Skip to main content

'Mr Bascombe'



For all the things we are, for all the stress and trials and tribulations that we live through every day, there is always something that happens that says 'now that's the reason we live here'. Our garbage truck comes on a regular basis, three times per week, and we have had the same crew for some time. The other morning the truck came earlier than usual so we had not yet put out our bag. The doorbell rings and I am hearing a male voice calling 'morning, morning'. Of course, I am swearing under my breath who the hell is this calling, not even my second cup. There is a larger than life 'Mr. Bascombe' asking what happened, no garbage today? Mr. Bascombe has a system of collection where he moves way ahead of the truck, picking up the bags and taking them to a single spot so that the truck has limited stops making for a much quicker pickup.

I have been on a new regimen for the last couple months basically making sure that I do not hit 66 as an old man. Walking and eating properly, no special diet, and it is working. I am well on my way to my weight/height ratio and hope to keep it there forever. One of the things I have done is to eat local food. No takeout whatsoever and no white flour, I would think that as of today my diet consists of over 80% of all local food. Still cannot get my head around mango wine so the main part of the rest of the 80% goes into my weekend treat of a couple glasses of merlot or whatever is pouring. I am very proud of the fact that I can live a healthy life without imported food. Using 'no-jook' fresh chicken averaging over 4lbs, local shrimp (OK needs cleaning), fresh fish, yellow sweet potato, Moruga hill rice, fine chocolates, great local ice cream, pawpaw and other fruit for snacking (instead of apples and grapes), homemade granola, everything green, everything in season, and everything else grown here.
 If we all adopted a similar approach then what would happen to our $5.0BN food import bill? If we put $1.0BN into agriculture can you imagine what the possibilities are? If the local food importers started to put resources behind our local farmers then we are talking serious diversification and millions of dollars saved in foreign exchange.

I see Barbados has taken the lead over the Rock with the arrest of a former Government Minister by the US authorities on charges of corruption. The new administration was elected in May of this year and already a corrupt politician is in handcuffs. Who was the last politician convicted and jailed from the Rock? and when was that? Every election we hear of the most corrupt bunch ever being voted out of office, being replaced by the other lesser corrupt ones and then the mysterious code amongst the brigands kicks in as it has done since the Caura Dam scandal. Is it not time that this foolishness stops. Call up Mia and ask her how to do it if with all the legal bravado, and fist pumping all we get is the boondoggle.

I see that after all the flashing lights and official announcements we still do not have a Commissioner of Police. The contract has not yet been agreed to. I might not be the sharpest tack in the box but surely this would have been No 1 priority before all the announcements and Cabinet reshuffle. We continue to wallow in mediocrity, we somehow always find a way to show ourselves as being not so bright. Remember the gentleman from Ghana being sworn in, the recently reshuffled Minister of National Security being sworn in before even the PMOTT took his oath of office, the Marlene bacchanal. I am not for one minute making reference only to this administration, all are guilty.

People of the Rock let us look for the 'Mr. Bascombes', there are many out there and in the meantime good night and good luck!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

R&R

We had two of the four grands spend the weekend with us whilst the parents went off to the North Coast for some rest and relaxation. From all reports, the sojourn was well spent with both singing the praises of our North Coast, no beach, just R&R. We are ten minutes from the coast and I hate to admit it but it is rare that we venture north. One of the selling points of coming to live in the wilds of Maraval in 1983 was the fact that Maracas Bay was a mere 30 mins away. Maracas could have been next door it did not matter, we just do not do it. Having grandchildren I think puts you in a very different place. When our kids were growing up we were struggling with building a business from scratch, living off of a teachers salary, impossible then as it is now, and generally ketching. But as it is with all things in life we survived. Looking back at those years it was difficult, kids, dogs, mortgage and other loans, but you knew why you were putting yourself through all this hard...
Post a Comment
Read more

the Grand Pooba! The Constitution 101 [6[

The distance the Tobago ferries have to travel between the islands is approximately 80 miles. For safety reasons the First Bocas cannot be used so the ferries sail through the Second Bocas which adds time on to the sailing schedule. The water or wave pattern is different on the sailing to Tobago as the wave comes at an angle to the sailing direction of the ferry that does not provide the passengers with the most comfortable ride. At certain times of the year, November to March in particular, the seas can get extremely rough. There have been cancellations of the service because of adverse sea conditions. The current design of the passenger ferries being used, the Incat hull, have proven to be the best to date. They are fast, in excess of 35 knots, which should give a sailing time of just over two [2] hrs. Being a catamaran type design, with a wave piercing capability, it is probably one of the best vessels for the service. There are newer designs of the same basic hull that can take...
Post a Comment
Read more

'Teacher Lucy'

May Day is significant both as a spring festival in the northern climes and of course as the International Labor Day. The latter was started in the 19th century by the communists and socialists and strangely enough in commemoration of an event in Chicago. May 1st on the Rock is just that May 1st. Within recent times a couple trade unions have recognized the day but our big labor celebration is on another day. On the Rock, you get to celebrate Labor Day twice and get paid for it. The dreaded SEA examine is happening this week and if you somehow forgot one is reminded by the number of photo-ops taken by persons of import. These persons visit schools hand out 'SEA packs' (consisting of pens, pencils and other trinkets), call for all God's best wishes on the poor children and to me scare the hell out of these kids who are about to sit an exam that will mark them forever. The SEA is as bad as it gets and to further stress the kids is simply not something that should ...
Post a Comment
Read more