It was an ordinary day. Browsing the web, looking at all the different travel forums that I enjoy reading. Opened Traveltalkonline and one of the titles of the threads shocked me! It read "Gwen's in Anguilla - Fire! Anguilla is an English island off the coast of St. Martin. Has some of the best beaches in the world on it. Shoal Bay East is considered my some as the best beach in the world. Along that stretch of sand are a few beach bars or restaurants. 
Uncle Ernie's is there as so is Gwen's Raggae Grill. We ate at Gwen's on two of the day trips we made to the island. Brightly painted with yellows and turquoise colors. Beautiful view as you had your lunch and after you could relax in one of the hammocks that hung from the palm trees in front of the restaurant. Well, after viewing the photos that accompanied the thread story, Gwen's is no longer there. Burned to the ground. Seems that a propane tank used for cooking exploded and burnt the structure to the ground. Luckily no one was hurt in the fire. On an island such as this I often wondered what would happen
if a structure caught fire. After seeing the condition of most of the emergency vehicles, I wondered if the fire company could get to a fire quickly and have the right equipment to extinguish the fire. In Gwen's case, the structure was all wood and probably very old and no fire company could have prevented it from burning to the ground. Luckily, most buildings are now made entirely of concrete or cement block, so little to burn but the contents. We will miss the old Gwen's. I'm sure that by the time we get there again, a new Gwen's will take it's place. And the hammocks will still sway in the Caribbean breezes. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
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