One Nation

The days on the Rock seem to be getting better and better. This old guy, me, started the process of renewing my driving permit. Age 65 I go and get my medical done and the doc asks did you bring the form. Yes, I was Minister of Transport but I was never 65 before so I did not know the exact procedure. Off I go to the St James Licensing Office and could not have met nicer people. Photos needed, go next door, bam photos taken, back up the stairs, medical form and yellow form stapled with photo, form stamped and returned. Tomorrow I test the new Licensing Office in Caroni for its efficiency and will report back to the people of the Rock. I hope its not freezing as I only wear tropical friendly clothing ( no noodle strap). I then ask the clerk what was the cost of renewing, figuring a fee/tax had been imposed by everyone's friend. She looks at me with a big Trini smile 'yuh lucky, is free' of course I had to reply ' yuh mean ah lucky because ah get ole'. Anyway's,...

A good day on the Rock. I walked past a WASA pump installation this afternoon when all of a sudden a hose busted with water flying all over the place. I immediately called WASA and within 20 minutes a technician drove up to the installation and attended to the situation. Of course we can do it, and do it every time. There is no reason why we have to be inefficient. Whether it is water, electricity customs or immigration, licensing, pothole patching, why the drama every time? Why not simply get the job done? I heard of stories of the Immigration and Customs in Grenada offering refreshments to persons arriving by sea last weekend, apologising for any delay in the processing of the arriving vessel. This is called respect. It has nothing to do with 'oh immigration officers should not smile, they should not be welcoming in case you are trying to enter illegally'. That is old, old, old and has nothing to do with the 21st century. We hear of the horror stories of a visitor's f...

What a great day at the 2018 Panorama Semis! the Queens Park Savannah was revving on Sunday afternoon. Wonderful people, friends, slightly overcast, brilliant pan music, food and beverages aplenty. This year the rules were changed again for the millionth time. Last year we had all categories, small, medium and large playing on the same day. A nightmare ensued with the last large band playing to an empty facility and leaving the stage at 1.30 on Monday morning. This year it was reduced to just the medium and large bands, still a 10hr production. For me I go, enjoy have a great lime and when we are ready to depart we depart. I am not supporting a marathon event. It is the reason why you do not see the crowd changing, it is the same old geezers every year, I must say though very happy and contented geezers. If the organisers do not reassess the format then, like Calypso, the King and Queen of the Bands and the Parade of the Bands, the Panorama will suffer the same fate. Speaking of Cal...

A great thing happened today. I washed my car and it did not rain. OK, so other absolutely great things made history today, I am sure something was discovered that will change mankind, decisions by world leaders for world peace. None of that is of interest to me because the simple task of washing my car was what was of great import and I marvelled at the sun and dry weather. It is the little things in ones life that give the greatest joy. Tomorrow should be the same with a prediction of only 20% precipitation. Two days with a clean car is good. I am one of those who curse WASA who has leaks on the main roads with spray flying all around and dirtying up my clean car. WASA should have zero leaks, that should be WASA's goal, I don't think that they are interested in any of this as the leaks continue and the complaints from the citizens continue. I remember in the Manifesto of the ruling party a commitment was made to increase the truck delivery of truck borne water. Go figure! ...

There is something inherently wrong with how we are doing the business of the Rock. I listen to the music for the 2018 Carnival, there are some waste of time pieces, but some fabulous road music. When you think of how many songs are produced and how many winner tunes there are it is truly remarkable that every year you can have this. We have perfected the art of the massive fete, people base the success on the food, the outfits, location, performers, sound system, bar, decor. No longer just the bar and the music. Going to a fete is an all encompassing experience, and why not. I believe in evolution and simply Carnival has evolved. Today there are tens of thousands of people participating as against the masqueraders of the 60's and 70's. Of course things have changed but if Carnival had not moved with the times then it would have simply died. Using a GPS to find your band rather than walking across the city searching is a great innovation. OK as a result you do not see the res...

The weather in Tobago has been a bit of everything with each day starting off differently as to how it actually finished. Yesterday, a bit cloudy then into the most gorgeous Caribbean day, windy with blue  blue skies. Today, overcast, especially looking down to Trinidad, we will see what happens. There is a cruise ship in the harbour at Scarborough so I hope the visitors are not disappointed. We went to Pigeon Pt yesterday and parked up on the lagoon side with the Tobago ridge in full view. I still maintain that Tobago must be classed in the top ten Caribbean Islands for its natural beauty. How do you mix swimmers, kite boarding, wind surfing, fete boats, glass bottom boats and jet ski's? The simple answer is you don't. Sitting on the lagoon side of Pigeon Pt it was scary to see the mix. First off you cannot have motorised craft being operated within the same area as sail craft and people swimming. There have been approximately 8 fatalities and countless injuries, some with...

