Blessings

Yesterday was a most interesting day.
I had to go the the licensing office to get an amendment to my vehicle registration certificate because I just noticed last Saturday, after 3 years, that the vehicle engine number that the licensing office had put on the certificate was wrong. The last number was supposed to be an 8 and they put a 3. This might seem like a small thing but I could have potentially been in big trouble if something like an accident had happened.

Now going to the licensing office is a task in itself. There is always a crowd of people there and I had already made up my mind that it was going to be a really long morning for me. I asked my partner from work to come and hang out with me while I waited, but he was having none of that. Waiting in that madness was not his favourite thing to do either.

So on my own I drove into the licensing office, went around back to the inspection bay area, passing all the throngs of people and there was... no one waiting. The line was empty. This has never happened. I was there alone and I was able to get them to check out the engine immediately. The guy who verified the number gave me a document and said I had to go to the main building and see the chief clerk who would do the necessary changes to the certificate. So anticipating a long wait, I went into the main office and I saw one million people inside waiting their turn. I took a number, which I had to do to see the chief clerk and sat down. The indicator said they were on number 52 and I had number 64 which usually translates into 3 hours of waiting. So I sighed and sat down for the inevitable ordeal.

Suddenly the numbers started changing rapid fire... no one was there who had pulled them. They had left! I was next! I was the only one there to see the chief clerk! I didn't have to wait. The clerk went inside, did the changes and came back out with the new document. I was happy until he said that I had to go to the cashier and pay $20 for it. So they made an error, but I had to pay them to fix it. I was already in a good mood, though, after those two lucky breaks so I didn't get too riled up. I went over to the cashier, who of course had a line a half a million people long and after being there for 5 minutes, I realised that I didn't have any cash. I had given the Lady Love most of my money that morning. Well I had $17... $3 short. Worse again, in this modern day and age, the licensing office did not have a debit machine.

I went back to the chief clerk's office and there was another guy there. I explained to him that I didn't have the cash and that I would have to come back. The nearest ATM machine was in town, so I would have had to drive over there and come back.. a big time waster in all that traffic. The guy looked at me, sighed and said "Hear this. Ent you from South? Take it and Merry Christmas." I got my thing free! I mean how often does that happen?

Yesterday was full of blessing and I just came on here to give thanks to the Father for it. I am truly blessed.

Now I see!

So I saw this online and I thought it was funny and disturbing at the same time.

LONDON- Embattled Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz faced fresh criticism Friday after newspapers published photos of him trying to watch military maneuvers with the lens cap still on his binoculars.Peretz was inspecting Israeli troops in the Golan Heights, near the Syria border, along with the Israeli army's chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, the British Broadcasting Corp. reported.The photographer said Peretz gazed through the capped binoculars three times, nodding as Ashkenazi explained what he was looking at, the British Broadcasting Corp. said.
Peretz's popularity has plummeted in the wake of Israel's war last year in Lebanon.

So the defense minister can't see what's going on, and worse yet, he's pretending to know what's going on. This one sounds familiar eh? Sweet T&T. Now I actually feel a little better. It's been proven- politicians are really the same all over the world.

A Purr-fect T&T

So tonight I was looking at TV6 Carnival coverage and I almost fell off my chair. No, it wasn't because I saw a scantily-clad woman wining away on camera. (Although there was some of that going on). Cherisse D'Abadie was interviewing a Video Jockey from the British MTV whose name was Cat or something like that. (Notice the rhymes... I'm into the Carnival fever) She asked him what he thought of Trinidad Carnival and he said that what struck him most was how safe he felt!!! Hooooold up! This is Trinidad and Tobago we talking about? Where everyday somebody getting killed, raped or robbed and where you have to lock up before dark? This Trinidad and Tobago? The Cat even said he called his people in the UK to tell them that they need to check us for help on how to run a safe Carnival. He said that the authorities showed zero tolerance for crime and that nobody was trying to "kill anybody's child."

