Here we are living our Greta Thunberg-approved life. Can I trademark that? She’s trademarking her FridaysforFuture. We’re doing it even seeking it in the first place. Would I ruin it if I said: having a car is simply stunning? Let’s do the maths.

Most of our electricity coming from solar panels? Check. Water use currently at a very sustainable 15 litres each a day? Check. Delph had to do a report for school that stated if we were using less than 200 litres a day, we’d be considered water champions. I think Delph’s teacher must have fainted when she saw Quest’s water count. Not so much water champions as water quakers.

I tell you – we all pine for the wastefully long shower at times. And being able to charge electronic devices when we want to and not when Questie is full of solar energy – from about 11am, and only if it’s sunny. Still, we can live with these things. They definitely make living on Quest unforgettable.

What I do miss – without even realising, is a car. Must come from my wasteful past of always having one. Not even one, but Jack and I have always had our own cars at homes. Two-car family – so double wasteful.

We rented one for this weekend. It’s the first time we’ve rented a car in Barbados. Last time we made do with buses. That was after our friends on Sago (hey Sago 😁) left Barbados. They were awesome. Before that, they had a car and gave us lifts to Freight’s Bay.

Freight’s is a surf beach along the south coast of Barbados. It has one of the best left breaks on the island. This is a handy fact since both girls are lefties. Goofy-footed I think is the correct term. Hehe. Goofy.

We did try to come here on the bus. We didn’t just try actually – we made it. The bus did veer off in the wrong direction and we had to walk an extra mile to the surf spot. Then Delph fell as we walked, scraping the skin off her leg.

We didn’t have Lulu’s surf leash either. We’d forgotten it back home. A surf school guy would only rent one to us for 50 bucks. I remember telling him he could suck it when a super kind guy gave us his spare one. The only people surfing were us and that guy, who pushed his own kids on their boards into the waves all afternoon.

But here we are, two years later – with an actual car. A shit-mobile no less. Jack found it from his highly intuitive hunch that a company called Cheap Cars might be the one for us. Strapped the boards to the roof this time – and we drove off. Ahhh. Sorry, Greta.