Friday, November 26, 2004
Just like any good ship trying to sail a steady course we do try to keep up a regular schedule of maintenance here at Playa Vista… and where possible introduce improvements too, when resources permit.
Lying directly in the path of salty sea breezes, as we do, the affect on our buildings, fixtures and fittings can easily be imagined although the all year round summer temperatures at least means we do not have also to contend with the even more invasive ravages of freezing and thawing.
Quite besides the regular maintenance we recently had to attend to another repair job – twice! We have a row of seven 4” by 4” white wooden posts supporting the second floor landing and the roof of the apartments to the rear of Playa Vista. Immediately adjacent all manner of visitors frequently park their cars within the security of the property. For something like five years there had never been any difficulties until one bright Sunday morning a regular customer who had previously parked there on numerous occasions claimed he couldn’t see the post nearest to the entrance gateway as he reversed directly into it splitting and seriously dislodging it. Eduardo, our regular handyman, was able to put the damage right and we breathed a sigh of relief as the overall structure was re-supported as it should be. Or so we thought… something like a week later another visitor also in broad daylight reversed so forcefully into the brand new and freshly painted post that it not only split in two but was completely displaced from its roof supporting function.
We have seen many visitors drive in and out including in reverse, in the dark of night and in all kinds of weather and states of mind without any problem whatsoever. But two regular visitors in bright sunshine without having had a single drop of the hard stuff didn’t notice the same bright white post just a few days apart…. Far-fetched! So, “regular maintenance” suddenly seems to have taken on a new meaning around here… and by the way: Who said that lightning doesn’t strike twice in the same place?
Posted by Playa Vista @ 11:04 AM CST
Friday, November 19, 2004
In the coldest periods of damp winters in those far away British Isles when the wind shifts direction from the usual south-west the refrain begins, “When the north wind doth blow, we shall have snow…”. Though we are not suggesting we really expect Caribbean snow, we do have a DomRep equivalent, namely a shift in the usual prevailing south-east wind direction here in Boca Chica to the north, though it has to be stressed that it is very much more wafting than really blowing.
It has been stated since Columbus’ time that the weather here in the DomRep is like perpetual June back in the old continent, and we can certainly verify this to be the case. The only interruption to this are occasional hurricanes which this year, you may recall, were reported to be unusually active during September but now thankfully long gone. Though hurricanes bring high winds and heavy rainfall be reassured that those perpetual June temperatures remain constant. So it is by way of a slight variation from the norm that this week the temperatures, with the change of wind direction as mentioned above, are reported as actually dipping. There is of course no need for alarm, because the reported below freezing temperature of -4ºC was recorded at a height of over 2,500 meters in the central mountains of the country! Those pleasant daytime June temperatures carry right on permeating our little paradise. The only notable difference is that night time temperatures currently make air conditioners and fans redundant. The advice would be to certainly not cancel your air ticket to these parts merely shut the bedroom window in the ‘chilly Caribbean winter night’!
Posted by Playa Vista @ 01:19 PM CST
Monday, November 8, 2004
We believe it is finally the end of an era and we imagine also the last of our reports on our freaky friend Woody Windowpecker and his continuous furious attacks on his own reflection which he obviously took for a dangerous stranger challenging his territory. Fear not woody-fans, we presume he is in reasonably good physical health somewhere, although his mental health could be a matter of concern. Simply put we had to take measures to preserve our own sanity and regain some peace and quiet especially in the dawn hours when Woody was particularly active in battering our kitchen window with that unyielding beak of his.
As observers of the crazy pecker’s “peculiar” antics as you will know by now we are, (see the ongoing saga in the archives July 19th, Sept. 29th also May 8th and Sept 9th last year) we have put forward a number of theories to try and explain his odd behavior. Our final theory is that he quite simply has gone partially or completely insane. He just does not seem to have learned anything in all these months… zero progress. It could be that now even his wife has left him in frustration.
Tracing the story back to the beginning we reported that it was his dear wife who first visited our reflective kitchen window seemingly to admire herself, for she never pecked the window at all, merely posed and occasionally pawed at it – quite harmless one would think. Woody went from being largely uninterested at the beginning to being completely obsessed with his own image. We even have a sneaking suspicion that in those weeks he was absent he was actually undergoing addiction rehabilitation… nudge, nudge! We watched him closely on the day of his return when again it was his wife who seemed to be coaxing him back to the window almost as if to test that he had truly broken the habit. The first couple of days it seemed that the rehab had worked for he was quite withdrawn, but very soon after that he was right back to fully fledged attacks for maniacal extended periods of time starting very early every morning. His wife has been conspicuous in her absence ever since making us think that she perhaps has even disowned her irreconcilable addict partner… or is she off looking for a better rehab center for him? Anyway… we candidly could not tolerate the noise any more and put up a plastic screen to cover the window. Our first few days after that action have been blissfully quiet at least with regard to window tapping. Perhaps the new situation will even do the service of helping him to kick the habit by denying his supply. Apprehensively though, we do recognize there are plenty of other windows he could get used to if he should remain inconsolable. We shall let the story lie there unless of course you should be irritatingly woken early one morning by the same reverberant tapping sound from crazy old Woody. We will gladly pass on any news about Woody’s whereabouts, he is after all a good old friend of the family – if just a little nutty!
Posted by Playa Vista @ 10:48 AM CST
