Travel

We was chatting today bout travelling.

Apparently all the airlines now want you to travel wid ya two long hands cause they charging left right and centre for big check in bag and they becoming more strict about the weight and size of the carry-on.

Is one time man used to travel wid two big valises looking like they could hold a dead body, not no boney dead body eidda a good size duppy and then still got a big big two tonne carry-on bag pack down dat dey used to squeeze up squeeze up in de overhead bin and you used to be sitting underneath saying lawd avest mercy I hope that this bin doan open midair and this bag catspraddle me as I sit in me tight seat.

Well dem days dun star!

Ferguson MIssouri

It was about 6 years ago that I wrote this rather euphoric post. I had the audacity to hope for black folks.

Now today after the Grand Jury decision to not indict Darren Wilson for shooting Mike Brown I think I've done a 180 turn and just feel despair.

Congressional Black Caucus Chair Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio) slammed the grand jury decision not to indict Ferguson, Mo., Officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of unarmed teen Michael Brown, calling it a “frightening narrative,” Talking Points Memo reports.

“This decision seems to underscore an unwritten rule that Black lives hold no value; that you may kill Black men in this country without consequences or repercussions. This is a frightening narrative for every parent and guardian of Black and brown children, and another setback for race relations in America,” the Ohio Democrat said in a statement.

 What a shame, what a shame what a crying shame!

Chicken-got-cha!

To add injury to insult, a few days after my mum's funeral I came down with chikungunya. Yep talk about joint pain. wow! Was pretty brutal.

Anyways I think I had a milder but more chronic version. Let me explain: my joint pains and fevers only lasted about a day and by the time I was ready to head home it was like having mild arthritis in my knees. However when I got back to Toronto I started getting all the other symptoms which lasted maybe another two weeks.

Still its pretty much gone and has been replaced by my latest illness: sinus infection which is killing me at the moment. 

Where this chicken-gunya thing come from though/ I swear about 40-50 of the people I spoke to i Barbados had had it at some point in the past couple of months and some were still recovering.

I guess the only good thing about having it is that I'm told the virus stays in your system a while so my next visit home in the new year I shouldnt catch it again.

The funeral went as well as could be expected. I'm still not sure what I feel to be honest. I've ben angry, depressed, sad and defiant at times but I still feel like I cant believe my mum is dead. Its still sort of weird.

Well

I'm off to Barbados in a while as my mum has passed.

It wasn't unexpected but still I'm a little depressed well actually a lot depressed about it. I think her illness has been one of the reasons I wasn't writing or blogging or doing much of anything over the past 6 months. I just was living in fear of that phone call. Honestly, every time I heard a long distance ring on the phone my heart skipped a beat.

Anyway she has passed and I feel sad no scratch that I feel lost. The last time I was there in March I did feel like we were saying our goodbyes though. I'll be honest, I've hated going to Barbados for the last two years as its felt like every time I went she was slipping further and further away and the pleasant memories were a distant thing. At the end its almost like I've been grieving for a long time as the person I knew, the person who raised me and taught me and made me who I am today for good or bad had slowly disappeared over time leaving only this shell. And now even the shell is gone.

Not sure what else I can say. When my dad died I was able to write a bit and express myself and that helped  somewhat. Maybe it will be the same this time although I'm feeling far less eloquent than I did then. Just hoping that I can do her justice in her eulogy.

p.s: guess I'm an orphan now

Begging

Times tough....still. I know everyone says the recession is over but I dont know. Maybe this is the new norm, with less people working and more businesses closed. I dont know.

Leaving

One of my better neighbours is selling his house. I wrote about him a few years ago. All around good guy and I will be sorry to see him go.

Gluten

Every few years it seem that another word is added to our list of bad words, undesirable words.

No, I not talking about cuss words ah talking about words related to food and eating an ting so. Remember years ago it was carbs and everybody was on a wuhloss I aint want no carbs, carbs not good for you, ah cutting back on carbs, hummuch carbs dat got in kick?

Donald Sterling

I wanted to write this days ago but never got the chance but I'll try to make it brief....maybe

So here are a few thoughts

- Regarding Donald Sterling's fall from grace so much has been said. He does seem like a despicable human being if the reports are to be believed and the penalty handed down by the NBA seems to be the way to go.

Cutass!!

So there is a video knocking around of a Trinidadian mother beating the crap out of her 12 year old daughter because the daughter was apparently being tummuch woman an posting provocative sexual type photos on Facebook. a rude she well rude!

If a can find de link ah will link it but trust me I could only watch about two minutes of the 6 minute video cause the mother beat she like a bobolee. (bobolee - A stuffed effigy of Judas which was tied by the neck and dragged through the streets on Good Friday, usually followed by youths with sticks, beating it until it fell apart.)

