The title of today's blog is a takeoff of the slogan that Jaguar owns (even if they don't claim ownership). Will thought it up cuz of all the things that have broken on the boat of late. I am thinking of finding a Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 45 hull and towing it around behind Time Warp with all the spares I am currently carrying!!

Today's blog should really be titled "A (Sordid) Day in the Life of a Cruiser". It starts out with our intrepid cruiser -- we'll call him Peter to keep real identities anonymous - deciding at the last minute this morning to take the bus 35 km to Le Lamentin to take the laptop to a Toshiba rep for some warranty work. Normally I don't buy into those 'extended warranties'. Once I heard the profit margins on those programs run in the 90%'s. I passed on them. But with the laptop on a world cruise for several years, I bought the extended warranty because I knew this would be a harsh environment.

Now understand that I am doing this trip to Toshiba by bus in a French-speaking country where I speak and understand NO French (other than what Patty LaBele taught me!)! I got to Lamentin OK. But then they dropped me off on a freeway exit. It seems all of the bus stops around here (if you want to call them that) are on freeway exits and on-ramps! With a few hand signals and a whole lot of French words, I was sent on my way by the bus driver to survive or get swallowed up. I was supposed to walk 3 km or so through residential neighborhoods before I could make my next bus connection. It turns out the Toshiba place was actually a couple more exits up the road from where they let me out!!

In any case, I finally find a bus stop (a real one this time!) in front of "the projects" - a government-funded apartment housing community. I waited there well over an hour before I finally hailed the first taxi to come by. He got me to the Toshiba place and as I was walking in the door, a gal was walking out saying (in French) "Closed for lunch"! I was about 2 min. too late (after waiting at the apartments for well over an hour)!

Fortunately there was a nice restaurant next door and I had a wonderful lunch (by myself). Along with the Heineken, I had a salad with 2 pieces of toasted brie and bread placed on a bed of lettuce, bacon, and walnuts and drizzled with balsamic vinegar. Quite tasty (for you cooks out there!)

Finally after the hour and a half lunch period, I got to enter the Toshiba store where I was told that they were just a contractor. The extended warranty would cover parts, but labor (or 'taxes' as it was explained to me) would cost me 95.36 euro. So much for extended warranties!!!

After some quick calcs I realized it wasn't worth 200 euro and 15-21 days just to fix the three broken keys on the keyboard. It could wait till I got back to America. So all I needed to do now was figure out how to get home!! The manager directed me to a bus stop which would take me to the central bus station at Fort-de-France from where I could catch a mini-bus back to Lamentin.

Unfortunately, I got his directions mixed up and took a bus leaving town instead of one going back into town! So now I had to sit on the bus for its whole route and another hour was lost! Finally I get to the main bus terminal and after a 20 minute wait and (finally) realizing I am waiting in the wrong area, I get it straightened out and find a mini-bus leaving for Lamentin. (They use 9-passenger vans for buses, not full-on buses.) I get in and wait another half hour.

When the driver jumps in and starts the engine I look over and see the lady sitting next to me cross herself like good Catholics do. I am wondering "Hmmmm...does she know something about this driver I don't?"!!!! Fortunately the rest of the trip was pretty uneventful and I got back to the boat a mere 4 hours later than I should have.

It reminded me of the Alhambra in Grenada, Spain. The Alhambra had closed one day the week prior to our visit because the communists had called an impromptu national labor strike for one day. Only we heard of an Australian couple who didn't get the memo, traveled all the way to the Alhambra, only to find it closed. They never made it inside the Alhambra. Bummer, eh? It also reminds me of Wally World!!

So if you ask me "How was your day, dear?", and I bite your head off, you'll know why! Actually, the day was 'redeeming' and had a lot of positives to go along with some of the guffaws. All in a day's work, I guess.

Tomorrow we (finally) leave the marina and get back to anchorage. It is fun to hear Ruth (especially) and Will cry for the anchorage! They have come a long way, eh? But at anchorage you are private, there is more wind to cool you, and it is just more beautiful. We may head back to St. Lucia to redeem those two nights at the St. Lucian Rex Hotel we won from the ARC. Who knows?!