Burton’s Banter: Bermudians prove a cut above

Covering Nahki Wells’ day at Wembley for the Bermuda Sun was a privilege I won’t forget in a hurry.

To see the level of interest in Nahki back on the island and in the UK, and to be in Bradford and then London representing the paper and country has been a proud experience.

I rounded my trip off with haircut – a pretty unspectacular event in the grand scheme of things.

However, the unwanted conversation with my hairdresser reinforced a lot of what I had been feeling over the trip.

“So what’s Bermuda like?” she asked after a tortuous 10-minute conversation that neither of us were fully committed to.

“It’s great,” I replied.

“How big is it?”

“About 21 square miles.”

“Oooh – like the Isle of Wight?”

Now, for those of you who have never been to the Isle of Wight – off the south coast of England – I can assure you, with all due respect to the natives of the Isle of Wight, Bermuda is very different. Our island may by adverse to change in some regards but I’m sure I saw some Victorian dress on UK’s largest island. Not in an ironic sense, either.

“Well, not really,” I countered. “You see Bermuda has these amazing…”

“I KNOW HIM. He’s the one who’s a golf pro… used to be a fireman… single… makes good gravy…”

What the… ? I almost walked out in disgust — with a full-on, unfinished 1980s’ mullet — at the interruption directed towards another customer.

Bermuda wasn’t mentioned again. And that was a real shame — for her, not me.

The thought of going back to the beaches and promise of some sunshine is one thing but in covering the Nahki story from beginning to end, I’d met and talked to a host of proud, welcoming, open Bermudians who were delighted to the see the Sun supporting their man.

Those people were what I was about to tell my hairdresser about. Like I said, her loss.

Wembley a rip-roaring success

Just to be clear, I’m not complaining.

A work trip to Wembley was wonderful but not without its testing moments.

In my haste to bring the latest pictures of Nahki Wells fans at Wembley to bermudasun.bm, I bent down to pick up camera a little too forcefully.

The result: an embarrassing – and lengthy – rip in my jeans around the groin area.

It was snowing… so, naturally, the rest of the day proved a little colder than before.

Brains here only packed one pair of jeans. So the morning of the big game saw me running around Hammersmith frantically searching for a new pair. To quote an Aussie mate of mine: “Ripper.”

Stay unique, Bermuda

At numerous times during my trip, the need for caffeine overcame me.

Coffee shops are never far away in the UK — but the handful of times my addiction required a search left me depressed.

Typically, in every place I went to, the process went: find a Subway, walk on to McDonald’s, take a left at Burger King, and then you’ll find the Costa.

The character of English towns is being drowned by generic town planning and huge multi-national companies.

It made me appreciate the uniqueness and independent shops of Bermuda. That can’t be allowed to change.