The cat was due at 6.10pm and with moments to spare Campbell rocketed up complaining about the parking lot on Coro Drive. On the way to Hamilton we picked up Sabina and her mate to make it a table for 7. If you've never caught a cat at night, the 50-minute cruise from St Lucia winding through the lit-up City to Hamilton is well-worth it. The 10 minute walk from the terminal to a suitable restaurant was just enough to develop an appetite for something delicious.
Then we had the arduous task of choosing where to eat - one person didn't like Italian, someone else didn't like Greek, "No, not Thai tonight - we did that last year!". We finally decided on Cafe 71, not only because it was the last one, (except for the express supermarket), but it did cater for all tastes - Italian, Chinese, Mexican, Thai and probably a few more! The prices were quite reasonable and everyone was happy. Given the menu available, the table ended up looking very multi-cultural. Conversation was centred around mobile phones at one point as yours truly had just acquired an under-$5 one. So we rang each other's phones exchanging numbers and saving them into the phonebooks. Someone else had a nice new small phone because he'd tried to teach his old one to swim in a rock pool with the sea cucumbers. At least he can button up his shirt pocket now!
After divvying up the bill we walked back to the Hamilton terminal with 5 minutes to spare. The cat arrived and we were ushered in while the crew had their regulation 5 minute break. The trip back was just a little cooler with only a couple of warm-blooded people braving the rear deck with those uninterrupted views and tales from the late-night cat crew.
We'll have to do this again sometime! (Next year)
