So, up for school and then drive to the mall. Jack woke up too feeling surprisingly ok after his dental surgery. He came too. We promised we’d go nice and slow.

West Mall! The first time we stepped inside the mall was exactly three years ago. We’d arrived here running from a tropical storm approaching Grenada. Having been heartily warned in Grenada that Trinidad was simply not safe, I thought we might get kidnapped any moment. I remember panicking when the girls went off to the bathroom on their own. What a doofus. West Mall has fountains and marble restrooms and sofas to lounge on. I guess they might have got coerced by a large potted plant.

Now, they always head straight into Mickles, our fave clothes shop. I have to hurry to keep up. It’s all light and airy stuff. Some items are a bit expensive – around the £50 mark. Expensive for us yachties anyway 🥴.. Other stuff in Mickles is a proper bargain. T-shirts for a few pounds, smart shorts for about £15. They have a kids’ store too. Delph’s still wearing stuff we bought at Mickles three years ago. All the clothes have interesting patterns and Caribbean colours. Going there today, I was saddened by the idea of not returning to Mickles. It’s in my top five shops list – because it’s a bit different.

This is perspective. How your thinking about something can change. Seems to depend mostly on experience – doing things over and over again. Travelling too can help, though travel can be hard for missing friends and homely creature comforts. We feel it. Yes, we’re together and having an amazing experience. It still requires a different mindset. Having a new perspective on things.

Crossing the Atlantic, we had to skirt past a hurricane. It was a super strange hurricane, positioned near the Canary Islands – called Alex. When I think back now, I wince at the memory of the size of the waves. Man, we were in four metres of swell at one stage – and this was hundreds of miles offshore. Still, the storm crept up on us. By the time the sea got that big, we didn’t really notice. It was just another moment, another wave, another experience to get through. Our perspective had changed. A bit like West Mall 😇.