from M. K.
to maketodayhistory@gmail.com,
date Wed, May 7, 2008 at 10:50 PM
mailed-by hotmail.com
hide details 10:50 PM (7 hours ago)
Reply
Well, this morning, May 6th, 2008, as soon as I opened my eyes I said what I always say first thing on mornings: "When morning gilds the skies, my heart awakening cries, May Jesus Christ Be Praised". After that, I went on the computer to check my e-mail. I'm a computer freak. Well, I'm retired, so I might as well be a computer freak. Actually, its not quite true to say I am retired - retired from a paid job, yes, but definitely not retired from writing, which is what I do. I am an author, with three published books, and a fourth one in the pipeline. A computer freak I may be, but at least I don't inundate friends' e-mail Inboxes with a load of junk mail and links to websites. I had to actually change my e-mail address to get away from one of those control freaks who invade your Inbox with junk. I call him a control freak because I realise that when he sends links to websites, he is really informing me that I haven't the intelligence to find these websites myself. Well, I took care of him.
After checking e-mail and reading newspapers online, I showered, had breakfast, which consisted of fruit, cereal, soft boiled egg and a slice of a health cob loaf. Then I dressed appropriately to go to one of the medical clinics in Belleville to have a blood test, chest X-ray and ECG, just so that the doctors/surgeon/anaesthetist can be sure that I won't kick the bucket (oh, yeah? Wish I could be as sure as they) when I have my gall bladder removed in a few days time. Last year I tried doing a gall bladder flush, but apparently it didn't budge the two huge gall stones that have lodged themselves in the gall bladder. Lord, if it ain't one thing its another.
Next item on the Agenda - traffic jams. No matter how you try to avoid them nowadays in Barbados, you simply cannot. Even if you go a distance out of your way to reach your final destination, you still get bogged down. How nice for your poor lungs, first thing on a morning to be inhaling all that carbon monoxide, some of which, from huge articulated trucks (and minibuses) is thick and black. And when will something be done about that? When will a law be passed to control emissions? Well, just like everything else in Barbados - NEVER. Isn't it amazing how politicians pompasett in front of microphones and stupid listeners, and pontificate about how they're going to do this, that and the other, and it's all just a bunch of hot air. No action is ever taken.
However, to look on the bright side, you can still enjoy what beauty there is left in the island, by taking a drive down the East Coast, and you can still find a few quiet spots here and there in St. Andrew, St. Joseph and St. Thomas. St. Lucy - well, poor St. Lucy, it has never had much in the way of beauty going for it. Mind you, there are cliffs - like out by the Animal Flower Cave (I wonder if in years to come there will be a huge condo development out there, like everywhere else) - and a few unspoilt lonely spots. But, hey! How much longer will we be able to drive around for pleasure, with the price of gasoline escalating daily?
While sitting on an uncomfortable cushioned bench affair in the Waiting Room before having the ECG, I start to reminisce, and it isn't pleasant what I'm reminiscing about. I'm remembering the time, some thirty years back, when I recovered on the operating table at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, BEFORE THE SURGEON HAD FINISHED! True, true, true. Problem was, I could not move - not my hands, not my feet, I couldn't even open my eyes, which would have alerted them. I was a goner. Doomed. I silently recited the 23rd Psalm. I would have thought their instruments would have alerted them to my condition, but apparently not. Two weeks later, after I had fully recovered, I marched into the anaesthetist's office on the top floor of QEH and demanded to know what had gone wrong. He was a Korean (oh, God our help in ages past) and he grinned at me like a Cheshire cat. "Nothing went wrong", he said. NOTHING? The anaesthetic had had in, as one of the ingredients, a muscle relaxant, which rendered my muscles totally useless. Ever heard of curare? The stuff that Amazonian Indians use with their blow arrows to paralyze animals in the jungle? Well, the muscle relaxant I had been given was a refined form of curare. So much for that.
I'm in the Cardiologist's office now, relating that experience to him and stating that I hope it won't happen again. Oh, no, he assures me, technology has advanced tremendously since then. (So, excuse me, what about the movie, "Awake", that apparently tells a similar tale?). Ho hum. I drive home via the East Coast Road and stop in at a rum shop to drink a Banks. Might as well enjoy life, while I'm still in it. CIAO!
