Goodbye, or welcome?

Today I am leaving for the UK. Is this a goodbye to TnT, or a welcome to the UK?

One of my reasons for my visit to TnT did not pan out, but I made a lovely new friend, and I look forward to 2009 being more positive than I had hoped.

Good news: The very, very corrupt Licensing Office has had a major crackdown. Now we will see all the rats escaping the burning in the months to come - only the little ones will be truly paying the penalties while the bigger ones will wriggle free. Mark my words well.

Random musings

Today is my second to last day in TnT. Tomorrow I leave for the UK where I will be starting work, and facing temperatures way colder than Trinidad. The BBC website says that there is icy conditions... a woman has already been killed after her car was hit by a train.

I am going to Port of Spain today, and hopefully can take some photos from the lookout. Blink came yesterday and installed the broadband here by my mom, so maybe tonight I can do a longer blog post. Complete with a few photos.

I met Ms R's cousin yesterday... I think Ms R is intending to set me up. Hmmm, the gal is pretty too bad, nice personality... but I met her only a little while before I leave. Heh, heh, heh.

I still have not met one friend I was eager to meet, due to a combination of lack of time, bad scheduling, a comedy of misunderstanding, and lack of transport. Coming back around Christmas time, I could not find a car to rent on short notice. Still, my friend Pagli (being unemployed) has loaned me her car to move around with on several occasions, and for that I am very grateful. In fact, she surprised me with expressing an interest in blogging, but prefers to be a guest blogger on this blog rather than start her own. So, maybe in future you will see posts uploaded by Pagli.

My friend Raj knows I am here for the past 3 weeks. He still has not dropped by (he has a car and passes my way everyday) so I am peeved with him. Still, I have not seen him for several years so a couple more won't be that big a deal, right?

I've completed all my (pitiful) shopping. My main concern is to take back some things for Punks to make up for the fact that she was not able to come on holidays with me. Before you knock me, understand that it was her mother refusing to let her come that prevented her from being here with me, not that I refused to bring her. My family here wanted her to come so badly, they were willing to pay all expenses for her.

I have just been reminded that in this house the coffee is 'two ton' coffee. That means they put 2 tons of sugar in the damn thing. Considering that my mother is diabetic, I've been stewing mad and nagging since I came for them to cut back on the suger intake... everyone, not only mom. She is a long story by herself... I found out her blood sugar has been X times the normal amount for weeks, so I've been ranting a lot with her. I think she will be glad to see the back of me tomorrow.

Well, that's about it until later. I'll fill you in on what my day is like.

By the way, I see the murder rate in Trinidad is off to a fine start. And once more a teenage girl had been kidnapped and killed. Trinidad now seem to have sicker men living here than Abdul Malik and Boysie Singh.

A Trini experience

Last night I had such a truly unique Trini experience, I had to send a text to a couple of close Trini friends to share it - current 'cut' about 7 PM.

On the negative side... Pagli's grand-dad passed away yesterday.

And today I am meeting my friend's cousin (Ms R's cuz) to say hello.

A very good day

Yesterday I had one of the better days of my holidays; one of the best in fact. It started off hot and sweaty as usual but my friend Pagli asked me to go with her to a job interview. Pagli is the holder of a first class honours degree in IT and currently finishing an MBA in marketing so she is highly qualified. Pagli also typically achieves over 90% in all her papers. Any prospective employers reading this? I am quite willing to forward her CV to interested parties.

After the interview, we drove up to Port of Spain to a job employment agency. I have to say, with no school on and less traffic, the drive took just under an hour (I am a slow careful driver) and it was more than pleasant catching up on old times and having a few laughs at the misadventures of our youth.

Then after the agency I was able to meet my friends Dava and Anand whom I have both known over 20 years; Anand in fact grew up in the house next to mine. It was great catching up with them… both are intelligent hardworking men…. and single for some strange reason. Strange because these two are the type women should be having gladiator matches for… and I do not say that lightly.

Anand commented on my accent-less state and we got to talking about Trini dialect. He pointed out that Trini is the only language (and people) in the entire world that would use and understand what it means to feel ‘a how’. We had a good laugh over that.

Time marches relentlessly on and both my friends show signs… white hair is generously marking time with them. Oddly enough, despite my being older than many of my friends, I have none that shows. Good genes I guess.

Last night my sister drove me to my friend Linda who had already retired to bed at 9 PM when I arrived (no calls, it was meant to be a surprise). While there Pagli called so they were able to connect – I think Pagli is pissed I went without her, because I got an earful. After my visit with Linda, I went to Ms R at 10 PM and woke her up too. That visit finished about midnight. Truthfully, I think despite the late hours, I had a good time and my friends were genuinely glad to see me, since no alcohol was involved 

On the way back from Ms R we stopped off at Cross Crossing to buy burgers, and met a cousin who went abroad several years ago and whom I have never seen because we were never in Trinidad together before now. Again, I have to comment on the generosity of grey sprinkles, despite him being considerably younger than I am.

We spent about 30 minutes just chatting and watching idiotic drivers vie for the first place in stupidity. There were many winners; the two most noted being the driver of an SUV who collided with a car pulling out into the road. They were both at fault since the driver pulled out without checking traffic to the rear, and the SUV driver was really accelerating as if he was drag racing Frankie Boodram. The bang was quite loud and I suspect both idiots will be spending considerable sums today.

All in all, a very good day.