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By Jeff and Judy

Quick, Under the Sheets

What follows is a truly tropical tale that people living in less temperate zones may find difficult to swallow but I can assure them every word is true.

Over the past few days, unleashing untold mega-gallons of lukewarm rain, a “tropical depression” slowly made its way across the West Indian paradise island where Jeff and I live. Unfortunately it is apparently now gaining strength and heading up the Caribbean Sea possibly posing a serious threat to islands further north.

However, and I respectfully add “mercifully,” once again we’ve been spared the worst effects. But don’t imagine for a minute it didn’t affect our lives and that of our fellow-islanders.

The most obvious inconvenience from such monster deluges means getting-around is messy when large sections of the island flood and low-lying roads become impassable. Which, in an aside, never stops visitors from less temperate zones here for a limited time who rent cars and demonstrate their bad weather driving skills by zooming past bus stops at breakneck speeds, drenching everyone in sight.

This next effect of the storm clearly isn’t a problem for everyone. Because of the understandably poor public transport connections during floods all schools are closed. Of course most kids probably see it as a blessing but one grumpy call-in radio programme moderator suggested the island’s children would get up to no good if left at home all alone all day and asked for the rule be changed.

“But,” you may by now justifiably be asking, “what’s all this got to do with advanced friskiness among sexagenarians?”

I’ll get straight to the point. On cloud-enveloped, rained-out days businesses across the island experience staff absenteeism at much higher levels than on the remaining 360 totally-cloudless, balmy-breezed, sun-drenched days.

As one dear lady who lives nearby and holds a senior position at a leading bank told me, “When they close all the schools for bad weather, that’s the sure sign for me and my hubby to hunker down and stay under the sheets all day.”

And now comes the pay-off for reading thus far.

Jeff and I hereby proudly claim true tropical island dweller status by swearing under oath that we dwelled entirely in our bedroom from last Sunday until Tuesday. And although the radio show moderator may be wrong about schoolchildren we got up to no good at all and enjoyed every minute of it.

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Just who are Jeff and Judy? Judy and Jeff Sellers are a US couple who love sunsets, world travel, fine wines, good food and each other. As often as possible and not necessarily in that order. They currently seek a congenial publisher for their "Frisky after Sixty" book ('A Good in Bed Read') and after many requests from friends all over the world waiting impatiently for their local newspapers to carry this column. To find out more go to Frisky After Sixty.

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