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' puerk, chiken, phish, and begtables'

I had dreams of being a world traveler at 60, that did not happen so I postponed that to 65. The good news is that at 66 I am still able to travel and in the whole scheme of things I have not done too badly.  There are endless places I still want to see and I hope that I will be able to complete my bucket list. My list consists of places that I think are important to civilization, more on the people rather than the vista. I will admit that New York City is a place that I love as is the city of London. But then all of us require some level of civilization, especially coming from an island nation. A few years ago we visited the Philippines. Our daughter was posted there under a VSO assignment and we headed out to a part of the world not many people from our parts would normally visit. We arrived on an Easter weekend and there was a terrorist scare in Manila, problems on the island of Mindanao, so our hotel was under watch, endless security. During our stay, we headed out to the islan
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Peace and quiet

When you hear the words 'perfect' or 'the best' it makes you feel like a million dollars. Human nature is weird, a simple compliment can turn a whole story into a week of joy! And, yes, I am speaking about the Sunday night popcorn! Apparently, tonight was exceptional. I hope the rest of the week translates into 'perfect'. The horrible news of the deaths of two cyclists over the weekend came as a real shock. We both know a number of people who cycle for good weekend sport and to hear of Joe Brown being killed in an accident was truly heart-rending. When we heard of the accident we started to think of all the people we know who cycle and just hoped it might be somebody we did not know. Is this how it works, you hope that it's not someone you know, what about all the people who actually know the person? Truly a sad day! RIP Joe and Joanna! The issue of cycling and motorists is one that every country I am sure goes through. Is it that the main roads are for
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'the bongo night'

She looks at me and says ' you know what night it is?'. I immediately think of 'the bongo night' and she says 'it's Sunday that means popcorn'. So much for 'bongo'. Love the tropics, it is dark by 6.30 and will be light by 6.00am. This is good for ones being, the daylight and nighttime are more or less equal, good balance. We attended a showing of yet another brilliant artist, Abigail Hadeed, whose work spans decades. Her photography is exceptional and her current show ' the Weight of Water' at the 'Y' is something not to be missed. We are a truly talented people, only 1.3m of us yet we can produce world-class works of art. This is why we are very special, very special indeed. I see the great country of America is having their 'midterm' election.  Why should this be of any import for a small island like ourselves? Well for starters I think there is an equivalent Trini population living in the good ole USA. Depending on h
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The 'Mighty Shadow' died.

It has been some time since I posted, my brain has been in another place. I always felt that this blog was a pressure valve for me. When things seemed unredeemable in the politics or simply in our broken society I would use this medium as my out. Within recent times other things have had me busy thus my tardiness in blogging. What the hell, we all have problems and we always find a way out, which is where I am tonight. Nikki Minaj has pledged support for the victims of the most recent flooding which the country experienced over the last 10 days. This is great news, we have reached the international news. PM Ralph Gonzalves has pledged $40K US as a token for the flood victims. The PMOTT has said that no help is needed and therefore he is not really willing to accept aid from other Caribbean Governments. The Rock has been at the forefront of aid for many island states and rightly so, we could have afforded it at the time. When your neighbor offers to help one should gratefully accept
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Zuckerberg

Tonight, a typical October night, relatively cool but not sure what it is supposed to be. We had a torrential downpour today and it was a bit muggy. This month, like May, is a transition month, from the rainy season into the dry season, even though this will be some months away. The other morning there was a quick shower at about 4.00AM and I thought not a good sign for the upcoming dry season. Rain tends to fall early morning in the dry season, was this notice already of the dry season, I sincerely hope not. Trying to read the Sunday newspapers got me into a foul mood. The headlines were all doom and gloom. Why are we in this position? Why is everything a story, nothing is straight? The people are constantly told of unbridled corruption, yet not a single person has been charged and convicted of stealing from the taxpayer, why? We now have yet another scandal involving the PMOTT. People have come forward accusing and people have come forward defending. Everything is up in the air.
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Budget in 5 mins.

This week was Budget week with the Minister of Finance presenting his Government's fiscal policy for the coming financial year. It is something I guess all countries do, how they present their budgets, I am sure, varies from country to country. We have adopted the old established boring as hell, convoluted, to be understood only by technocrats, Ernst and Young and PWC.  99% of the speech not to be taken on and 1% of it taking up all the news and discussion. Our Minister went on for 3 painful hours and at the end, the only takehome was that he raised the price of super gasoline by $1.00. Ouch! Three hours of Colm? So, I figured I would make my comments in less than five minutes. You can time it, it will be exact. Change the format of the Budget speech making it make sense to all. Account for last years spending. Issue a one-pager of the vital statistics - monies in/monies out/ Ministries budget and Ministries spend for the previous fiscal year/deficit/positive cash flow/ %
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'watchie kongs'

One of the great things about living on the Rock is the friends and acquaintances you have over a lifetime. When you add up how many people you know personally, family, friends, neighbors, work buddies, people you interact with for different reasons, one can easily count a couple hundred people. My life partner says that I am the only person she knows that has three hundred close friends. I do, I can't help it if I am that popular! One of the issues of having many friends is that you have many friends die. This year I lost a couple good friends. You used to go to funerals when old aunts and uncles died, now we are the old aunts and uncles. On Friday yet another good friend was buried, RIP Boyer. The Rock is hot this week. We have the annual fiscal measures being presented tomorrow at the Parliament. The Minister of Finance will sum up his Government's performance in the last financial year and then present his fiscal plan for the coming 2019 period.  Tomorrow people will b
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