The other day I bit the bullet and joined the cruiser shopping bus. It can be a great thing when everyone knows the stores and the drill, but it can be painfully slow at other times. Since I had to drop dirty laundry off, I went with Patrick "Shade Man" James' bus. Pat's also a friend of ours, so that was okay, too. Unfortunately, Ruth and I got soaked on the long dinghy ride over. The laundry had a pre-rinse.

Ruth and I walked from the bank stop up to the IGA mall. The rest of the group did ACE Hardware, the beer distributor and Budget Marine. With a couple of first timers, it was painfully slow. Lucky for us, we were relaxed in the mall, and had already picked up our doubles from Latta. When Pat finally showed up, we took a "joy ride" to Island Water World. I waited outside and ate a double.

We arrived back at the mall parking lot and waited for the some more of the grocery shoppers to arrive so we could do the first run back to the marina. As we waited, a Grenadian approached us saying "I spoke with your driver and he said it was okay to approach you".... okay. He proceeded to tell us about the fundraising for a roof for a school, and he had the paperwork with him to back him up. A few of us gave him a little money... and then Pat arrived back to the bus from herding cruisers. "Hey man, watch you doin' botherin' dese people?" Oh, so he didn't get permission, interesting. Some of the contributors asked for their money back, but Shatta Ricky (he is known in the area) took off for the mall and got away. A couple of us looked for him, and I alerted mall security as to his appearance and activity so they could keep an eye out for him. Apparently this guy is a con artist and has used excuses like fundraising for churches and schools as a way to, um, earn money.

Patrick was angry about this guy conning us. He took a swing around to the local police station to let them know that "Shatta is at it again". They weren't impressed that he bilked visitors to the island, and were going to keep an eye out for him. Patrick says they are used to arresting him.

We headed back to the marina. All of a sudden, Pat swerved to the other side of the road. I was riding shotgun, and saw what he saw... Shatta walking on the sidewalk. Pat yelled at him, Shatta started running, and Pat clipped him hard with the bus door. Pat then jumped out of the bus, grabbed his wooden stick he keeps for protection, and took off after the con man. Kirani James may not have been the fastest man in Grenada at that moment. I jumped out of the bus to follow, not to pound on Shatta, but to keep Patrick from doing too much damage. Fortunately for Shatta, Patrick didn't catch him.

It certainly made for some excitement for the shopping trip. And it proved that one does not mess with Patrick's cruisers.