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Monday, May 19, 2008
DIARY ENTRY 30
from M. P.
to "I. Persaud"
date Thu, May 15, 2008 at 8:16 AM
subject Re: From Ingrid - gentle reminder to send in your diaries of Tuesday 6 May please
mailed-by yahoo.com
signed-by yahoo.com
hide details May 15 (2 days ago)
Reply
Hello Ingrid,
On Tuesday 6th May 2008 I M. P., the researcher
sat at my desk and researched and wrote text for the
museums 75th anniversary exhibits. It was a real
barrel of laughs.
M.
to "I. Persaud"
date Thu, May 15, 2008 at 8:16 AM
subject Re: From Ingrid - gentle reminder to send in your diaries of Tuesday 6 May please
mailed-by yahoo.com
signed-by yahoo.com
hide details May 15 (2 days ago)
Reply
Hello Ingrid,
On Tuesday 6th May 2008 I M. P., the researcher
sat at my desk and researched and wrote text for the
museums 75th anniversary exhibits. It was a real
barrel of laughs.
M.
DIARY ENTRY 29
P. T.
to maketodayhistory@gmail.com
date Fri, May 9, 2008 at 6:21 AM
subject
mailed-by hotmail.com
MAY 6TH 2008
6:00 - 7:00 am WOKE UP DROVE TO PORT ST CHARLES BEACH WITH MUM (RAN ON SAND& SWAM)
7:30 am PREPARED TUNA MELT TO EAT FOR BREAKFAST
8:00 – 8:30 am BROWSED ONLINE
8:35 am DROP MUM TO WORK - ROLAND EDWARDS PRIMARY SCHOOL
8:45 am WENT INTO COURTS SPIEGHTSTOWN TO PAY CELL PHONE BILL
9:00 am DELIVER A MESSAGE TO SOMEONE THAT WORKS AT THE LUMBER COMPANY
9:10 am REVISED FOR TECHNICAL DRAWING EXAMINATION
10:30-11:00 am SHOWERED, DRESSED (BLUE JEANS SKIRT AND BROWN T-SHIRT LIKE TOP, RED SANDLES & COCONUT ACCESSORIES) DROVE INTO ST. MICHAEL
11:00 am CONDUCTED FACEPAINTING CLASSES TO THREE STUDENTS
1:30 pm SUPERCENTER WARRENS BOUGHT ROTISSERIE CHICKEN
2:00 – 4:30 pm ATE, NAP, EMAIL, REVISED
4:35 pm PICKED UP MUM FROM WORK DROPPED HER HOME
5:00 pm WENT INTO ST. ANDREW BY A CLASSMATE TO REVISE
8:00 pm HOME, CHAT WITH MUM, SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT
to maketodayhistory@gmail.com
date Fri, May 9, 2008 at 6:21 AM
subject
mailed-by hotmail.com
MAY 6TH 2008
6:00 - 7:00 am WOKE UP DROVE TO PORT ST CHARLES BEACH WITH MUM (RAN ON SAND& SWAM)
7:30 am PREPARED TUNA MELT TO EAT FOR BREAKFAST
8:00 – 8:30 am BROWSED ONLINE
8:35 am DROP MUM TO WORK - ROLAND EDWARDS PRIMARY SCHOOL
8:45 am WENT INTO COURTS SPIEGHTSTOWN TO PAY CELL PHONE BILL
9:00 am DELIVER A MESSAGE TO SOMEONE THAT WORKS AT THE LUMBER COMPANY
9:10 am REVISED FOR TECHNICAL DRAWING EXAMINATION
10:30-11:00 am SHOWERED, DRESSED (BLUE JEANS SKIRT AND BROWN T-SHIRT LIKE TOP, RED SANDLES & COCONUT ACCESSORIES) DROVE INTO ST. MICHAEL
11:00 am CONDUCTED FACEPAINTING CLASSES TO THREE STUDENTS
1:30 pm SUPERCENTER WARRENS BOUGHT ROTISSERIE CHICKEN
2:00 – 4:30 pm ATE, NAP, EMAIL, REVISED
4:35 pm PICKED UP MUM FROM WORK DROPPED HER HOME
5:00 pm WENT INTO ST. ANDREW BY A CLASSMATE TO REVISE
8:00 pm HOME, CHAT WITH MUM, SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT
