Bermuda on UK Tour

This was the week that Bermuda went on tour in the UK chasing the British holidaymakers' pounds to supplement its flatlining tourism industry. Pictured above, in their Bermuda Shorts no less, are various reps of the Bermuda tourism department and leisure sector outside Cafe De Paris (and fittingly KFC, given the Bermudian love of fried chicken!) in the big smoke's Piccadilly Circus. I can only imagine how that went down with the London pavement pounders, but I bet even the most miserable Londoner could muster a small grin on seeing this scene. There is just something about Bermuda that makes you smile, even in London!

It's funny that there aren't more Brits abroad here, seeing as the island is the UK's oldest and largest overseas territory, but the majority of tourists tend to be from the east coast of the States. Bermuda is part of U.S. popular culture... in Sex in the City, Charolotte and Trey honeymooned here, in Friends, Rachel and Barry holidayed on the island, as did bests buds Michael Jackson and Macaulay Culkin (!) and Bill and Hillary Clinton's daughter, Chelsea, was conceived here. I reckon if you asked most Brits where Bermuda was they would probably say the Caribbean and many close friends ask me how life is in Barbados or The Bahamas! It's actually 1,000 miles from the Caribbean, on it's lonesome in the Atlantic.

Bermuda isn't only somewhere between the U.S and the UK geographically, but also in spirit. OK, so there are red post boxes, we drive on the left, have an M&S and can buy Waitrose goods in the supermarket but here is where the similarities end! They even stopped flying the Union Jack in Hamilton Harbour last year, for some very dubious reasons may I add, which I was most upset about. There is also good ol' British Conservatism circa 1985 here. They struggle to understand the concepts of cross-dressing and homosexuality, and you'll see more twinsets and pearls than you will bikini tops and tattoos. Although I still feel like a English (wo)man in New York rather than right at home in a colonial England. Much to my own annoyance, I've started saying cell phone, trash, groceries, gas station and my trousers are now my pants and my bag is now my purse. All very confusing!!

I did however have a very English summer afternoon today attending the highly popular Annual Exhibition, formally known as the 'ag show', a once-a-year big deal for Bermudians. They turn up in their thousands at the Botanical Gardens to watch pig racing, pony jumping, goats being milked and the odd Gombey dancer (you know it's a pretty big deal if there's a Gombey around). I have never seen so many people in one place on the island before and soooo many cars. It really did feel like a trip to the Suffolk show in my younger years. There was the same road jams and many, many car parking stewards, all offering different directions, to give you that awesome sense of occasion.

Getting back on topic again, more Brits really should come here!! It's as beautiful as it is wonderfully weird and in all of my days, I've never seen anywhere as paradise found as Elbow Beach. Louise Nurding was onto something when she named her solo album after it, shame the album didn't live up to its namesake in stature. She and Jamie Redknapp honeymooned in Bermuda, so there is a couple of Brits that know where it is...