It’s time to tighten we belts

Dear Nesta,
You an’ yours good? Yuh en got to say neffin ’cause I a’ready know de answer. Jes’ keep ’pon yuh two knees – duh en gine wear out – praisin’ de Almighty, an’ life gine be good.  
Wid all de to-ing an’ fro-ing dat gine on dese days, I been tekkin’ life easy. Anyhow, two weeken’s ago, Philomena an’ muhself decide to go off to BMEX – de exhibition put on evah year to gi’e local manufacturers a chance to show off duh producks – an’ was quite impress wid all de t’ings we see.   
Dese hard times we facin’ bringin’ out a lotta creative ideas from young Bajans, an’ BMEX was jes’ de place to display de efforts o’ dese entroppuhners.
When people backs to de wall – in fack, partly t’rough de wall – duh become desperate an’ in lookin’ fuh somet’ing to do – bills don’ stop, y’know – creative ideas usually start flowin’.   
We see boofs displayin’ natural skin care, make-up, food in all forms, furnitures, leadduhcraf’, fashion design. An’ evahbody usin’ local producks.   I come ’cross one enterprisin’ group wid a website aim at helpin’ shoppers save money. Yuh could check an’ compare grocery prices so yuh know befo‘han’ whey to go fuh items dat suit de pocket – savin’ yuh money an’ time. Well, yuh would know we in dat. Anyt’ing to save a penny.
We also had a look at de new notes. De colours brighter an’ security tighter, but somehow, I prefer de ole ones. Somet’ing missin’. To me, duh look onfinish.  
BMEX show we got nuff talent ’pon de islan’, but talent or not, it en easy to mek a livin’ nowadays, an’ it seem t’ings about to get wors’.
De PM finally come out wid some bad news ’bout de economy – we got a $400 million deficit – an’ gone agen, widout sayin’ one word ’bout any plans to fix it. But wuh it is guvment been doin’? My nighber ax ef de amounk is US dollars. I c’n help she, as I en know muhself.
Now dis should mean dat evahbody, from de highflyers at de top right down to we “lesser mortals” at de bottom, got to start lookin’ fuh ways to stop spennin’ summuch money. I en wanta hear even a whisper o’ de “D” word.
I been cuttin’ an’ contrivin’ fuh some while now an’ it only lef’ fuh me to start eatin’ grass. As it is, I disappearin’ by de minute. Philomena doin’ she part by cuttin’ back ’pon she after-dinner wine – in fack, fuhgettin’ dinner completely an’ settlin’ fuh couple dry biscuits an’ li’l green tea, as she sit in de dark, foolin’ sheself she dinin’ by candlelight.  
It would be too nice doh ef some o’ de big supermarkets tek pity ’pon we po’ people an’ cut back li’l bit ’pon all dah profit duh mekkin’. Commercial banks, too, could gi’e we a ease an’ hol’ off wid de various charges duh always tackin’ on ef we barely sneeze. We belts pull so tight, we soon faint ’way, faif.
Why de parliamentarians don’ offer to tek a salary cut? Sandy din wait fuh we to offer – ’e jes’ cut we salaries by eight per cent. People was blue, but we had to “like it or lump it” – an’ we din dead.
Nex’, how ’bout dem usin’ economy class when duh really got to travel? I never hear ’bout dah section o’ de plane not arrivin’ at de right destination.   
While de Minister o’ Culture keepin’ we very up to date wid Crop Over plans, I en hearin’ one peep outta de Minister o’ Finance ’bout he plans –  far mo’ impo’tant. I only hope it en neffin to do wid de NIS Fun’s.
Tek care o’ yuhselfYuh frien’ Babsie