The good thing about being semi retired is you can have a home day anytime. Today was one of those days, did on the road chores, bank, minimal grocery and lunch from one of the new 'grab an go' restaurants on Saddle Road. Great concept, good healthy eating, if you want and reasonable. It's also very nice to have lunch at home during the work week, a luxury I never had in my working life. I might get very used to this new lifestyle even though I find it difficult not to get up in the morning and go to work. Let's see what happens, one day at a time. Did the EMA finally get their vote from the Ministry of Planning? All of a sudden the EMA is the talk in town. All of a sudden the EMA is insisting that the noise emanating from a fete venue be controlled and comply with the regulations. OK this weekend gone the fete venue chosen for noise testing was the Oval which happens to be across the road from the EMA headquarters. I fully support the EMA and their quest to have f...

Had a very busy weekend. Attended 2 functions on Sunday, imagine! This is unheard of and worse than that had to refuse an invitation for last Friday evening because of some serious grand parenting. We attended the 'Carnival - sound of a people 2.0' put on by the jazz master Etienne Charles. A wonderful evening. Looking forward to his on the road Carnival band on Carnival Monday, thank you for live music. Today was the start of the official program to celebrate the life of our recently departed former President, Max Richards. And so it should be. He served a two year term and was able to escape the cheap politicking which is commonplace on the Rock. The celebration however came at a heavy price. Through no fault of His Excellency nor I am sure his family. Who ever planned the route of the procession from NAPA to the Parliament somehow did not realise that Wrightson Rd is the only artery in the city that can move tens of thousands of vehicles  across the city.  There is no ...

I took an early morning drive to the North Coast, La Filette to be exact. There are many great scenic drives on the Rock. The North Coast, the East Coast, the Manzanilla Stretch, the Windward Road - Tobago all beautiful drives. It is the natural beauty that blows the mind. We did not have to allocate acreage for luxury hotels or give tax free incentives. In fact all we had to do was build a road to connect different communities and voila! a scenic drive is created making the Rock probably one of the top five scenic drives in the Caribbean. This is what tourism is all about, not an enclave. The natural beauty is what it takes, everything else could be an amusement park. The North Coast Road however is in a mess. It is overgrown, the one CEPEP gang cannot do justice, horrible private signage, broken down roadside vendor huts, roadside garages with abandoned vehicles, non existent drainage, poor driving surface, vendors on the famous lookout - blocking the vistas, garbage. Why does thi...

The house that we live in has been our home for the past 34 years. We basically built the house ourselves, of course with a little help from our friends, and others. When we moved here it was bush, at night we had 'carnival king costumed' type bugs come out at night. The largest crapauds you can imagine. Those were the fun days. We had no communication, phone lines did not come until sometime after. Our neighbours moved in a couple years after and tomorrow is their last day as the keys are being handed over within days to the new owner. It is great to live in a place where your neighbours are good people. Yesterday our other neighbour handed a bunch of coconuts over the fence and in return a couple of the sweetest paw paws were shared. We don't live in each other's houses but we are good neighbours who still look out for each other. How many people have that experience. The Ministry of Education has issued a release to its staff that refreshments at meetings are now...

The news that the 4th President of the Republic had died created quite an outpouring of genuine sympathy from the citizens of the Rock. I had met his Excellency a number of times both as a commoner and also as a Member of Parliament. He and his wife were always extremely gracious and he seemed to keep out of trouble by being careful to not cross the line, understanding rightfully his role as a Head of State. He also loved his Carnival and why not, he was a person and not a God. Again whilst playing mas he knew his position and never found himself in an embarrassing situation. RIP Max Richards! The very strange statement by the PMOTT on the purchase of a new fast ferry has taken the industry by surprise. Reason being is that the PMOTT led the charge against the PPG and the tendering procedure used for the contracting of the Super Fast Galicia claiming fraud. The tendering process used by the then Government was throughly discussed and put in the public domain during the Joint Selec...

The PMOTT addressed the people of the Rock last night and I chose not to view it because I did not think that there would have been anything useful coming out of it. Reading the headlines today and hearing a couple clips I guess I was right. There was not really anything earth shattering which is why one would normally make an address to the Rock. Promises of things to happen, where have we heard that before? The PMOTT needs to stop with the posturing and make it happen. There was the horrific murder of two persons today in Morvant, one being a school boy on his way home. The Minister of National Security in a live interview, no editing, speaks of the line being crossed. Which line? Why, because it was a child? because the vehicle was set on fire with the persons in it? What is so different about this murder that the Minister finds himself in an emotional state as against the murder of a woman found yesterday with her limbs cut off? or all the other murders, whether it was a child, ...

