One Nation

Attempted to venture to a function on the North Coast today. Not being one to be overly concerned about driving conditions, today's drive was scary. There was water coming down from everywhere on to the roadway. Trees were hanging over the road with a couple trees actually fallen but held up by the telephone cables. The water from the hill side came on to the road creating a river like situation. I had to turn back after being caught in a traffic jam caused by a major landslide just before the Maracas Bay lookout. The Maracas Road/ North Coast Road was built by the American Armed Forces during their stint here during WW2. The area would have been serviced by the Old Paria Main Rd which was basically a mule track. The North Coast Road is one of the most picturesque drives in the Caribbean where one can see way up the rugged coast eastwards and then right down in the west to Venezuela. During my time in Government I had proposed declaring the road a 'Scenic Drive' whereby ...

I wonder what rainfall we are going to end the year with? It must be up there with record rainfall. Moka has rained for days on end, non stop. The lawn is like a sponge, squishy. The no traffic is terrific. Looking at video from the freezing north reinforces my belief that humankind was meant to live in a warm climate. The tracking north of the Neanderthals must have been for good reason, no way could it be that they were in fact looking for A/C. We have a new Archbishop of Port of Spain, congrats! I must say that I am feeling for the PMOTT. He came in with such hope and promise and yet right before his very eyes his entire Administration looks as though it is falling apart. His main propaganda guys have all gone very quiet. Why? it could not be because of some video,  some mauvais lang,  persons, including the PMOTT, being accused of misleading the entire country on serious issues,  the complete collapse of the transport links to and from Tobago,  the ...

Most noticeable today was the lack of doubles, channa and cheese, aloo pies and other non pastelle and ham delicacies. I headed out early this morning with my mind set on non Christmas fare, Nic's Channa and Cheese, only to be met with closed doors. Nary a mobile kitchen was in sight so I was forced to eat biscuits. This is not a good omen for the new year, the life blood of the rock takes the week between Christmas and New Years off making life extremely difficult. The other craving is for Chinese food with a good, solid MSG fix. Oh well I will have to weigh my options tomorrow. The demon toy operators are at it again. What is so annoying is that it is not even fireworks, its just noise. OK we would burst bamboo in Arima and have a great time, no eyebrows and all, but that was once in a while and in the evening. These guys are doing this noise thing from early morning, during the day and of course at night. One day there is going to be a horrible accident, the authorities wi...

Ah, it's over, the annual ritual, something that I absolutely love, is done with until next year. The familia arrived and we had a wonderful day. With the passing of the last of the thirteen children earlier this year we, my generation, now become the elderly. I did not think it would have arrived this quickly but it is what it is. We had about 60 odd, some odder than others, family, elders, children, grans and good friends for the lunch of lunches. Each family is given the dish of their preference to bring to the lunch table and it really works well. You walk with your cooler with your preferred beverage and for the next eight hours one touches base with three generations of family. The elders have it down to a 'T' gauging the quantum of food, based on the previous years consumption. Of course who made the best corn pie is always the topic of private conversation. I think the winner is the same winner every year, but it must be discussed. The annual family gather...

Tonight it is cold in the valley. It feels like 20C. There is a slim outline of the moon low over in the western sky, my Google moon phase says it is 4% illumination tonight. We do not have a moon for this Christmas so maybe we will have a dry Christmas Day, which would work well for me. I remember heading to Gran Couva on Christmas Day and flood waters over the then Princess Margaret Highway. There is now a new generation handling the activities for Christmas Day, the previous party organisers have all gone to the great beyond but the tradition continues. It is a wonderful day, endless family, cousins, siblings, aunts, uncles, insiders and outsiders, a truly great day. I look forward to Christmas Day. The politics on the Rock has suddenly taken a dip that is not good at all for a country whose economy is in a very precarious position. The PMOTT has basically said that what he brought to the Parliament with reference to what is known as 'emailgate' was probably not what ...

Coming down to the end of the year the weather on the rock is just gorgeous. The mornings are a cool 22C, beautiful blue skies during the day, early dusk at 6.00 and beautiful sunsets. With the changing of the season from rainy to dry in the next month or so means either night time rain or early morning showers. Life is good! I view every experience as a lesson in life on the rock and I listen and learn from it. Today is no different. I go to get my BBQ propane tank refilled at the facility on the Beetham. There is no road sign to direct you, good thing I got directions from the offspring who cooks otherwise I would have missed it completely. Arrive at my destination, park my car and walk towards the entrance. Of course there are trucks reversing and parking in no organised way so one can only assume that by being a bit disorganised yourself that you are actually doing it right. Find a place that looks like it is important so I enquire, I am in the right place, get my instruction...

I sometimes think that the people who have been elected to the Parliament and therefore are responsible for the running, the vision and the future of the country are completely disconnected from the reality that is the Rock. What happened in the Parliament with the Anti Gang Legislation is a great example of the level of disconnect from the everyday problems that we the people experience. The PMOTT accuses the LOTO of not supporting his Bill by refusing to agree to a sunset clause of 48 months as against 24 months. How could that possibly be a deal breaker? If I was the LOTO I would have agreed to everything the PMOTT proposed and then hold them responsible for their soon to be failure. You said that you needed it to counter crime then here it is. When you fail then you cannot blame us. Everything that has been said today after the failure of the Bill in the Parliament has been blamed on the LOTO as a result of the Opposition not supporting the Bill. It seems that if 'a ants wa...

Once again I have been on the run. Heading to the cold north and busy with earning an honest dollar. I thought that by now in my retiring years that I would be happy to be doing nothing. How can one spend their entire life doing and then be contented doing zip all? The brain is not wired that way, at least for some of us, and age becomes a number, nothing else. We still have a world to conquer, many battles to be fought, good over evil, not setting an alarm, not driving in traffic and having a leisurely lunch, way to go! Traveling to the northern climes recently I do not understand the reason for the greeting 'happy holiday' and not 'happy Christmas'. Is there a difference, am I offending people, what exactly is the season we are supposed to be celebrating? On the rock we wish people 'happy Divali', 'happy Eid', 'happy Christmas', 'happy Indian Arrival', 'happy Emancipation', 'happy Carnival', 'happy Independence...