DIARY ENTRY 28
S. C.
to maketodayhistory@gmail.com,
date Wed, May 7, 2008 at 12:45 PM
hide details 12:45 PM (20 minutes ago) [Tuesday May 6th 2008.doc]
Reply
Good Luck
On Tuesday May 6th I woke up at 5.00 to the National anthem on 100.7 f.m. (I have it on BBC all night in case I wake up, there is always something interesting to hear)
Turned on the TV and caught the last hour of “Cranford” on PBS. Then switched to Mornin’ Barbados
The toilet is blocked again. Got some exercise plunging it clear.
Fed the dogs and cat
Watered the plant pots
Made breakfast, apple, pear, tangerine, banana, oat and honey granola bar, coffee, did the SUDUKO in the Advocate
Read my emails
Made the bed
8.0 Rain lovely rain
Showered, put on swim suit, thongs and coverup. Packed clothes towel etc. drove to Aquacize.
Coffee after Aquacize
Sent fax to Anguilla.
Had lunch Chicken breast with cheese and spring onions in whole wheat salt bread, ice cream, ice tea
Rested
Drove to St. Peter for hair cut.
Got home about 4.00
Read and watched TV answered some emails and made some phone calls
Had raw carrots, cottage cheese with sardines for dinner, glass of wine and water
Managed to listen to George Lamming interview on CBC while watching Dancing With the Stars
to maketodayhistory@gmail.com,
date Wed, May 7, 2008 at 12:45 PM
hide details 12:45 PM (20 minutes ago) [Tuesday May 6th 2008.doc]
Reply
Good Luck
On Tuesday May 6th I woke up at 5.00 to the National anthem on 100.7 f.m. (I have it on BBC all night in case I wake up, there is always something interesting to hear)
Turned on the TV and caught the last hour of “Cranford” on PBS. Then switched to Mornin’ Barbados
The toilet is blocked again. Got some exercise plunging it clear.
Fed the dogs and cat
Watered the plant pots
Made breakfast, apple, pear, tangerine, banana, oat and honey granola bar, coffee, did the SUDUKO in the Advocate
Read my emails
Made the bed
8.0 Rain lovely rain
Showered, put on swim suit, thongs and coverup. Packed clothes towel etc. drove to Aquacize.
Coffee after Aquacize
Sent fax to Anguilla.
Had lunch Chicken breast with cheese and spring onions in whole wheat salt bread, ice cream, ice tea
Rested
Drove to St. Peter for hair cut.
Got home about 4.00
Read and watched TV answered some emails and made some phone calls
Had raw carrots, cottage cheese with sardines for dinner, glass of wine and water
Managed to listen to George Lamming interview on CBC while watching Dancing With the Stars
DIARY ENTRY 27
from Paul
to maketodayhistory@gmail.com,
date Wed, May 7, 2008 at 11:24 AM
subject my day (attached)
mailed-by gmail.com
hide details 11:24 AM (35 minutes ago) [Tuesday May 6th 2008.doc]
Reply
Tuesday May 6th 2008
I woke up at 7.45 am thinking it was later, maybe 9am, but that was a trick of the mind between sleep and wakefulness. I got up, showered, shaved and dressed. I ate a small breakfast of warmed salt bread, marmalade and black coffee. After breakfast I made two cheese and tomato cutters to take with me for lunch. It was one of my own tomatoes from the small kitchen garden I have. It had rained heavily for about ten minutes at dawn so I did not need to water the whole garden, just the lettuces to make sure they didn’t wilt during this hot dry season.
I left St George about 9am and headed over towards Christ Church to make some cold calls but the office called and as two people were off sick they wanted me to go in earlier than I had planned. I made one stop on the way in at the monthly second hand book stall outside Big B and bought Howard’s End by E M Forster for $2 and Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez for $5.
