As it says in the title: it’s a wrap....Continue reading
Arrived after a very long flight and we were all shattered. Grenada is a beautiful island and it looks like it is going to be a very picturesque shoot. We all headed out for dinner and ventured into a Sushi bar – yes, a bit of strange choice for the Caribbean, but the fish restaurant was closed. It was Luke’s first foray into this Japanese delight and unfortunately we neglected to tell him that wasabi was a type of radish and not avocado. It was not a very pleasant experience....Continue reading
The most momentous thing in the last two weeks has been the building of Noah’s sandpit. I was determined to get this cracked before the next trip. It was a Father’s quest for his son; and having just read a book about Viking’s and feeling like I could suddenly carve a longboat out of the only tree in our garden, there was no stopping me digging a sandpit in the rabbit pen. It was destined to be a great sandpit and then I ordered 3 tonnes of sand to fill it and things started to get complicated....Continue reading
Think Luke just said it all....Continue reading
Hectic first day. Dazzling sunshine outside – apparently. We were in the clinic today working with Emma, the new graduate Grenadian vet and the team at the GSPCA. Peggy is a dynamo and has done so much to set up this fantastic clinic after the hurricane devastated it in 2004. Great feel to the place, really nice team to work with and a good start. Clive battled to spay a pituitary-challenged weimeranaer with ehlrichiosis whilst I worked with Emma to do a few ops and go over a couple of new techniques. She is very competent and I don’t think I added much to her surgical prowess but it was fun to sort out an aural haematoma using the button technique (where you stitch lots of buttons to the dogs ear after draining the blood out of it – the buttons evenly distribute pressure and stop the blood reforming)and it‘s always good to see how we are all trained in slightly different techniques. Met a dog owner who is the ultimate hardcore adventurer – he and his family (wife, little girl and dog) have spent the last five years on the high seas. His little girl was on the boat from six weeks old. Sailed from Thailand, across the Indian Ocean, across the Med and Atlantic Ocean and is now harbouring here for a little while. Really nice guy with the ultimate can-do attitude. It’s always inspiring to meet people like that....Continue reading
I don’t like cold showers. Only 8 more days of them!...Continue reading
Sharing a room with Nathan. He is a warm shower boy – don’t want to go into details here....Continue reading
Big community day – heading to the poorest communities of Grenada. Large mix of fairly scary looking pit bull terriers and other rangy street dogs. Lot of skin problems, one dog had been bitten by a mongoose, another had a foreign body between it’s toes (which we sedated and flushed), couple of TVT’s (transmissible venereal tumours) – course of vincristine and arranged to be neutered, and the standard array of bite wounds and flea, tick and worm infestations. One chap we met runs a rum shop/bar out of a shack, big fella with dreads and a large gold tooth – came out first with a huge pit bull terrier proudly telling me it had killed ten other dogs that had come onto his territory – he then returned moments later with a little cavalier king charles spaniel which he sheepishly brought me for treatment (had KCS – dry eye). Big tough guy with his tough dog for show and then his little lap dog he clearly dotes on. Really sweet little dog. I have my suspicions that his big pit bull isn’t quite as fierce as he made out as well, it wagged its tail like mad when I was examining it and it seemed almost as soft as the little CKC! He was a very friendly guy as well so I think the bravado was a bit for show for the crowd as much as anything else....Continue reading
The highlight of today will have to be the rescuing of a hawksbill turtle and releasing it back into the sea. They’re a critically endangered species and it was pretty lucky of us to be able to film one. However, as I’m sitting here on the veranda looking out over the beautiful beach that is directly in front of us all I can think about is the fact that I paid $20 for five beers from a bar by the beach after we filmed the turtle. The sun had obviously got to me and I thought I was back in London in some trendy media bar! I’ll never be in charge of our group money again… or maybe that was my plan…...Continue reading
