Way to go, Gertie! (I love her look)
The formal dress and hairdo or the red eyes and missing nose?
Pillow fights are a must on this island 
And congrats to Gertie on taking head of the island for the second time.
Pillow fights are absolutely essential to survival on a desert island, clearly
.
Week 5: GardeningAs it turn out, week 5 is very different. Different from my expectations, that is.
It starts quietly enough, with everybody gathering by Gertrude’s hut at 8.30 on Sunday morning. Fortunately, they’re all sticking to much the same hours and no-one has to have their sleep interrupted to keep their appointment. As soon as the stragglers have changed out of their nightclothes, they’re teleported across to the shore.
Adventurous Charlie looks around their unexpectedly enlarged world.
The first of a fleet of taxis pulls up at the end of the road and Gertie gets in.
Their destination is Dr Simano’s Sanatarium, where they’ve all been enrolled in a gardening class.
As they emerge from the science centre, most seem more concerned with their need for food or a shower (or, in Gertie’s case, with finishing her book) than with horticultural pursuits. However, they all dutifully roll wishes to garden (and to register as self-employed gardeners, which isn’t going to happen).
Back home, there’s some confusion when everyone decides they simply have to touch the mailbox for luck before crossing the stream. While the others are milling around and complaining, Herbie and Jancis take the opportunity to become better acquainted (and, of course, to show how cool and relaxed they are
).
Eventually, everyone is safely teleported back on to the island…
…and, shortly afterwards, this week’s skilling objects appear. Unsurprisingly in view of the class, they’re plants. Rather a lot of plants. If they have any sense and are prepared to put in some work, they should be able to live quite comfortably this week.
Of course, this lot have already shown that sense isn’t their strong point. My test Sims had no interest in plants until they’d unlocked the gardening skill but then they settled quite happily into weeding, watering and harvesting. You can probably guess what the contestants do instead…
In fact, they find quite a lot of ways of not-gardening. Social networking and charisma points are being racked up all over the place.
Meanwhile, the poor plants are dying.
On Tuesday morning, they’re still being ignored and I’m trying to work out whether there’s a way to provoke the Islanders into looking after them, when Isobel interrupts an important pillow fight.
“It’s getting dark again!”
Really?
Another one?!This time, I decide I’m going to leave them to cope with the meteor on their own (although only after a quick save, in case of total annihilation). The first signs aren’t promising. Gertie looks up to see what Isobel’s going on about but a four-way pillow fight is just too exciting to be disturbed by a little thing like mortal danger.
Isobel, amazingly, has an attack of common sense and runs across the island at top speed. Gertie and Jancis finally decide she might be on to a good thing and follow her. Herbie and Alan just duck. Yeah, that’ll make all the difference.
And the meteor hits. It’s far more impressive than the previous one. I have to zoom the camera out for what seems like forever to see anything other than a big white glare.
The Islanders start straggling back to admire the blast. As you do
.
As the smoke clears, it appears that two tents are charred, a few plants have been disintegrated and
the biggest idiots Herbie and Alan are singed but everyone has survived.
Then the fires start and so does the panic. Oddly, cowardly Jancis appears to be finding the flames rather sweet.
Thank goodness for Dilys and her daredevil trait. She runs up with her extinguisher and actually does something useful.
She and Charlie… Hang on, where’s Charlie? Did I somehow miss him getting fried?
No, Charlie is bravely having a shower and ignoring the mayhem. Once he’s dressed, I make him phone the fire brigade. Fires are starting up across the water and I’m not sure what will happen if they’re left to burn. In contrast to my previous experience with the Monte Vistan firefighters, one turns up almost at once and starts tackling the blaze.
He’s soon joined by two colleagues.
They’re nearly as effective as Dilys.
Then, of course, they have a collective tantrum about being unable to cross the stream. Presumably they wanted to tell the contestants off for their carelessness vis-ŕ-vis meteors.
And what do you do to recover from a crisis?