Arriving at the office I was told that a customer who had just bought a photocopier had sent a PO through for a fax machine which I delivered later that morning.
The afternoon was very quiet. My two bosses left at 2.30pm and I was on my own. The phone hardly rang and it was very boring. I watched an episode of the UK cult comedy called the Mighty Boosh on the internet and chatted to my girlfriend in St Lucia on line.
I left just before 5pm and went to my gym. I did two classes – gravity Pilates and step aerobics. There was a one hour break between the two classes and I ate an apple to keep me going and chatted with friends.
Leaving to go home at 8.45pm the ABC highway was closed and the diversion took me through the edge of Bridgetown, a frustration as I was tired and hungry.
I reached home at 9pm and fortunately had some jerk chicken that I had made on Sunday marinating in the fridge. I grilled this and served it with fried plantain and eggplant and drank rum and coke.
Before sleeping at 11pm I read some more of Orhan Pamuk’s “Istanbul”.
to maketodayhistory@gmail.com,
date Wed, May 7, 2008 at 11:24 AM
subject my day (attached)
mailed-by gmail.com
hide details 11:24 AM (35 minutes ago) [Tuesday May 6th 2008.doc]
Reply
Tuesday May 6th 2008
I woke up at 7.45 am thinking it was later, maybe 9am, but that was a trick of the mind between sleep and wakefulness. I got up, showered, shaved and dressed. I ate a small breakfast of warmed salt bread, marmalade and black coffee. After breakfast I made two cheese and tomato cutters to take with me for lunch. It was one of my own tomatoes from the small kitchen garden I have. It had rained heavily for about ten minutes at dawn so I did not need to water the whole garden, just the lettuces to make sure they didn’t wilt during this hot dry season.
I left St George about 9am and headed over towards Christ Church to make some cold calls but the office called and as two people were off sick they wanted me to go in earlier than I had planned. I made one stop on the way in at the monthly second hand book stall outside Big B and bought Howard’s End by E M Forster for $2 and Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez for $5.
Arriving at the office I was told that a customer who had just bought a photocopier had sent a PO through for a fax machine which I delivered later that morning.
The afternoon was very quiet. My two bosses left at 2.30pm and I was on my own. The phone hardly rang and it was very boring. I watched an episode of the UK cult comedy called the Mighty Boosh on the internet and chatted to my girlfriend in St Lucia on line.
I left just before 5pm and went to my gym. I did two classes – gravity Pilates and step aerobics. There was a one hour break between the two classes and I ate an apple to keep me going and chatted with friends.
Leaving to go home at 8.45pm the ABC highway was closed and the diversion took me through the edge of Bridgetown, a frustration as I was tired and hungry.
I reached home at 9pm and fortunately had some jerk chicken that I had made on Sunday marinating in the fridge. I grilled this and served it with fried plantain and eggplant and drank rum and coke.
Before sleeping at 11pm I read some more of Orhan Pamuk’s “Istanbul”.
DIARY ENTRY 26
from C. D.
to "I. Persaud"
date Sun, May 11, 2008 at 9:44 PM
subject Re: final appeal
mailed-by yahoo.com
signed-by yahoo.com
hide details 9:44 PM (2 hours ago)
Reply
Greetings Ingrid,
Tuesday May 6th
4:30- Shaka ( my 16th month son) woke me up. I struggled to the kitchen to get him formula, gave him the formula and breast fed him
6:00 am struggled out of bed headed to the kitchen made breafast, lunch and snacks for Shaka and his grandmother and uncle and myself
10:00 Left the house- made a couple stops
12:00 arrived at work at my new space at SCS Architects and worked on a proposal for an entrance exhibit for the Caribbean gift and craft show whilst trying to organise my new space
aorund 3;45 left and went to the gym where I spent 45 mins
arrived home aorung 5
played with Shaka
by 8:00 fell asleep putting Shaka to sleep
Hope this helps
O.