On both sides we have a family history of dogs. In Arima we had dogs, many dogs, roaming the wilds of Sierra Vista. I think labradors were the favourite of the family. In our own generation we continued the legacy. A family that has animals and cares for them is very special. Children grow up understanding about looking after others and being kind and loving to animals. Maybe that's where my 'BAN HUNTING' comes in. Anyways as in ones lifetime, if you are a dog person, you are going to have to say good bye to maybe 5-7 different friends. This weekend Maya went off to another world after a short bout of liver cancer. She was 61 in human years so I guess she had a reasonable innings. The new school term starts tomorrow and with that is traffic. Why is traffic so closely associated with school? How come during school vacation the traffic is half of what it normally is? Is it the location of the schools and the drop off and pickup points create the jam? the fact that childr...

Many people came down with the horrible 'Christmas' flu. Our daughter was no exception but sought medical help early in the game. The problem however was that many practitioners were off duty over the holiday period and she asked around for any doctor who was available. One name surfaced and she called and got an appointment. Thirteen years ago we were at the daughter's graduation in Manchester and CAL/BWIA had major equipment problems with aircraft being damaged on the ground. We were stranded for three days, at the mercy of the airline. During all the back and forth we befriended a young medical student who was heading back home on our now cancelled flight and was on her own. We became the adopted parents for the days in Manchester. You guessed it, the doctor our daughter had been referred to, now some 13 years after, was the adopted daughter. Hail fellow well met! That is why you must always be nice to each other. One never knows in this short life on the Rock who or ...

Nothing happened to me today on the way to Chaguanas! or even back in to the city. One thing I have noticed is that with the increase in the speed limit from 80 to 100 k's all of a sudden I find that I am the one driving fast. I set my speed limiter to 100 and off I go passing the majority of people. No more vans with live chickens passing me. I also find that somehow the driving is better, not the crazy lane changers, well there are still some jackasses, but eventually I hope they will all be given hefty fines and disappear. There are still the guys who insist on driving in the far right lane at slow speeds. My Dad used to do that and I swore that I as a result would never drive in the far right lane. With horns blowing behind us in the Ford Zephyr 6 on the Beetham we would hear a mumble which we never quite figured out what exactly he was saying, but he did not budge. It's quicker to drive in the far left lane because all the slow drivers are in the far right lane. What ...

One of the great things about living on the rock is one is subject to all kinds of natural phenomenon. I know we don't get snow, no, we leave the good parts out for the Canadiens and even those living in northern Florida. We have rain, sun, hurricanes (every so many years), mud volcanos, an entire lake of asphalt, salt ponds, 100% humidity and earthquakes. This morning at 2.27 nature did not disappoint, I first heard the rumbling, thought what the hell is wrong with the #$%^&& air conditioner and then the lovely roll started, the creaking of stuff in the room and then she was gone. I have two Rock earthquake stories, not that earthquakes are funny. In Arima where I grew up in the 'boys room' there was a set of barbells under the bed, under my bed, and loose barbells make the loudest sound when rattled by an earthquake. Motto, go to a gym if you live in an earthquake prone area. Guyana has very few earthquakes that are actually felt. Years ago I read where a fam...

The first working day of the year and some are saying the they have a real good feel for 2018. Maybe it was the fact that after the horrendous weather recently the sun was out today with a beautiful Rock day. It may also be the fact that some parts of sunny Florida were getting a dusting and Toronto was actually colder than the Artic. Sometimes I really wish we could wave a magic wand and wish the negativity all away, we could be a near perfect place. The Minister of Rural Development and Local Government begs citizens to stop the illegal dumping. He rightly claims that the stuff that is thrown away clogs up the drains and watercourses causing flooding. He is so right. I mean it did not take a scientist to figure that one out. It is however going to take the brightest brains from the best Universities across the globe to figure out that if the state does not provide some proper, reliable means of waste disposal then what exactly are people supposed to do with their waste....

I put on my 'Sonos', go to Easy Listening and the first song is Frankie and 'My Way'. I thought for New Year's Day why not? I have sort of lived my life like that and it is a fun way, sometimes a little dangerous but at the end of the day it really comes down to you as an individual. You must take credit for everything, good and bad. Some of us attempt to blame the rest of the world for the downside but I know that every decision I ever made was made knowing fully the consequences. The stories of the fireworks continue. It is plain and simply wrong for any government to sit back and allow this nonsense to continue. If you cannot regulate the discharging of fireworks because of an indisciplined population then do the next best thing and ban the #$%^& stupid, nonsensical, ridiculous entertainment. In the UK fireworks are governed by the Fireworks Regulations 2004 which sets out the laws for the purchase and use of the demon toys. Fireworks fall into dif...