Zero tolerance on crime? All year the Commissioner of Police has been promising zero tolerance on crime and still T&T living in fear. But all of a sudden for Carnival they doing what they should have been doing the whole blooming year. Soldiers and police patrolling all over. Helicopter flying low. Blimp flying high. Suddenly T&T is a safe place to live. Maybe I missed it, but I didn't hear about any murders on the news today.

Man jamming on woman, woman jamming on man, man jamming on other man woman and everybody feeling nice. Trinidad safe. And you know what is the sad thing? After Tuesday, everything back to abnormal. We feeling unsafe again.

But remember as the Minister of National Insecurity say, crime bad all over. Look the British Cat say so.

I have gas!

An interesting quirk that we Trinidadians possess is that we take a long time to learn. That's why the same politicians fool us all the time.We just don't get it. I was reminded of that this weekend as I watched my fellow Trinis go into panic mode over fears of a gas shortage.

Now a plan for National Petroleum workers to go on strike the weekend before Carnival shows is the thinking of a very malicious and devious mind. Clearly it was meant to cause mass confusion, and it worked. People descended on gas stations like ants on a discarded KFC box. Despite assurances by NP management that there was no shortage, gas stations were filled with cars and people toting those nice red gas containers, all trying to fill up. The throngs even spilled over into the street, blocking traffic and frustrating people like me who were actually trying to get somewhere.

(Note to self: I must buy some of those nice red containers and sell them for twice the price next time NP workers strike)

This is not the first time that NP workers have gone on strike, and each time the results have been the same. People panic despite assurances that everything is under control. And this is why I say that Trinis never learn. Do they really think that NP will allow anyone to obstruct their cash flow? NP has private contractors at hand that they hire to deliver gas if the workers don't want to do it. Guess what causes the shortage? Yes... the gullible Trinis who descend on gas stations, buying up all the gas, putting it in those nice red containers and stocking it up. Yes Trinidad.. you cause the gas shortage and not NP workers.

If instead of panicking, Trinidad and Tobago says "oh, they're striking again.. ho hum" (that's what I do, actually) what do you think would happen? Nothing!!!! Everyone would have gas and go about their business as usual. Furthermore, NP workers would stop doing their nonsense and trying to hold people to ransom.

But then again... we have a tendency to do the opposite of what we should be doing so I'm not holding my breath for that.

PS: I think I'll keep one of those red containers handy.... just in case.

What's good for the goose......

So a magistrate has refused to grant a license for the promoters to host the annual after Carnival cool down fete on Manzanilla Beach this year. The reason she cited was that the event had become ungovernable, what with the robberies and the lewd behavior of a couple of young ladies last year. I have no problem with her refusing to grant the license. As a matter of fact I would support her, but I would also extend it further.

Let's refuse to grant licences to the promoters of all the fetes that take place in the Carnival season. Because as we know someone always gets robbed, stabbed or killed at these events. Don't even talk about the lewd behaviour that takes place. The scantiest of outfits appear at these parties and the behavior of the party goers borders on pornographic. Imagine a fete with names such as "Till Drunk Do Us Part"... Imagine all the drunk drivers trying to wend their way home after leaving that party. Didn't these promoters get a license? What about those parties where the stipulated dress code is sleepwear, and we're not talking about granny's flannel pyjamas here. Weren't those promoters granted licenses as well?

Going further, we all know that the height of debauchery in Trinidad and Tobago is Carnival time. I think some brave magistrate should block the Government from having Carnival, a festival of drunken revelry, wanton sex, violence and crime. What went on at Manzanilla last year pales in comparison to what goes on at Carnival every year. Apparently what the Government considers to be immoral throughout the year does not apply at Carnival time.

Let's face it, we live in a hypocritical society. But until there is equality for all, Ms Magistrate..please give the people their license.

