Without a doubt, Jan. 8 was the coldest, nastiest day of the year, maybe the worst day of the entire year.
I looked out my windows and saw the snow falling and knew it would turn to ice. I live at the top of a steep hill and wondered if I could get down the hill when it was icy.
Should I cancel my winter vacation with my daughter and her husband for a week in the tropics on Grand Cayman Island? We had no cancellation insurance, so if we did not go, the money for the tickets would not be refunded.
My sister in Griffin and I talk by phone almost every day. "Why not take the shuttle to the airport and let professionals drive you on roads they know better than you?" she asked?
I thought she was right (as usual).
I inched my car down the icy hill with an eye on the deep gully into which I did not want to slide. Once I got down to Cleveland Highway the road was clear and a few brave souls were driving carefully. I heard later about the 27-car pileup on a road in Atlanta. I was glad I let the shuttle take me to the airport.
The cold extended all over most of the United States. When we landed in Miami to change planes, it was raining and a cold 47 degrees. We were kept waiting on the tarmac for 15 or 20 minutes.
The Miami airport was cold inside as it apparently has no furnace to warm the big drafty building. I had to navigate from our landing gate on D to gate on EE by way of the train up on the third floor. I hurried but as I arrived at my new gate, I saw the plane taking off. I had missed my flight to Grand Cayman by one minute.
I was forced to stay in the cold reception area for more than six hours. I was miserable. This was not a way to start any winter fun trip, but I had no choice.
I tried to call my daughter to tell of my delayed arrival. I could not get through, so I called my sister and left a message with her to call my daughter and tell her of my six-hour delayed arrival in the Caymans.
When I arrived in the Grand Cayman airport they were not waiting for me. Time in the Caymans seems to be relative. They had been told three different arrival times for my flight from Miami by three different airport officials.
The security officer at the airport told me my daughter was looking for me and she knew I had missed my flight by one minute. They had gone to get a bite to eat and would return to get me in a little while. They had rented a small car that was easy to drive. My son-in-law drove up with traffic on the left side of the road and that made driving difficult at first. Roundabout circles also complicated driving but we learned to cope.
We had rented a beach cottage right on the ocean on the north shore of the island. The temperature was much higher than in Miami, some 460 miles to the north of Cayman, but strong winds sometimes made a light windbreaker necessary. So we used our little rental car to explore the island, which is 22 miles long and 8 miles wide at one point. We swam at several beaches but liked the one at Rum Point best.
Grand Cayman is a crown colony of the United Kingdom. Queen Elizabeth II's pictures are on the currency and on many walls. The queen has visited the islands twice and they are proud of their connection.
The island is a tax shelter with no income tax, no real estate tax and no corporate tax. As a result, financial services are the main income producers for the people. I heard that money-laundering is active in Cayman but I don't know because I do not have any dirty money that needed to be washed.
Tourism is the other main source of income. In Georgetown harbor we saw two giant ships with thousands of passengers. Most came ashore and spent money.
The island has many beautiful homes that obviously cost much to construct. Everything is expensive because everything is imported. I saw no farms or plantations of any kind.
Would I return? Absolutely yes.
Tom Nichols is a retired college professor who lives in Gainesville. His column appears regularly on Mondays and on gainesvilletimes.com.