The real Bermuda

September 5, 2010

Dear Sir,

After 25 visits to our beloved Bermuda we found out this year the meaning of "Bermuda Tattoo". Last Tuesday my wife and I were in Hamilton visiting for the day from St. George's on our scooter. After leaving the Princess Hotel, we were headed to the central part of the town when I mistakenly took my eye off the road trying to determine what the two construction cranes high overhead were all about. Suddenly, bam! And we were thrown to the sidewalk.

Fortunately we were travelling fairly slowly but nevertheless it was a jarring and scraping event for the two of us in our 60s and 70s.

My wife immediately ran to the Buzz Café which was in the process of closing and asked if they would share some ice and paper towels so that we could clean up our legs which were badly scraped. The manager and young lady assistant (Keeley) quickly came to our rescue not only with the ice and paper towels but with a first aid kit as well. Miss Keeley was absolutely wonderful in taking care of our multiple abrasions with alcohol wipes and band aids. Keeley is a beautiful young woman who never hesitated in her desire to be nursemaid in our time of need.

Her care, her attitude and her friendliness made an indelible impression on the two of us never to be forgotten. Keeley crossed the gender gap, the generation gap and the culture gap to assist two much older people in their time of need. To help alleviate the pain and the embarrassment, Keeley's associate made us laugh when she said we've finally earned our "Bermuda Tattoos".

We share this story of beauty with your readership because it truly speaks about the Bermudan kindness.

We've always respected and appreciated Bermudian's whenever we've visited your beautiful country but this event solidifies our love and respect for the great island of Bermuda

We also wanted to repeat our Thanks and Appreciation to the Manager and his staff at the Buzz Café, they have wonderful food and ice cream goodies which we experienced the day following our incident.

DICK AND CHRIS PETTINGILL

Annapolis, Maryland