Well - I'm starting to think on the society in which I live... It's strange, because my life is so different to that of many others, it seems.

I found out yesterday that a friend of mine was mugged and had her handbag snatched in Tobago. Walking from Crown Point to Sandy Point. This is unbelievable - every year for the past 8 years we've safely walked those 3 blocks at all hours of the day or night during Angostura Sail Week. But- I've been mugged a lot in Trinidad in the past, but not Tobago.

Petty crime is on the rise in Tobago, apparently. What's strange is that to me, it feels safer to walk in Trinidad. Serious crimes are on the rise, murders, kidnappings, etc. But my handbag is safer, my house hasn't been broken into for 3 years (after a consistent yearly burglary for many years), I can walk to my car from a bar on Cipriani Boulevard without a security guard. So, my perception is that I feel safer. I guess this will last until I or someone I know gets kidnapped or murdered, and then I'd feel "Oh my Gawd! Crime is RAMPANT!"

Perception is everything. But Trinidad does feel safer. I leave my bag on the beach at Maracas and go to swim, and everything is there when I get back. This is my experience.

Tobago seems not to be publishing the crimes - especially against tourists. This is interesting. Trinidad crime is splashed over the front page. People have been suggesting the same to the Trinidad newspapers and media for YEARS. They haven't taken the suggestion. Is it that, in the Tourism world, if they don't publish it, it doesn't happen or doesn't exist and the tourists continue to come and are happy? Or will the tourists who are victims of crime tell their friends, who tell their friends, and so on and so on and so on (to quote the ad)
And then no-one comes. So...

When my friend's handbag was stolen, the police knew EXACTLY who to go look for. And they promptly removed the rubble on the road that he used to hide behind before jumping out at her. So why didn't they do something before?

Proactive policing sounds like an answer to me... regular police patrols, street lights, and very importantly - quicker justice system, so that people are not
1. On bail for years and years - continuing their job of crime
2. In remand for years and years - if they're innocent
And the witnesses remember what happened, and the evidence isn't lost, or degraded.

OK - so we start ALL over again.
I'm really reconsidering a lot of things right now. I've been really sick, adn I guess that, coupled with getting older, does make you think. I've done an almost complete withdrawal from newspapers and TV news for the past while. The negativity was making me feel ill, and I didn't have the energy.
I probably still don't have the energy, but what is filtering through to me - via friends and family - is that things are not well in the state of Denmark, and it's time for all of us to step up and do something. So.. that's what I'm thinking about now -

Wow - it's been a while! This has not been a daily bog for some time now. But I hope it's still interesting.

I've gotten another job (I'm back at TIDCO - the Tourism and Industrial Development Company Ltd) - but now I'm, in Marketing instead of IT. I do the websites. There are quite a few, and they've been sadly ignored for a while.

There's some really interesting things about this job. Everyone knows better than us about how to market Trinidad and Tobago. It's so weird. All we hear about is what we're doing wrong in their opinion. But, if local people aren't our target market for Tourism advertising, then how would they really know what we're doing, and if it's effective? Doesn't stop everyone from the hairdresser to the waitress to the taxi driver from telling me how to do my job.

It's annoying sometimes. It's good that they care, but not enough to stop littering and making the beaches look like garbage dumps, though!
Arrrrgh!

Provocation leads to 18 stab wounds!

WINSTON Junior Duffriend was yesterday convicted� for the second time�of killing his estranged common-law wife.

This time around, however, his conviction was reduced from murder to manslaughter, when the jury concluded that the woman had provoked him.

Ramkissoon�s cousin, Jennifer Lewis, testified that she was in the kitchen area of the restaurant when she and Ramkissoon shared a joke. Duffriend claimed that he was the butt of the joke.

Being made fun of is a valid defense in Trinidad and Tobago now - for murder. But being abused by a man has NOT been accepted as a valid provocation defense. This seems to me to be really messed up. I guess we have to be really careful about the jokes we make, as violent reactions to such include being stabbed 18 times!

on a happier note - Jamaica's election came off with some violence, but PJ PAtterson has won an unprecedented 3rd term. Seaga has now led his party to 7 consecutive defeats - think he should step down and let the party reorganise itself? Hmmmm?

Politics in Trinidad - the silly season.

OK - so the leader of the UNC party has just offered an "investment" of $1500 for every baby born in 2003. Is this ridiculous or what? This country is overpopulated. We don't have anywhere enough school places, enough jobs, and to encourage more babies to be born? I couldn't believe it when I heard.

If the idea is to improve the economic lot of the people of this country, why not give the $$ to girls who finish high school with good grades and don't get pregnant? Offer them the money towards further education. This will encourage them to NOT get pregnant young, to finish school and set themselves up for a better position in life! But NO...... that's not an option in this topsy-turvy land of ours.

I'm getting fed up!

I just realised that many countries are going to the polls in the next few months and the opinion polls are showing (Germany, Trinidad, Jamaica) that these countries are virtually split down the middle - seems as if (like the US in 2K) no-one wants to elect a government with a strong mandate anymore.

Trinidad has been "kind of" functioning with an 18-18 electoral tie for 9 months now,(voting AGAIN on Oct 7) and there are predictions of 30-30 in Jamaica on October 16. Germany's election was a dead heat until the end...

Do you think that it is a defnite move by voters to deny governments the ability to rule with a strong majority, and always keep the upper hand? Or is it a reflection on the ethnic and other divisions and tribalism that seems to be starting to infect the world?
Let me know what you think!

So I haven't written anything here for almost a month. It is difficult sometimes.
So - now we're into election mode again - it's the 3rd general election in 33 months. Should we call it the annual election?

There are apparently 102 people going up for the election in 36 electoral districts. Of course, the main 2 parties will most likely win all the seats. The main new party - Citizen's Alliance - has a lot of very intelligent middle-class people going up, but ... it seems strange that we hear nothign about what they're planning, what they stand for - or against. We don't even know who is backing them financially. That is definitely disturbing to me, as my main issue is the increasing lawlessness, exemplified by the overt corruption at all levels of society.
I think that this country will become ungovernable if people don't start obeying laws - we don't even obey traffic signals, and the Police don't stop us.

If the ex-Prime Minister can say that it's no-one's business where he suddenly got 100,000 UK pounds while in office, and another Minister won't say where he got $52 MILLION while in office, and nothign is done about them, then... should we find it strange that one has to pay a fee to the cashier to cash a cheque in less than 1 day of standing in line?

What also disturbs me is that the population has reached the point where they seem to take this behaviour for granted.

This is NOT hte way things are supposed to work One is NOT required to pass a bribe to get basic Government services that are provided for free, or for the clerk to do the job that s/he is getting PAID to do!