Missionary Mauve

Ah had a lil flashback the other day. (not sure where this note going but we will see)

Growing up my mom was always deeply involved in church: choir, Sunday school, missionary work, church board etc which of course meant that until I was a teen I had to go with her to church whenever she went so I guess I can rightly say I grew up in church. Ah not sure if that is a good thing that I admit that or a bad thing cause allya might say wait he grow up in  church an he duz behave so fa true? lawd a mercy!!

Anyways church was Sunday school followed by long, long, long service on Sundays from as far back as I can remember and of course there was also Sunday night service to go to if my dad wasn't home and Wednesday night service as well.

I don't remember much if anything about those services to be honest, just shouting pastors, off-key loud singing and sharply beating cymbals which I wish I had the rhythm to use and me sitting in a church pew hoping that the time would go by faster.

I used to have to take part too: reciting poems at Christmas and Harvest programs and singing in choirs and the like. For those, I just remember the very strong feeling of fear in anticipation of my performance, a salute, a duty out of necessity to properly form and project my words (sans microphone in those days) followed by a relief that I didn't mess up or at least no one seemed to notice if I did slightly mess up.

Ha!

Was a small church, not more than 40 or 50 members total but it was kind of cool that you got knew everyone. Of course everyone knew you too so ya had to behave properly.But that was a different day doan get me started on today's youts.

So my church also had this women's missionary group which would once or so a month carry on some early evening Sunday service or "cottage meeting" for shut-ins before the main Sunday evening service. I never really got the point of it but all in all it wasn't as long as regular church service so it was all pretty tolerable just another church event except for one thing.......

The missionary ladies had this uniform that they wore, a dress made out of some heavy type of material. It was some sort of light mauve with a white color.

I don't know what that uniform ever did me but from small til now I cannot stand that color.  

I mean I'm pretty sure it wasn't a traumatic event that led to the dislike of the color but maybe it was just seeing that badly shaped uniform over and over that drove me over the edge with regards to mauve lol.

Up to now anytime i see that color I will tell ya straight I just don't like that color.

Anyway that came flooding back in my memory this weekend for no apparent reason. Maybe I caught sight of someone wearing the same color but I don't remember. I just remember it is just not me favorite color.

See knew this post was going nowhere lol

Business sense

So two weeks ago I got a random call from a credit union, which I'm not part of,  offering me some savings on a product I already have with another company.

I was somewhat intrigued by the call so I set up an appointment, at home to meet their representative with regards to the product they were hawking but in the meantime said I'd look into it myself. Anyway time flies when you have twins to deal with so when they called me back to confirm the appointment I postponed the appointment to yesterday which gave me just enough time to talk to my bank to see if the opportunity was worth pursuing.

So thought it kind of strange they never called to confirm last week but anyhow yesterday I rush out a work to get home early to make it to this appointment. Was hungry but said I'd wait til after the appointment to eat so I'm sitting there watching the clock and ummm no one showed up, nuhbody call nuttin.

Fine.

Got a call this evening, representative says appointment is this evening, umm no it isnt, insists it is, umm no I have it in my calendar as yesterday and I wrote it down minutes after we chatted the last time cause it was supposed to be an exact week from the postponed appointment cause ya ask me is Mondays good for you and I said yes. And besides I aint rushing home to meet you this evening is you trying to sell to me not me to you.

Anyways no apology from them but they asking for another appointment, only this time they want it during the day and I'm to come to their office.

Ammmm I aint know bout wunnah but i aint went searching fa dem an they product, dem is the body dat call me up an offering um to me so why they cant meet me on my terms. Ah mean I duz always be skeptical bout these things when people call ya up an mek ya offers so cause I duz be trying to figure out how them tiefing from me and gilding duh pockets so an no guarantee I would sign with them but ah did gine gi dem a chance to talk duh talk.

And ah mean in dis harsh economic climate is not like I have money to throw at nobody so if you want my money ya have to come correct. Ah did very happy where I was before dem come confusing me an now they want me to act like I doan wuk nuhway an run up to their office which is by the way far far away from where I work to meet them.  Chupse!!!!!

Naa star. nuttin a gwan so!

Ah dont know what happened to people and business. Ah mean like I said is tough times we living in, if you trying to sell somebody a product the least you can do is be professional. Ah find nowadays people acting like ya doing them a favor when they want ya business. Ah cant deal wid dat sort of attitude at all. Den when ya business not doing well, ya wud wanta know what happen. Well if ya was professional mebby wunnah wud last. Another big Chupse!!

Deep Freeze

Happy new year everyone.

Well we here in North America getting lik up with these cold temperatures. Is not only up here in Canada but even way down in the US they getting polar vortex effect that got places like Kentucky and Georgia bawling fa blue murder from the cold.

Up here in Toronto since the new year we have had ice, snow, and then cold temperatures alternating. If it ain't one trying to kill ya is de next.