Forgive me but this story needs a few explanations to portray the true sense of frustration. There is no fresh French bread to be had on Saba, at least not that I am aware of. The frozen garlic bread is really not that great so I thought I would make my own French bread, feeling very domestic!
When making bread the old fashioned way (from scratch) I always worry that I will make the liquid too hot, killing the yeast. I wanted a candy thermometer so I could be assured that my liquid was the correct temperature.
Keep in mind that it is after noon on a Saturday which means on Saba that the single “department” and hardware stores on the island have already closed for the weekend but there are some utensils at Big Rock, one of the local grocery stores. They certainly had one for 27.10 gilders, which equates to $15.05 US. Fifteen dollars for a candy thermometer? That is worse than highway robbery. This was no Crate n Barrel kind of gizmo it was the standard Dollar store variety or perhaps the kind from Fred Meyer for $2.99. Good grief! I gave up in disgust and decided that maybe the meat thermometer would have to be good enough for the job even though the needle will barely rise from the peg to indicate the correct temperature.
On to the next oddity… When Steve got back on Saba after spending Christmas in the states the car battery was completely dead. He borrowed a battery charger and charged the battery to no avail. After fiddling with that for over a week, we then called Auto Depot in St. Maarten and asked them to put a battery and some other auto parts on the Dawn II ferry for us. It took us 3 tries to get the goods from the store. So we finally had the stuff, but the battery that we received was dry, i.e. had no battery acid in it to make it hold a charge. After discovering that distilled water will not do, we had to find battery acid on Saba, yeah right!? One mechanic would not sell us any without selling a new battery too. Another happened to have given the last of his away the week before and would order more. Finally after Steve shared this story with a very helpful local he learned that the body shop had some. Two tries to the body shop and we were in business with acid in the battery. We hooked it up to the charger and… nothing!!!
After a month of waiting and trying different things we gave up and have learned now that when you ask for a battery you have to ask for one that is wet or “ready to use”, LOL… I thought they all were, at least that is how it is back home. Not so here. Sometimes I don’t think I am old enough to survive being dropped back to the 1950’s. Whew!
Just one more thing. We live next to the construction of 2 new houses. These houses are nearing completion or at least completion of the outside and plumbing, etc. The electric company (GEBE) came on Friday with their big truck with a cherry picker on it and blocked the road so we could not get out and turned the electricity off for most of the day. Boy is that fun! Then on top of that with no fans to circulate air flow the neighbors, who didn’t have electricity either, thought it was a good day to Clorox the outside of their house along with their gutters. Gotta love that bleach smell!
All that to say in the span of just 2 days. Stay tuned I am sure there will be more to say.
Tags: Saba Musings by admin
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