And Still I Rise

Australia's cricketing dominance came to an end with series defeats to India and the Republic of South Africa

Barack Obama took us on the ride of our lives en route to becoming the first black president of the USA

CMC to my dismay discontinues Headline News. Oh how I looked forward to seeing what was happening in the Caribbean.

Death comes to Haiti when a school collapses

Eartha Kitt,Santa's baby went to meet the ancestors

Fidel Castro steps down as Cuba's president

George Bush showed his agility in dodging a WMD in the form of a shoe missile. oh the ironies!

Hurricanes Gustave,Ike et al wreaked havoc in the Caribbean and beyond.

Israel launches its version of shock and awe on Gaza

Josef Fritzl's imprisonment and rape of his daughter sent shudders through me

Kenya's election woes leaves over one thousand dead

Lewis Hamilton drove his way to the top of the Formula 1 ratings

Mumbai held the world's attention as terrorists launched an attack on the Taj Mahal hotel.

Nargis,the deadly cyclone leaves thousands dead

Oil prices climbed to numbers no one thought was possible

Pirates made their presence felt by capturing an oil tanker off Somalia

Questions remain about rape charges brought against PM Gonsalves

Recession was the buzzword as big businesses and even Iceland's financial world came tumbling down

Sean Samuel was sentenced to death for hacking Stacy Wilson to death.

Three Jamaican women ran 1.2.3 in the 100 metres final at the Beijing Olympics

Usain Bolt took sprinting to another level in Beijing

Venus Williams wins Wimbledon

Wall Street showed it was made of straw

Xbox 360 forever

Yves St Laurent took his designs to another world

Zimbabwe continues its march towards becoming a failed state.

And best of all Abeni's neurologist confirmed she didn't have a brain tumor. Happy,Happy New year to all.

Ever so often some one leaves a note on the blog seeking some help on various matters. As silly as it may seem those little things excite and interest me a lot because it tells me I have a reach wider than I thought. For example,there was the Trinidadian student who despaired of ever passing Math and wanted some reassurance that he could make it. Then there are the non resident Vincentians who are seeking to reconnect and use the this site as a conduit.

It makes me question sometimes how critical should I be of things Vincentian. The intention is not to sugar coat issues on which I have a strong opinion but it makes me wonder how to present a creditable image of my homeland. I think the word I need to keep in the forefront would have to be balance. Get that right and my "problem" should be resolved.

Meantime,keep warming my heart with your queries and words of appreciation. It makes the blogging experience much more enjoyable.

Blessings to all my Blogger friends. I trust you all have the Christmas of your desire and peace and happiness follow you for the rest of the year and beyond.

Love you guys and girls even Boston Chris:)

Earlier today, the Vincentian court handed down the ultimate judgement on Stacy Wilson's killer. Death by hanging usually makes me squeamish and uncomfortable but in Sean Samuel's case it was welcomed with something akin to joy. Much later, I will probably get all analytic and say that capital punishment is not a deterrent and it won't bring back Stacy. However, at this moment I just want his date with the hangman to come as quickly as possible.

Looking at the news item tonight the condemned appeared astounded that he was given the death penalty. It was particularly pleasing to see the arrogance give way to some "whimpering and confusion" as he was lead back to the jail. I guess he somehow thought that publicly beheading a young woman gave him a ticket to get out of jail free or at least guarantee him psychiatric immunity. That surely explains the threats directed to the sitting Judge and the subsequent lunges in his direction which had the officers rushing to subdue him.

I can only hope he is a whimpering blubbering mass when he beholds the gallows. It seems only right that he feels some the fear and despair that his victim undoubtedly felt.

You know who you are. It will get better.

Love After Love

The time will come
when, with elation
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door, in your own mirror
and each will smile at the other's welcome,

and say, sit here. Eat.
You will love again the stranger who was your self.
Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart
to itself, to the stranger who has loved you

all your life, whom you ignored
for another, who knows you by heart.
Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,

the photographs, the desperate notes,
peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit. Feast on your life.

Derek Walcott

Today, I went to the Christmas programme put on by the School for Children with Special needs and came away feeling touched. I felt as if my people are maturing given the way they applauded and cheered the children as they made their presentations. My personal favorite was an item that had the children signing to a song. Unfortunately, I had to leave before the king and queen pageant which was shaping up nicely was completed.

I thought that not so long ago, children with disabilities were like dirty family secrets to be kept hidden away and far from curious eyes. Other times they were treated as a source of mirth to others partly because of their difference but more because of the ignorance of the public. At the programme, I got a sense that surely the barriers are breaking down with the realisation that disability is not to be feared.

Once, I visited a children's home in Jamaica called Miracle Seed and was blown away by the number of children some grossly disabled that were housed there. Then as now, it drove home the point that once our children are healthy then everything else is a bonus.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Yesterday, the Nine Mornings Festival was launched in Kingstown complete with floats and the like. Sorry, I don't have any pics to share just yet but if I do get any I wil surely post.

Apart from that,despite the tough economic times the streets of Kingstown are getting busier. Sweet parang ,string band and other types of sidewalk music put a pep in your step as you go about your business.

Western Union and Money Gram lines are getting a tad longer. Sorrel is everywhere you look at what vendors say is a bargain price. Lest I forget pigeon peas have also made their entrance but at a cost I consider too high. Nevertheless, despite my griping I know I would be forced to buy before they get even more pricey.

Business houses are flooding us with their Christmas specials. No down payment,pay in January, Christmas loans and the like. I detest LIME formerly known as Cable and Wireless but Lord knows I won't mind winning their 1 million USD jackpot. Err,I won't frown at Digicel's "Live free for one year" either.

And in the household of Abeni,big things are happening. The paint job got underway over the weekend and Santa has promised to do some drop offs later in the month. All it needs now is a salt ham boiling away on the stove.

When I was younger I would hear people talk about the price of commodities in Guyana. I would hear some fantastically high figures quoted for bread and other basic items and I would wonder how on earth did people manage to survive. I recall my first trip to Jamaica where the price of a simple little doll had me dumbstruck. Back then, the price of a doll stood out because at the time those things were high on my agenda. Later on, I would join in with the rest of my peers in referring to the Jamaican and Guyanese currencies as monopoly money.

Imagine my distress when I went into a local supermarket and saw the price of a one litre bottle of cooking oil was now $10.00. I stared at the shelf for a couple seconds before yelling out to my friend who was in another aisle to come and see the horror. Not too long ago said cooking oil was retailing for little over $6.00. We had previously noted that a tin of Goya green peas had reached $6.00 pr tin and the prices on other food items had steadily crept up.

On our last trip to the Fish market,the price for red fish and other such types was now $9.00 pr lb. The price for the smaller fish was equally astronomical. I don't know when it happened but somewhere along the line our money has become monopoly money. Yet,I am positive I heard the PM say during the budget debate on Monday that cost of living is declining.