs to be more charming.

The rest of the holiday weekend we have been out exploring our little island. We still have not seen all of it which is hard to believe but there are tons of little side streets with charming names like Sleepy Hollow Drive or Happytalk Lane and so each weekend we just go off and drive around to check them all out. We went out to Spanish Point and the Ferrylands this weekend- the Ferrylands have some of the most amazing homes we have seen outside of Tuckers Town and each one seems more incredible than the last. Because it was so quiet in town this weekend, we even went into Hamilton for a couple of hours and had lunch at the Hog Penny which is still my favorite place to eat in Hamilton. They have the best Bermuda Onion Soup and their ribs are pretty good too. Didn't do any shopping except to go to Miles to pick up our NY dinner. We decided to stay in this new years and heard that we could get grain fed beef at Miles, Well they had it but its very pricey (Everything is very pricey at Miles-it would be like the difference between shopping at Superstore and Sunterra market. We paid 38.00 USD for 2 steaks (about a pound of beef in all) and sadly,they did not live up to our expectations, there is something about Alberta beef that no other beef compares to. We thought it was the difference between grain fed and corn fed but this beef was mushy too and it was organic American beef. Now we are thinking it must be the aging process that Alberta beef goes through. We are officially done with steak unless its from Alberta. We sure do miss the Cattle Baron!

We have a post Christmas party to attend Jan 12th which is being put on by the executive search firm that brought me to Bermuda. Won't know anyone but my recruiter at that event but its at the Royal Hamilton Amateur Dinghy Club and looks like its going to be a nice event, and the Just for Laughs festival is coming to Bermuda that weekend as well so looking forward to that. Always wanted to go to that when we lived in Canada and never did. Should be a fun night. Think the next two weeks will be quite busy at work with year end activities going into full swing tomorrow. Thats it for this update. Hope everyone has a prosperous, healthy and happy new year!!!