Trini Pride

Today I'm beaming with pride. A Trinidad national has won an Oscar award. No, not for acting, but for his involvement in the development of visual effects software for films. Dr Anil Kokaram, 39, a Sangre Grande-born engineering lecturer at the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering at Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland received the Scientific and Engineering Academy award at a ceremony held in Beverly Hills, California, USA, on Saturday, a fortnight ahead of the headline acting awards event. Kokaram received the award with three members of UK software developer The Foundry’s development team—Dr Bill Collis, Simon Robinson and Ben Kent —for their work on the design and development of Furnace, an integrated suite of software visual effects.

For a Trinidadian to win such a prestigious award, should be a source of great pride for all of us. It's also another notch it our belt of achievements. We have 2 Miss Universe Winners, One Miss World Winner, An Olympic 100 metres gold medalist, A world boxing champion, An Olympic swimming medalist, An Olympic 200m medalist...the list goes on. It was a Trini that wrote "Who Let the Dogs Out", not the Baha Men. They just bought the song. We are a nation full of many talents. If more of us would use the talent for good and stop playing the fool, Trinidad would be such a great place.

Congratulations Dr Kokaram!!

Unfinished Business

A few months ago, just before local government elections, the local government decided it would be a good idea to repave the streets in my area. This would have been a good idea except that the roads in my area were generally quite fine in the first place. The second bad idea they had was not to strip off the old asphalt, but to put the new asphalt on top of the old. The result of this is that I now literally live on a High Street.

In addition to this, a water main broke right under the curb outside my house, destroying the entire thing. Every time rain falls, the silt and mud from my front lawn goes into the drain and makes a big mess.

Eventually after a long period of complaining, the City Corporation has decided to fix the curb not only outside my house, but for the entire street. They are also raising the level of the drains. The result of this is that I will no longer appear to be living on a high street. This is a good thing. The bad thing, however is that being government workers, they don't actually work. I have never seen anyone actually working on the drains. I just wake up and another section of the drain has been built. I think the work is being done by URP ghost gangs.

The ghosts seem to be taking their sweet time though. They have been working for a month now and have only covered the area outside 2 houses. At this rate they should cover the street by about the year 2015. Added to that, they decided that everyone's front lawn is the ideal place to throw the rubble that they collect as they go along. Apparently I won't be cutting my grass for a few months. Today one of the ghosts nailed a board to my poor palm tree. Did they have my permission to assault my greenery? Not at all.

Why is it that we are so steeped in mediocrity? It's really frustrating. I think I'm going to hide out tonight just too see if i spot the ghosts so I can give them a piece of my mind. But with my luck, I think it's going to be their week off.

Mad Drivers

So today I was almost killed by an insane driver. As every Trinidadian knows, driving on the highways of this country is an exercise in bravery. Every Trini driver should get a medal of valour for even attempting to venture out onto the roadway. If you don't have nerves of steel, you can't drive in Trinidad and Tobago.

Drivers in this country think that the turn signal is some sort of force field, so if they turn it on and veer into your path, magically you will not hit them. That's if they use it at all. My happy friend from this morning did not use it at all. He somehow decided that my side was better than his side and he wanted to be where I was. This was while I was almost parallel to him. Quick thinking, reflexes and God prevented a major smashup.

These people see carnage on the road every day and still they drive like fools. In fact they might just slow down enough to ogle an accident where several people have been injured or killed, and then zoom off again, weaving in and out of the traffic. Because, of course, they are the best driver in Trinidad, unlike that lame driver that just ran off the road. This is until they become that driver that ran off the road for other people to ogle.

When will they learn?

Who is me?

I suppose to start a blog I need to do some sort of introduction and tell folks about myself. This is assuming that folks will actually read this or care anyway.

Anyway, I'm a thirty-something-year-old newspaper editor from Trinidad and Tobago. If you don't know where Trinidad and Tobago is, that's because it's really really small. But for a small place, there is a really large amount of crap that goes on everyday. I love my country and I think it's great, but sometimes I just need to vent. Since going on violent rampages may be an illegal thing to do, I prefer to vent my anger with the pen.. or the keyboard actually.

They say the pen is mightier than the sword. The person who said that clearly has never been stabbed with a sword. The keyboard however can leave a nasty bruise if you throw it just right. Hopefully it won't come to that.