Here's the deal. I swing by the Bermuda Regiment base on my break to get rid of this thing. (I know it's a mortar round but I still don't want to believe it)
I drive onto the base (nobody at the guard post), find a couple of guys sitting on a wall and explain to them what I have in the back of my car. "Kewl Man, No Problem, go see dee quartamasta over dere". So over dere I go, get the item out of my car and take it into dee quartamasta's office. Nobody at the counter but I can see a couple of locals chatting in the back office about their weekend, so I try to make eye contact - Good Luck! I set the item up on the counter in it's bed made from a towel so as not to bang it on the hard surface, they keep yakking. Finally after what seems forever with a potential bomb sitting at face level (to interrupt their conversation would be considered rude in Bermuda and I would have to wait twice as long for being rude) one of them says "Good Morning" (very important phrase here, I can talk to them now).
I say "Good Morning, I found something on the beach on the weekend and I think it belongs to you" and motion to the item on the counter. "What is dat?" she asks, so I say "I think it's a bomb" (I'm a little PO'ed at this point). She saunters up to the counter and her friend follows her, he says "That's an old mortar shell, haven't seen one of dose in a while, where did you find it?" I told him I found it at Chaplin Bay on the beach beside some kids making a sand castle; he just smiles and picks it up like it was a paperweight or something. "Yes" he says "that's a mortar shell allright" and THEN HE STARTS PLAYING WITH THE DETONATOR!!
I said "thank you so much for taking that off of my hands" they said "thank you for bringing it in" and dat was dat.
I got the heck out of there as quick as I could before he could figure out how to make it go off, I didn't hear an explosion by the time I was out of earshot so I am assuming it was a dud, either that or he just got bored and put it back down.
I watched the news that night to see if there was a terrorist attack on the Bermuda Regiment, Nope! I guess the quartamasta got bored with my mortar round before he blew himself up.
Sometimes living on a tropical island isn't all it's cracked up to be.
Cheers,
BDA
PS It turns out that this mortar round is loaded with 2 lbs. of TNT.
I drive onto the base (nobody at the guard post), find a couple of guys sitting on a wall and explain to them what I have in the back of my car. "Kewl Man, No Problem, go see dee quartamasta over dere". So over dere I go, get the item out of my car and take it into dee quartamasta's office. Nobody at the counter but I can see a couple of locals chatting in the back office about their weekend, so I try to make eye contact - Good Luck! I set the item up on the counter in it's bed made from a towel so as not to bang it on the hard surface, they keep yakking. Finally after what seems forever with a potential bomb sitting at face level (to interrupt their conversation would be considered rude in Bermuda and I would have to wait twice as long for being rude) one of them says "Good Morning" (very important phrase here, I can talk to them now).
I say "Good Morning, I found something on the beach on the weekend and I think it belongs to you" and motion to the item on the counter. "What is dat?" she asks, so I say "I think it's a bomb" (I'm a little PO'ed at this point). She saunters up to the counter and her friend follows her, he says "That's an old mortar shell, haven't seen one of dose in a while, where did you find it?" I told him I found it at Chaplin Bay on the beach beside some kids making a sand castle; he just smiles and picks it up like it was a paperweight or something. "Yes" he says "that's a mortar shell allright" and THEN HE STARTS PLAYING WITH THE DETONATOR!!
I said "thank you so much for taking that off of my hands" they said "thank you for bringing it in" and dat was dat.
I got the heck out of there as quick as I could before he could figure out how to make it go off, I didn't hear an explosion by the time I was out of earshot so I am assuming it was a dud, either that or he just got bored and put it back down.
I watched the news that night to see if there was a terrorist attack on the Bermuda Regiment, Nope! I guess the quartamasta got bored with my mortar round before he blew himself up.
Sometimes living on a tropical island isn't all it's cracked up to be.
Cheers,
BDA
PS It turns out that this mortar round is loaded with 2 lbs. of TNT.