to "I. Persaud"
date Sun, May 11, 2008 at 9:44 PM
subject Re: final appeal
mailed-by yahoo.com
signed-by yahoo.com
hide details 9:44 PM (2 hours ago)
Reply
Greetings Ingrid,
Tuesday May 6th
4:30- Shaka ( my 16th month son) woke me up. I struggled to the kitchen to get him formula, gave him the formula and breast fed him
6:00 am struggled out of bed headed to the kitchen made breafast, lunch and snacks for Shaka and his grandmother and uncle and myself
10:00 Left the house- made a couple stops
12:00 arrived at work at my new space at SCS Architects and worked on a proposal for an entrance exhibit for the Caribbean gift and craft show whilst trying to organise my new space
aorund 3;45 left and went to the gym where I spent 45 mins
arrived home aorung 5
played with Shaka
by 8:00 fell asleep putting Shaka to sleep
Hope this helps
O.
DIARY ENTRY 25
from S. A.
to "I. Persaud",
date Wed, May 7, 2008 at 10:30 PM
subject Re: From Ingrid - gentle reminder to send in your diaries of Tuesday 6 May please
hide details 10:30 PM (7 hours ago) Tuesday, May 6, 2008.doc]
Reply
Hi Ingrid,
I have attached my diary for May 6th. I have never written in a diary before. Actually I enjoyed it.
Hope you are well!
Cheers,
S
Tuesday, May 6th, 2008
Today began as usual. I woke up at 6:00 am. Made breakfast for Daniel which consisted of scrambled eggs and hash browns. At 7:00 am the driver arrived and Dan was off to school (Queen’s College).
Haven’t been to the gym for 1 week because have had this nasty cold and cough. I was up all Sunday night and I got out of bed at 5:00 am and took a spoonful of Maple Syrup. I have barely coughed since then. I think I should patent “the cure”.
I got ready to go to the gym but remembered I had to call Victoria in Toronto to wake her up. She has been shopping for things to go tree planting in Northern Ontario. I hope the black flies or the bears don’t get her – lol!!! We had a great chat for over 40 minutes – what would I do without SKYPE.
Finally at 10:30 am I went to the gym. I walked 3 miles on the treadmill and then went to my favourite coffee shop at the Sheraton Centre for a cappuccino frappe as a reward for the 3 miles at the gym. Andrew’s cousin, ShirleyAnn, was in line right behind me. We had a little chat then we both went on our separate ways.
I returned home and made spaghetti sauce for dinner. Then I had a quiet afternoon.
The good news is that my computer that crashed was delivered by Larry in working order and he even recovered all my data! I really have been born under a lucky star!!!! He also informed me that the computer should be able to keep me going for about one more year – yay, I won’t have to shell out for a new computer until 2009 (I better touch wood as I don’t want to jinx myself).
I picked up Daniel from lessons at 5:00.
In the evening I went with A. Mac. and A. G. to an evening book club meeting. This was our first meeting. It was hosted by P. at Starpoint, this is the house we lived in for two years when we moved to Barbados. It felt strange spending an evening there. Am happy we no longer live there. I hated the central garden which always seemed to attract “wildlife”. Also attending were B. O. and Lili (?). L. H. S. and one other person could not make the meeting. Each of people in attendance brought a few books that they have either already read or intend to read. It was great hearing about all those books. It makes me think I need to spend more time reading. Don’t allow myself enough reading time! I also found out more about my fellow book club members. I was surprised to hear that A. was born in Africa. Wow, you can know someone for 10 years and not really know anything about them. It was also interesting that even though 5 out of 6 people in attendance were from Canada most of the book selections were non-American and mostly dealing with African and Asian authors or settings!
Got home around 10:30 pm. When I got home, I had a short chat with Tessa and Cliff. They had been renting our cottage for 4 weeks and leave on Wednesday afternoon. They were good tenants and enjoyed having our dogs visit with them every day on the cottage terrace. When I got in the door Andrew and Daniel were both asleep.
It was 11 pm and I turned on my favourite television channel (HGTV – Home & Garden TV) to watch home renovation shows and fall asleep.
It was an ordinary day in the life of S!
Good Night!!!!!!
to "I. Persaud"
date Wed, May 7, 2008 at 10:30 PM
subject Re: From Ingrid - gentle reminder to send in your diaries of Tuesday 6 May please
hide details 10:30 PM (7 hours ago) Tuesday, May 6, 2008.doc]
Reply
Hi Ingrid,
I have attached my diary for May 6th. I have never written in a diary before. Actually I enjoyed it.
