Dear Nesta,
Looka how Augus’ get ’roun’ hey a’ready, neh!
Time flyin’ fas’ enuff! I had to tell Philomena dat Chris’mas gine soon be beatin’ down we doors, ’cause as soon as dis monf gone an’ de “bers” start, yuh know year-en’ in sight!
Anyhow, I hope yuh awright an’ enjoyin’ de Games, regardless o’ de badminton scandal or wuhevuh else dat might crop up. Wheyevuh yuh turn, yuh gine butt up ’pon de good, de bad – an’ de ugly, so neffin shun surprise yuh nowadays!
Imagine dem eight women players – Chinese, Souf Korean an’ Indonesian – went out ‘pon de Courts, determine not to win, but to t’row duh matches at dat stage, so as to get a mo’ favourable draw later-on in de knockout roun’! De officials obviously c’n ’gree wid duh tactics an’ decide to punish all eight an’ now, evuh “fella” out de tournament! Well, rules is rules, wevver duh agree wid dem or not, an’ de judges decision always final!
De badminton scandal might be bad, but de way a football fan from Lithuania behave durin’ a match between Nigeria an’ he country, mo’ dan ugly! Whenevuh a Nigerian had de ball, he would mek Nazi salutes an’ monkey chants! An’ dat man even had de gall to tell de judge dat people in Lithuania don’ see neffin wrong wid behaviour like dat, an’ it “quite acceptable” to dem! Anyway, de female judge din see it dat way, an’ after bawlin’ ’e out, mek ’e pay a stiff fine o’ over two t’ousan’ poun’s! I en know ’bout you Ness, but Lithuania is one country I don’ t’ink I gine be includin’ in my travel plans anytime soon! True, evuhbody cyahn be like he, but I en got no int’rest in findin’ out!
But apart from de “bad” an’ de “ugly”, we been seein’ a whole lot o’ de “good”, an’ gettin’ treat to some good clean competition – a great Olympic spirit ’mong de competitors! I been enjoyin’ muhself watchin’ gymnastics an’ swimmin’, de two sports I like bes’, after track an’ fiel’, an’ in dah sport, de Caribbean afthletes – ’specially Jamaica – do we proud!
I get so involve talkin’ wid yuh ’bout de Games, dat I nearly fuhget to mention dat yuh mighta hear we had to play a diff’rent sort o’ game, jes’ dis weeken’ gone! We had a scare when Ernesto, de lates’ storm, decide to visit de area. Y’know, dis is de season when anyt’ing could happen! But praise Jehovah, we luck holdin’, an’ neffin serious went down – we still in one piece. Chile, God is good!
Ness, from de time dah warnin’ come out, it was one rush to see who could get to de supermarkets an’ hardware stores firs’! Philomena – believe it or not – was dey! When she finally reach back home, she had to drop right in she bed, she was so tired! She say de crowds did ruff enuff!
Stockin’ up ’pon food is one t’ing, but evuh year, rain or shine, dah woman back dey, buyin’ a new set o’ hardware supplies – agen! I axe wuh happen to de ethuh lot she buy de year befo’ – no reply! I sugges’ she mek some money de nex’ time an’ start sellin’ out, an’ she would still got some lef’ fuh sheself! An’ I bet yuh, ef anethuh storm warnin’ come out couple monfs from now, she an’ nuff mo’, gine be back at it agen! I believe duh like de excitement! As fuh shop owners, dem t’rive ’pon it!
Well, calypso finals come an’ gone! Ef I was a young, upcomin’ calypsonian, I like I would lef dah out, yuh!
Tek care o’ yuhself!
Yuh frien’, Babsie
