Hello, thank you, and welcome. I love you for being here!
Add to List is my Sunday round-up. It’s the small things that brought me joy, evoked an emotional reaction, or became some short-lived stability in the past seven days.
Obsession
Saint Lucia
I’ve been in Saint Lucia for a hotel review / press trip. I’m not going to give you all gory details (yet) because I need to save some of my vernacular to write the review at some point. All I can say is this: it is a couples only resort — I am here sans partner. I think people at breakfast assume my husband and I have had a huge row or that I’m on the prowl like some kind of desperate swinger-cum-sad-case. And when the other two female journalists and I have dinner together? Well, that certainly raises a few eyebrows.
However, despite there being couples everywhere, I’ve really been enjoying my own company here in my downtime. There hasn’t been that much of it; but in my solitary moments, I’ve not felt single and lonely at all — even when surrounded by sickly honeymooners drinking champagne on candlelit tables on the beach.
I have a little turret of heaven to myself with a plunge pool. I also have a butler on speed dial — a sentence I never saw myself typing. He sometimes runs me a surprise bath for when I get back from a day out. They have given me a phone to contact him; I struggle to use it because it isn’t an iPhone, I always forget to take it with me, and I feel awful asking him to deliver anything for me. Basically, I am soft-ghosting my butler.
But honestly, maybe we should send all the single men left in the world to butler-finishing school? This is the only kind of message I expect to wake up to from now on. Gentlemen, please take note.
Before I reached this island, I thought I’d Saint Lucia as a small Caribbean holiday destination full of luxury resorts. It is yes, but it’s also so much more than that. Its unique culture can be easily drowned out by geographically larger and more culturally notorious islands such as Jamaica. After all when you have Bob Marley and Usain Bolt as cultural exports; you can see why. Yet Saint Lucia is not one to dismiss. Not only is Saint Lucia home to the fastest woman on earth, she’s also full of historical culture, friendly traditions, and postcard-worthy landscapes. I’m using the possessive female here because that’s how the locals refer to the island but also anything this beautiful and richly textured with depth and layered personality could only be a woman.
Having now spent nearly 7 days here and having an inside scoop on real island life thanks to a representative from the tourism board who is showing us around, I have come to understand the beauty of this place doesn’t lie only on the beaches of private high-end hotels.
My favourite moments have been those where we’ve left the resort; where I’ve looked incredibly white whining (or attempting to and failing) in a crowd at a pre-carnival event, sipping a Pitons beer aboard a boat with the real mountains behind me in the background, or fearlessly descending a 25% gradient on a quad bike through an off road down through a banana farm.
Confession
Yes, it’s your Monday.
Sorry this is late, I am on Island time — both in terms of my body clock but also my Monday mindset.
Shook
Carnival energy.
Today we went to watch the Lucian Junior Carnival crown their Kings and Queen. These kids have stamina! Lavish outfits in 38 degree sun? A march round the block before going on stage? Then whinding, running, dancing, all with a smile. You think you had it bad with your 800m race at Summer Sports Day? Think again.
I’m now familiar with Soca music (took me a few days to get into but the song recently crowned the winner of The Soca Monarch Competition is now on repeat). It turns out carnival isn’t just bums and booty shaking like the internet might have you believe. There a serious amount of love, thought, and storytelling that goes into this event. It’s an all-family, all-action spectacle.
And shout out to the kid that stopped mid routine to pick up a bit of candy floss. Turns out it was a bit of someone’s costume fluff. But we love that energy. I wanna be like her when I grow up.
Cook
I explore a country with my belly so when the hotel I’m staying at has 10 restaurants and they all have differently themed ‘world cuisines’, you can imagine I feel a little shortchanged. However, there has been some stand-out bites this week (some in the hotel, mostly outside)…
Dorado with Coconut Curry sauce, Coal Pot; Castries — Fish so fresh it feels like it swam on to your plate. And to be honest, it’s probably not far off. Set in an idyllic cove with passing catamarans and small motorised fishing boats, this is as close as you can get to dining at sea without physically being in the water. With blackboard specials, shell-sparkling windchimes decorating the small jetties for each table, this is place where the sea breeze not only touches your lips, but stays on them. I’d recommend this as the one place you should venture out from your resort for.
Tina’s Rum Punch, Gros Islet Street Party - The bars at the street party all sell rum punch. They all feel like alcoholic roulette. I asked Tina why hers was different: ‘I grow my own spices locally, but my main ingredient…is love’.’ Yep, she won me over with that. And a good drop it was, spiced, fruity, and served with a smile. Tasted like Christmas.
not pictured: very loud music Stew Chicken, Fried Fish in Soufrière — after a mud bath in the volcanic springs (actually quite gross, wouldn’t recommend) and pre snorkelling adventure (actually amazing, would) we had a buffet style Caribbean plate at a place between the two pitons. The sweetness of the coconut fritter was a welcome antidote to my zealous use of Creole hot sauce. This one was extra spicy.
In general, my hot sauce addiction here is being well-looked after here, I’ll be taking some home.
Book
So Good to See You, Francesca Hornak
Despite being ‘on holiday’, I’ve not got far in terms of my beach reading but I’m still enjoying Francesca Hornak’s So Good To See You. The agenda has been quite full on while here and between activities I’ve either been napping (the roads here are so hilly I am out of the game after every drive over 45 mins for a brief period while my nervous system rebalances). And, I’ve not been on annual leave here so I’ve also been working on two different deadlines back in the UK in my time off.
I did enjoy this quick poolside-friendly read in The Spectator about the Wimbledon Wag. 💯 my WAG of choice. Closely followed by Formula One, I think.
Look
When I’m not in swimwear or cosplaying as Michaella Lara Croft on a quad bike, I’ve been keeping things Mad Max Mara in these satin rust trousers.
Can’t Stop Scanning
Hacks.
I started watching Hacks on the plane when I awoke from a cricked-neck nap to discover I didn’t have time to watch another film. It’s brilliant.
A failing writer in LA is sent to Vegas to help a famous divorcee comedienne write new material. It’s gauche, gregarious, and gleaming with well-written humour. The soundtrack is suitably groovy too. And, at least there’s a silver lining to that 9 hour flight home tomorrow.
Forward Planning
After quite a few weeks on working holidays involving a great deal of eating, drinking, and being merry alongside the deadlines I’m excited for a boring week of getting my head down.
I decided to use the gym here today ahead of the long haul flight; safe to say the rum cocktails have not assuaged my 5km time. Time to book in for Barry’s.
The swingers comment made me laugh out loud - fab read as always 🫶🏼