Hope you are well!
Cheers,
S
Tuesday, May 6th, 2008
Today began as usual. I woke up at 6:00 am. Made breakfast for Daniel which consisted of scrambled eggs and hash browns. At 7:00 am the driver arrived and Dan was off to school (Queen’s College).
Haven’t been to the gym for 1 week because have had this nasty cold and cough. I was up all Sunday night and I got out of bed at 5:00 am and took a spoonful of Maple Syrup. I have barely coughed since then. I think I should patent “the cure”.
I got ready to go to the gym but remembered I had to call Victoria in Toronto to wake her up. She has been shopping for things to go tree planting in Northern Ontario. I hope the black flies or the bears don’t get her – lol!!! We had a great chat for over 40 minutes – what would I do without SKYPE.
Finally at 10:30 am I went to the gym. I walked 3 miles on the treadmill and then went to my favourite coffee shop at the Sheraton Centre for a cappuccino frappe as a reward for the 3 miles at the gym. Andrew’s cousin, ShirleyAnn, was in line right behind me. We had a little chat then we both went on our separate ways.
I returned home and made spaghetti sauce for dinner. Then I had a quiet afternoon.
The good news is that my computer that crashed was delivered by Larry in working order and he even recovered all my data! I really have been born under a lucky star!!!! He also informed me that the computer should be able to keep me going for about one more year – yay, I won’t have to shell out for a new computer until 2009 (I better touch wood as I don’t want to jinx myself).
I picked up Daniel from lessons at 5:00.
In the evening I went with A. Mac. and A. G. to an evening book club meeting. This was our first meeting. It was hosted by P. at Starpoint, this is the house we lived in for two years when we moved to Barbados. It felt strange spending an evening there. Am happy we no longer live there. I hated the central garden which always seemed to attract “wildlife”. Also attending were B. O. and Lili (?). L. H. S. and one other person could not make the meeting. Each of people in attendance brought a few books that they have either already read or intend to read. It was great hearing about all those books. It makes me think I need to spend more time reading. Don’t allow myself enough reading time! I also found out more about my fellow book club members. I was surprised to hear that A. was born in Africa. Wow, you can know someone for 10 years and not really know anything about them. It was also interesting that even though 5 out of 6 people in attendance were from Canada most of the book selections were non-American and mostly dealing with African and Asian authors or settings!
Got home around 10:30 pm. When I got home, I had a short chat with Tessa and Cliff. They had been renting our cottage for 4 weeks and leave on Wednesday afternoon. They were good tenants and enjoyed having our dogs visit with them every day on the cottage terrace. When I got in the door Andrew and Daniel were both asleep.
It was 11 pm and I turned on my favourite television channel (HGTV – Home & Garden TV) to watch home renovation shows and fall asleep.
It was an ordinary day in the life of S!
Good Night!!!!!!
DIARY ENTRY 24
from Prof T. L.
to "I. Persaud"
date Fri, May 9, 2008 at 9:49 AM
subject RE: From Ingrid - gentle reminder to send in your diaries of Tuesday 6 May please
hide details 9:49 AM (36 minutes ago) [Persaud diary.doc]
Reply
Diary appended. Sorry it is not more, better written, or more exciting.
Tom
Tuesday, 6 May 2008
I awoke relatively late because I had stayed up late watching CBC television on Monday evening. While CBC ought to be given an award from the National Library Service for encouraging reading, on Mondays I like to watch Boston Legal, which ends at 9:30pm. Desperate Housewives comes on after, but that show is no longer so appealing as it once was, and a 10:30pm bedtime is just too, too late.
Because I awoke late (5:45am) I chose to not go for my usual walk up the hill that is taken on most weekday mornings for reasons of health and constitution. My attire for the day was my usual brown or off-white khaki pants with a colorful short-sleeved shirt from Singapore. No tie or other such encumbrance. Breakfast today was Cheerios with some milk and a bunch of cut-up fruit, again due to being lazy, and not my preferred bacon and eggs. Orange juice, no coffee or tea (I hate coffee, and tea before tea time is a sign of moral degeneration), and that was it.
