Dear Nesta,
Girl chile, Bajans had a li’l flurry las’ week when Tropical Storm Chantal decide to come callin’. Yuh know we in de hurricane season an’ anyt’ing could happen anytime – right up ’til November monf – so nobody shun be surprise whenevuh we get news a storm ’pon de way.
Still, a bariffle o’ people always rush out to supermarkets an’ hardware stores fuh de very same items duh had to buy de year in front. Duh don’ keep hurricane supplies put ’way one year fuh de nex’? Mebbee duh jes’ like de excitement o’ rushin’ ’bout. Anyhow, de merchants en too sorry.
Chantal come an’ went ’long, doin’ very li’l damage to de islan’, an’ once agen we all breave a sigh o’ relief. I en flyin’ in God face an’ callin’ ’E a Bajan, but I beginnin’ to feel we mus’ be ’mong de luckies’ o’ de Caribbean islan’s – when yuh see how some o’ dem does get mash up from dese storms.
I imagine nuff prayers went up but I sure ethuh islanders does sen’ up prayers too, an’ still get some turrble blows. Perhaps we got de right “address” in de Caribbean Sea; but wuhevah de reason, I t’ank de Fathuh.
Chantal pass, but it look as ef we now facin’ a diff’rent type o’ storm. I beginnin’ to feel quite oneasy ’bout de direction dis islan’ seem to be headin’. Jobs disappearin’, biznesses closin’, bank loans cyhan get paid, same t’ing wid house rent – as tenants play hide an’ seek wid lan’lords. Philomena two tenants mekkin’ she snort.
One minute I hear Guvment en got no money an’ a $400 million deficit hangin’ over we heads – an’ cuts mus’ come. De very nex’ minute, I readin’ how de same Guvment inten’ to buy back de Almon’ Beach Village fuh $120 million.
Now I en no big brain but I still got muh good sense to know dat ef yuh cyhan fin’ $400 million to pay yuh debts, how yuh could turn ’roun’ in de same breff an’ say yuh buyin’ a hotel fuh $120 million? An’ I don’ t’ink dah amounk include repairs ’cause from wuh I hear, de place gine need some good money spen’ fuh refurbishment. Ef guvment plannin’ to borrow money, I hope it en from de NIS – ple-e-e-z-ee!
De Prime Minister know people got it rough an’ need to get back to wuk. I suppose dat’s why ’e wanta get Almon’ up an’ runnin’, but I en believe Guvment track record too hot when it come to hotels.
An’ sence we now gettin’ neffin but bad news day after day from de Central Bank Governor – foreign reserves in a state . . . evahting slidin’ right down . . . better to take de economic pain now – I wonderin’ how duh gine tackle dah job. I en been seein’ tummuch tourisses lately.
I jes’ cyhan onderstan’ how only a short while ago, we hear life was good, neffin to worry ’bout, an’ now sudden so, evaht’ing fallin’ apart. It might not be so fuh all Bajans, doh.
Crop Over in de air an’ people out an’ about enjoyin’ duhselves at de tents, spennin’ money ’pon costumes, tickets ($75 to $150) fuh shows. So fuh dem, t’ings mussee awright.
I hope we gine hear very soon from somebody – PM, Finance Minister or whoevah got answers – how Guvment gine put we back ’pon track. A story I once hear jes’ flash t’rough muh t’oughts. It was ’bout dah Roman Emperor, Nero, sittin’ fiddlin’ while de whole city o’ Rome was burnin’ to de groun’. I wonder why dah should now come to muh, neh?
Tek care o’ yuhself.Yuh frien’, Babsie.
