www.debbierigaud.com

My high school speaking “tour” continued this week with a day at Bermuda’s Berkeley Institute. It’s fun connecting with the island’s youth. Let me tell you, Bermuda’s teens are a cool bunch. Engaging, spirited, welcoming–and most of them are riding scooters by the age of 16! That’s pretty fly.
I had such a great time meeting the students and staff at Berkeley. I visited two classes and toured the school’s new facilities in between. The wonderful Ms. Robinson was my escort (see post below). By the end of the day, I was even pronouncing the name of the school like a bona fide local (saying “BAR-keley” instead of “BER-keley”). Here are a few photo highlights from the day. Thanks for your hospitality, Berkeley!

In other news…my husband and I are heading to vacation. I still can’t believe it, but we’re going to GHANA!! Picture your gurl in the motherland, folks! It’ll be my first time in Africa! I cannot wait.
I’ll be maintaining radio silence while I’m gone, but when I get back, I’ll have stories (and photos!) to share.

Public speaking is so not my thang. When I was in grade school, I’d get mad nervous when my teacher picked me to read during class. Fast-forward to me the adult magazine editor shaking in my flats when presenting story ideas at weekly staff meetings. Being in front of an audience isn’t a problem when I’m in character in some stage musical or performing a choreographed dance. But when the real me has to be the focus of attention, be sure to keep a set of defibrilators handy. This is why I totally related to “Grey’s Anatomy” actress Katherine Heigl’s scary moment during her presentation at this year’s Academy Awards. Gurrrl, I overstand!

Thankfully, there is hope for a writer who’d rather hide behind her laptop–even in this age of increasingly-popular “book trailers” (see www.bookvideos.tv). I take inspiration from The English American author Alison Larkin. She’s expressive, hilarious and so fun to watch! With drama training and a one-woman show under her belt, Alison knows how to work the spotlight and makes it look easy. Check her out in this book tour clip:

She’s inspired me to view public speaking as an opportunity to have fun and perform. I channeled Alison last week when I had the pleasure of speaking to two groups of teens here on the island. I had a wonderful time speaking to students at Bermuda High School. Here I am with the school’s awesome head of secondary, Ms. Robinson.

My next stop was a talk with Bermudian Girl Guides. The ladies were so sweet. We had a vibin’ chat and the girls asked lots of questions about magazine writing and book publishing. (See photo below.)

Opportunities like these are too valuable to pass up because of a public-speaking fear. I can’t wait to go out and speak to more groups!

When there’s a drought in the States, the government issues advisories (i.e., a cease and desist on sprinklers, water hoses and the like). While the communal supply may be low, chances are, your home’s water supply will not get cut (unless you forget to pay your water bill!). But here in Bermuda if there is low rainfall, your home is likely to straight up run out of water. That’s because most of water supply here comes straight from the heavens. No freshwater rivers here. Rain water is captured on rooftops and stored in tanks–hence, the white limestone roofs that top off like every structure in Bermuda. (The white roofs are so beautifully striking against the bright blue sky.)

Some private homes have wells, but a majority of them rely on their below-ground rainwater tanks. So, rainwater goes from the tank to the tap.
The hubby and I have enjoyed the great weather during this, our first winter here in Bermuda. Unfortunately, the sunny days are costing us now. It was an unseasonably dry winter and lots of home tanks have gone dry.
Well, this past weekend it happened to us! I turned on the tap and nothing came out. We called a water supply company, which drove over at 10pm to give our parched tank 2,000 gallons of water. I, of course, grabbed my camera and took photos of this very new (to us) experience. Here’s a shot of the truck in our driveway.

Our tank is located behind the cottage in the backyard.

The water comes from a desalination plant, says our water supplier Mr. Fox of Fox’s Water Supply (pictured here wearing the cap and working with with my hoodie-wearing hubby).

Fill ‘er up, guys!

Aaah, salt water–we’re surrounded with hundreds of miles of it out here. At least we know that that’s one thing that won’t dry up…at least not in our lifetimes (hello, global warming!).