HOW YOU, dear heart? I still hey, tryin’ to keep body an’ soul togedduh, an’ longin’ fuh de monf to finish, ’cause yuh know wuh dah mean? De hurricane season done! I cyahn onderstan’ wuh happenin’ dese days!
Once ’pon a time, it was “October, all Over”, but dese pas’ years, yuh got to go right down to November befo’ yuh able to breave easy.
De wevver pattern changin’, not only in de Caribbean, but all ovuh de worl!
But November monf don’ only mean de en’ o’ de hurricane season, it got anether important meanin’ fuh we Bajans! Aldoh yuh en livin’ hey, yuh mus’ know wuh I talkin’ ’bout! Independence, muh girl, Independence! De 30th to be exack, comin’ ‘roun’ agen, when we celebrate we decision to shake off ties (well, mos’, ef not all, as yet) from de “Mother Country” an’ go it alone!
I always t’ink it is a pity dah was de acktual date we choose to observe dis occasion. It so close to December an’ Chris’mas, dat mos’ times de importance o’ why we celebratin’, does tek a back seat to de vigourous sales drives dat stores, banks an’ whoevuh got t’ings to onload, does onleash ’pon de public, even long befo’ December monf come ’roun’.
We jes’ pass de middle o’ November an’ de “Serpent” – who, as yuh know, never miss any chance – start up ’pon po’ innocent (or not so innocent) “Eve” a’ready, wid all sorts o’ temptin’ offers – “No Deposit And Nothing To Pay Until Next Year”, “Pay Some Or Pay None”, “You Like It, Take It”, (dah one is muh fav’rit) an’ so it gine on. At dis time, nobody en got any int’res’ in readin’ “fine print”, dah comin’ in de New Year when de Repo Man turn up an’ tears start fallin’!
Stores pack a’ready wid Chris’mas trees, toys, decorations, curtin material an’ all de signs o’ de comin’ season, an’ dese t’ings mekkin’ people heads get hot wid de t’ought o’ Chris’mas. So it is only de “faiffuls” an’ Guvment, dat try evuh year to keep de ethuhs ’pon track wid events like NIFCA, fuh one t’ing, to remember dat we got to get t’rough firs’ wid Independence an’ den t’ink ‘bout Chris’mas! De blue an’ gol’ colours does fade quick-so, as de red an’ green tek over!
Dis year, muh girl, is 45 years sence dah night at de Garrison when de Trident replace de Union Jack! Ef yuh remember, I was up dey wid you an’ Lou toastin’ we homelan’ ovuh a bottle o’ wine, but I always hear dah ceremony was somet’ing to mek yuh swell wid pride! Ovuh de years, we been battlin’ de ups an’ downs, but right now, de “downs” overpowerin’ we. Evuh time yuh even try to raise yuh head li’l’ bit, dem “downs” gi’e yuh anether body blow! De mos’ recent was dah near-impossible sixteen-dollar hike fuh bottle gas!
Anyway, Matt Lauer, de Amurican TV journalis’, fly in Friduh befo’ las’ wid a “splendiferous” early birfday present fuh de islan’! He is host o’ de show Where In The World Is Matt Lauer?, seen worl’-wide, so when de millions o’ viewers realize ‘e was in Buhbayduss, an’ how great it is to be hey, you know hummuch publicity dah gine be fuh we? It should bring tourisses enuff!
At leas’, dis is wuh I hopin’, ’cause I still hey wid muh binoculars, checkin’ de sea an’ airports fuh all dem t’ousan’s I hear woulda been comin’ after de LOUD concert! One good t’ing, we en had to pay fuh publicity dis time, evuht’ing was F.O.C!
So Ness, nex’ Wensdy, raise yuh glass . . . to de nex’ forty-five years!
Tek care o’ yuhself,
Yuh frien’ Babsie.
