Vincy Christmas is still de best

Another Christmas gone! Ah could ah feel dah good ole Vincy Christmas feeling thru-out de land. Vincentians spend real money and like dey declared war pon ham, by Christmas Eve de Supermarkets ran out ah frozen hams. No problem, ah mek do wid some Tri Tri cakes instead foh my Christmas breakfast. Vincy Nine Mornings was good minus de attempts to merge Vincy-Mas with Christ-Mas. We must be mindful about de Traditional Cultural materials at Christmas; Henry Gaynes come-plain he got to go to Rose Bank to hear de only traditional Bum Drum alive; we have only two traditional String Bands around, one is in Bequia; we must wuk on de revival ah de house to house serenading choirs and bands.{{more}} We cannot promote ah Cultural Festival and when visitors go thru de communities, all dey get is lights in some places. Glad to see de reappearance ah de village steel bands, and ah got to big up me friend Bentley Browne at SIF foh pushing pan in de rural communities. Ah had ah taste ah Layou Nine Mornings and trust me dey’re on de right track. De young as well as ole folks went on stage, Pastor Clarke is at de helm making sure dat “Christ remains de reason foh de season”. Dey tell me is not de Pastor but de wife, Sister Clarke is de person behind de scene. And dat lovely lady, Ornette Lawrence fix me up wid ah nice $5.00 breakfast wid her T’n’T bakes and salf-fish and Vincy bush tea, dey’s no tea in Vincy bush tea.. Becket is home doing his Obama Kaiso, he come-plain dat lately he’s been losing his voice whenever he comes back to home town Layou; he feels he’s allergic to de dust from two stone quarries in de hills above de town. Knowing de polly-ticks, ah guess Becket himself will have to Dust dem off wid ah Kaiso “Bite de Dust”!

IS VINLEC GIVING IT WAY

Well 2009 is de year to watch, wid all de down-sizing and financial cry-sis taking place on de international front, we could expect some blows. We got to look inward, create ah second job, rear rabbits or chickens, plant ah lettuce bed or chive and mek seasoning. And do like Lie-Za, she going local all de way, beginning wid ah new Lime foh 2009.

On one hand, I am encouraged wid ah story dat ah read in de papers way finally, Vinlec issuing ah request for a proposal to several (nine) companies foh development and operation of a Wind Farm at Ribishi Point, dat will produce 6 to 8 megawatts ah power. But on de other hand ah feel real betrayed dat Vinlec, after giving us hope dat dey exploring de possibilities ah providing alternate N-ah-G sources like solar and wind, to reduce our light bills, have now made dat break-thru, but giving it away, on ah platter, to yet another far-reign concern to fatten dey pockets. Yuh would tink we learn we lessons from de operations here wid far-reign infestors. Check Kay-blue and Why-less, dah mek billions in de Caribbean, dey down size down to dey very name, LIME, want tom bet dey go LIME bout till dey ready to go. Dey will go and Did-she-sell will stay to cream way lef. But still Vinlec nah tek ah Q sorry, dat’s cue. Word on de street is dat Vinlec would like to partner with any one ah d’s companies, but dey not interested in partnership, everybody except Vinlec want de whole hog! Now if dis project is ah good one, why is Vinlec afraid to go it alone? De nation has been crying out dat Vinlec killing we wid some wicked light bills, primed wid ah wut-list fuel surcharge, literally ripping us off. Guv-ah-mint has done nothing because it suites dem, Vinlec remains de Guv-ah-mint’s Cash Cow. My argument is why can’t Vinlec form another company ah local shareholders, consumers included, in fact every consumer in SVG should become ah shareholder, just like how dey does clap on de surcharge pon we light bill, dey could put ah extra charge on de bill and call it Win Shares, not shares in de Wind! Sorry to say dis but Vinlec like dey going sell us out cheap. We will wait and see who will buy out dis Wind Project

CRANBERRY VS SORREL

Ah like how we does go off on ah scene wid far-reign. De latest local soda pop drink on de market foh Christmas was de Cranberry. So much is being said about Cranberry, it suppose to be good foh men wid pass-straight problems. Ah wonder if Vincentians know dat our local So-real (sorrel) and Five Finger is recommended highly foh early pass-straight problems. Oh how ah wish dat de same local bottling company would give our local fruits, like Five Finger, So-real ah non alcoholic shot on de market.

SHE WAS ALL PEACE AND LOVE

If only dis country had more people serving on committees de way Jo Banfield did. Ah was privileged to serve wid Jo on ah few Organisations, including PTA’s and Charities, and she was remarkable. Ah good listener at meetings, who left de yapping to de mouth champs, she always had very lickle to say and begged to be kept out ah de lime-lights. But when it was time to organize and get de wuk done, dat’s when de quiet, faithful and dependable Josephine showed her mettle. She was ah loving and caring mother and sister, and what’s reassuring is dat she seemed to have passed all her beautiful qualities, her Warm and Pleasant personality onto her three children. Jo’s silent contribution to de poor and needy would have earned her ah ticket to paradise. And wid dat is gone ah gone again.

One Love Bassy

Bassy Alexander is a land surveyor, folklorist and social commentator.