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HILTON HEAD ISLAND - I am in South Carolina for a few days while Miriam is at a conference.

The trip here, in a rented Hyundai Sonata, was surprisingly comfortable.  That’s a good little car.  It has every luxury, and appears to get incredibly good mileage.  We made a brief stop in Savannah for lunch, then arrived in South Carolina around 4:30.  This area differs from coastal Florida in a number of ways, though the most immediately obvious is the presence of trees, which is striking, considering how many hurricanes come through here.  Every shopping center and parking lot is wooded, and, in fact, the shopping areas are set back from the road, so you see unobtrusive signs along the street, in front of a wall of pine and oak.

The hotel is nice, if sprawling.  The hallways are long and the pool area covers a giant swath of land in the middle of the complex.  The balcony of our room looks over a pond with a fountain, and at night the frogs are very active.  The lobby is handsome, with elaborate wood paneling and millwork, and as I write people are enjoying complimentary lemonade and some other drink with whole strawberries in it.  This morning I attempted to get started reading Robinson Crusoe, but the splashing and cavorting of the guests at the pool, and the sound of the waves was too distracting for me.  I have been watching the swimming events from the Olympics on television.

Last night we went for a lovely walk along the beach, and it took us quite a distance north from our hotel.  The shore in front of the hotel had a goodly number of bathers, but a short distance up the coast it was practically deserted, and there were all manner of birds and bivalves and crabs.

The weather today is surprisingly cool, in the mid 70s, I’d say. It feels like Florida in the winter, since it’s also a bit overcast at the moment.  In a few minutes we’re going into town to have lunch and look at some old antebellum houses.

I foolishly forgot the power supply to my laptop, so I can only use this computer for as long as I have charge.  If  I don’t write again until Wednesday that is why.  The most unfortunate aspect of my absent-mindedness is that I won’t get to edit the photographs from the wedding I shot in St. Augustine last month.  That will be my top priority when I return to Gainesville.

I can, at last, write a bit about the Gainesville Roller Rebels’ debut bout, which took place on Sunday, April 20 at Mandarin Skate Station in Jacksonville. 

First, the Jacksonville Roller Girls have been unbelievably good to the GRR.  They have coached the GRR girls and offered countless pointers, JRG girls have come down to Gainesville, even, to help out: Anita Hardone did a radio interview with Ms. Rebel a few weeks ago to promote the the first bout. 

So, it was beyond kind for the Jacksonville Roller Girls to allow the GRR girls to debut in the context of a mixed-team competition.  Occasionally, derby teams’ first competitions will be against an established teams B-squad.  The Jax Girls don’t have a B-squad, and in a head-to-head contest against the GRR girls a blowout would be certain.  So this competition featured two teams–Preps and Punks–made up of a mix of Jax and Gainesville girls.  Miriam was a Prep, and wore a collared shirt with a necklace.  The punks probably had it easier fashionwise, but each team did a good job. 

The morning began early with a practice, and a review of how the match would proceed.  There is a little stagecraft involved, primarily orchestrating the way the teams will skate out onto the rink, and this bout involved a shoolyard pick.  Once that portion of the practice was done we all went to get lunch, and then split into groups for leisure activities.  Miriam and I joined Black-Out Brady and Sidless Nancy and headed up to the beach, where her fiance’s sister and brother-in-law have a house and a million bicycles.  We formed an impromptu gang and ruled the streets and the beach.  It was a delight.

Getting back to the Mandarin Skate Station in the late afternoon, the GRR girls found that the Jax girls had given them gift bags.  It was such a kind thing to do.  Steve and Kathleen had come and were running the merchandise table.  Spectators were showing up and taking their suicide seats.  Once the bout started it went fast.  Roller Derby is a fast game, and the jammers have to move especially quickly.  There were some serious spills, but the girls got right back up and kept on skating.  It was awesome.  You can see the full gallery here.

The number and variety of activities and events in Gainesville is really quite something. If you pay attention to the calendar and have reasonably broad interests, you will seldom be bored.

This weekend was the Downtown Festival and Arts Show, which takes place every year in November. Mrs. Hill and I have been many times, and this year’s was much like the others, with countless booths of framed photographs, handicrafts, paintings, sculpture, and so on. There was also an array of unhealthy carnival-style food, like funnel cakes, and a booth that had just about everything people usually eat, but in fried form. There was free cheese, and even Sonic was there.

What was fun about this year’s festival was seeing so many people we knew. Dan and Heather were there with Ayler, looking happy as ever, and our other friend named Heather was there with her boyfriend Brian, enjoying an unusual day off from his job at Sweetwater Branch. Plus, on our bike ride downtown, we saw Danielle, our hairdresser, watering the plants in her front yard, and we stopped and chatted.

The weather was perfect, the dancing was entertaining, and the Spammobile was there.

At 9:30 this morning I rode my bike alongside a jogging Mrs. Hill as we made our way downtown to eat breakfast. The Top doesn’t open for Sunday brunch until 11:30, we discovered, but we knew Jeff’s Deli–at the corner of University Avenue and SW 1st Street–would be open. Indeed, it was full, and we had to wait for the staff to clear a table for us. It took several minutes for our waitress to bring us a menu, and several more for her to bring us our drinks. Then, after what seemed like an eternity, Miriam pointed out to me that nobody around us was eating. It was true, there was only one table in sight enjoying food. Everyone else looked hungry and annoyed.

After an hour, with no indication of when our meal would arrive, we heard our young, but surprisingly haggard waitress tell the table next to us that there was some sort of kitchen calamity. She didn’t bother telling us, but we did receive our food at 11:45, an hour and fifteen minutes after we arrived. Some diners simply got up and left.

Had our waitress been more communicative, or had she simply said that there was a problem in the kitchen, we’d have just shrugged it off. But the servers were visibly fighting with the management and the kitchen staff, no doubt concerned that their tips would suffer. Still, as we left after noon, the older fellow at the register–whom I took to be a manager–practically insulted me for suggesting the wait was abnormal. “McDonald’s is down the road”, he said.

In spite of that, however, I know that he knew that something was amiss, since our waitress and the other young server we saw had both been pleading with him to do something about the catastrophe unfolding around them.

I’ve never liked Jeff’s Deli, and simply needed an excuse to never return. So, perhaps I should thank them for giving me–and a restaurant full of angry people–a perfect one.

On Friday, homecoming at the University of Florida provided Mrs. Hill and I an opportunity to enjoy a Florida landmark we had seen in passing, but never specifically visited, namely, the St. Augustine Lighthouse.  Construction began in 1871, and the present tower replaced an earlier coquina tower built 50 years earlier, which is now lost to the sea.

Neither Miriam nor I had ever been in a lighthouse, but I found it thrilling.  I feel I am generally getting over my fear of heights, since, at the top, I was not afraid to walk around the lamp and look out upon the stunning view of greater St. Augustine.  That is, I wasn’t afraid of how high I was.  I was, however, afraid of the intense winds which nearly knocked me down.  So hard did they blow that remaining upright took genuine effort.  Frankly, I am surprised they allowed anyone at the top that day.  But I am glad they did, because it allowed us an exciting new experience.

Later we drove to the beach nearby, and marveled at the considerable erosion wrought by Tropical Storm Noel’s winds and waves.  The high surf was clearly visible from the lighthouse, maybe a mile from shore.  At the beach it was easy to see that a good five feet of sand had been washed away.   No swimming was allowed.  I still had fun.