Harry Potter Day

By Scott:

All week Kathleen has been all a twitter about "Harry Potter Day" on Saturday and while I have been looking forward to the day when we could get the book and see the movie (which debuted on Island last night), Katie has been practically beside herself. Sort of like me on "First Day of Football Season Day".

The day started at about 4:30 a.m. as I got up to drive Elsa and Keith to the airport for their trip to Jamaica. Katie graciously offered to come with but jumped pretty quick on my offer to drive them while she stayed at the apartment and slept. I dropped them off at the airport and headed back to the college as the sun came up which is around 5:30 here on Cayman. That meant Katie and I have the van until they return next Wednesday. The morning consisted of going back to sleep for a few hours and then waiting while the A/C man fixed the HVAC unit for the library.

Around noon we headed to George Town to address Katie's craving for Mexican food. Surprisingly, the choice for that variety of food is severely limited in Cayman and we ended up at Seňor Frogs just off Heroes Square by the Harbor. We ate out on the balcony and listened to a tremendous storm that must have been moving across the north end of the Island. My fajitas were OK and her enchiladas were not bad but for real Mexican food we will obviously have to go to Mexico or just back to Texas. We could hear booming thunder but no rain. We headed out hoping that the storm stayed to the north. There was almost no wind and the tree's were eerily calm.

After lunch we headed over to Books by the Bay and our 1:30 appointment to pick up the seventh book. When we got to the store it had lost power but they were open to distribute the pre-paid Harry Potter books so we picked up our copy and headed home. A quick stop at Willie's fruit stand to pick up some sweet sop, mango and a baggie of plums that look like over sized grapes, and then back to the college to read the first several chapters. The power outage was also affecting the college and we read out loud the first chapter in a somewhat steaming apartment. The power kicked back on about a half hour after we got home and while I surfed the net Katie read some chapters to herself. Then it was my turn while she played Big Kahuna Reef her new computer game obsession. We are each reading a few chapters then giving the book to the other so neither of us gets too far ahead.

At 4:30 it was time to head to the movie. The theatre is up on West Bay Road north of the Harbor district. We got to the theatre around 5 to get tickets for the 6:20 showing. Then we headed over to a diving shop on Seven Mile Beach to pick up a backpack for our bicycling trips. We also found a pair of prescription goggles for me and are going back early next week to get them and some snorkeling gear. We needed the backpack as the messenger bags we have been using while riding unevenly distribute weight and only put weight on one shoulder. From there it was over to a stand called Al La Kebob, a Greek place next to the movie theatre and gyros for the two of us. The gyros were really good and hit the spot before the film.

The movie theatre is an old style auditorium with a curtain that opens as the film begins. The auditorium is huge and must have seated at least 300 people. The place was packed with a truly multi cultural, multi racial audience. Really shows the impact of this series of books across cultural lines. They only show movies on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays at the theatre which is the only one on the Island. Harry Potter is only there this weekend so this was our one shot. The pre-movie was like a trip to the 70's with very old strips on being quiet, going to the concession stand and picking up trash with the lights and disco music setting the mood. The Theatre has two auditoriums and every movie has an intermission. It was nice knowing that I had a built in bathroom break and hour or so into the movie.

We both enjoyed the movie but saw a lot of changes and differences from the book, Katie more than I as she read it again this spring while I haven't re-read the books yet. Driving at night and remembering to stay to the left take some getting used to and the drive back through town and then out to the District of Savannah was a new driving challenge.

After getting back to Savannah we made a quick shopping run to Fosters and then back up Hirst road to Newlands and the college apartment. As I type this Katie is reading away. Tomorrow we are going up to West Bay for a brunch at the restaurant where I went in April that had such a great spread and beautiful view. Life is great when you have a vehicle to get to the far away places. Monday we are looking at a condo to rent in Grand Harbor which is about 5 miles from the college. Its 1600 square feet and is owned by a professor who is moving to the Middle East and wants to keep it as an investment property. If it looks good we could move in in September. We are also looking into a vehicle and plan to buy one with our July paychecks probably from one of the rental car companies fleets.

This past week was literally five straight days of 14 hour work days. We didn't plan it that way but from Monday on it just happened where we had things to do each morning and were at work by nine and working until 11 that night. I made two presentations from a Power Point that Katie and I put together and Katie put together a brochure that went to a career development day for a big bank employer here on the Island. We plan to slow down this week but with the fall registration push will still be busy. Katie's parents arrive Thursday and we have taken a half day off and wont be going in until 5:00 p.m. so we can show them around Grand Cayman.

Cayman Airways has changed our flight in December from Houston to Miami which does us no good since our connection to Dallas is from Houston on another airline. Monday after looking at the condo and before looking for a car we plan to stop in at their offices and explain that to them and see if we can either get our flight back or get a credit. We want to get over to Cayman Brac one of the smaller islands and might use our flight credit for a weekend getaway if we lose our flight home.

We are both excited about seeing the place Monday and the possibility of getting to move off campus has both of us happy. Its great not having to pay rent or utilities but constantly being here is getting to be a drag on the rest of our lives and its hard to leave work when you never leave work because you live there. The other nice thing will be getting a car. This Island will get really small once we have that. Will let you know how all that shakes out.