I drove to work, leaving about 6:45am, in a car borrowed from a step son because my truck had starter solenoid difficulties and my shade-tree mechanic up the hill seemed unable to quite get to the job of making the repair. Arrived at the Museum around 7:25am. Again no Internet access at the Museum in the morning, difficulties with Cable and Wireless, the company we all love to hate. After taking care of a few pressing matters, this day was devoted to painting the ceiling and one wall of the new Development Office at the Museum, a light grey color to dampen the deep red that will cover the other three walls. At the same time one of our workers, William, was put to painting two rooms in the north complex that will serve as changing rooms for the Special Events folks. The paint work mandated a change into short pants and a Tee-shirt so as not to ruin the more proper clothing that I wore to work.
In the course of the day I encountered the same Ms. Persaud for whom this diary is written. She was sitting on a wall at the Museum in the company of another equally attractive woman who had camera in hand. What they were doing is clearly beyond me as my understanding of the artistic temperament is limited at best.
Lunch was quickly inhaled, my usual yogurt, nuts, apple, and a cookie (biscuit in the local English terminology), all brought from home, water to drink.
More painting in the afternoon, then a departure for home to clean up, put back on my usual work clothes, eat a quick dinner, a pasta dish left over from the evening before, a dish I had made because my wife was out for a civic meeting leaving me to tend the kitchen, and back to the Museum with my wife along to hear Mr. Farmer deliver his lecture on the archaeological and historical collections at the Museum. A nice social interaction followed, then home very late, to bed around 10:45pm, again too, too late, the bane of we who live on farms and like to arise early, early, early. My God, living in Paradise is really boring!!!!!!
to "I. Persaud"
date Fri, May 9, 2008 at 9:49 AM
subject RE: From Ingrid - gentle reminder to send in your diaries of Tuesday 6 May please
hide details 9:49 AM (36 minutes ago) [Persaud diary.doc]
Reply
Diary appended. Sorry it is not more, better written, or more exciting.
Tom
Tuesday, 6 May 2008
I awoke relatively late because I had stayed up late watching CBC television on Monday evening. While CBC ought to be given an award from the National Library Service for encouraging reading, on Mondays I like to watch Boston Legal, which ends at 9:30pm. Desperate Housewives comes on after, but that show is no longer so appealing as it once was, and a 10:30pm bedtime is just too, too late.
Because I awoke late (5:45am) I chose to not go for my usual walk up the hill that is taken on most weekday mornings for reasons of health and constitution. My attire for the day was my usual brown or off-white khaki pants with a colorful short-sleeved shirt from Singapore. No tie or other such encumbrance. Breakfast today was Cheerios with some milk and a bunch of cut-up fruit, again due to being lazy, and not my preferred bacon and eggs. Orange juice, no coffee or tea (I hate coffee, and tea before tea time is a sign of moral degeneration), and that was it.
I drove to work, leaving about 6:45am, in a car borrowed from a step son because my truck had starter solenoid difficulties and my shade-tree mechanic up the hill seemed unable to quite get to the job of making the repair. Arrived at the Museum around 7:25am. Again no Internet access at the Museum in the morning, difficulties with Cable and Wireless, the company we all love to hate. After taking care of a few pressing matters, this day was devoted to painting the ceiling and one wall of the new Development Office at the Museum, a light grey color to dampen the deep red that will cover the other three walls. At the same time one of our workers, William, was put to painting two rooms in the north complex that will serve as changing rooms for the Special Events folks. The paint work mandated a change into short pants and a Tee-shirt so as not to ruin the more proper clothing that I wore to work.
In the course of the day I encountered the same Ms. Persaud for whom this diary is written. She was sitting on a wall at the Museum in the company of another equally attractive woman who had camera in hand. What they were doing is clearly beyond me as my understanding of the artistic temperament is limited at best.
Lunch was quickly inhaled, my usual yogurt, nuts, apple, and a cookie (biscuit in the local English terminology), all brought from home, water to drink.
More painting in the afternoon, then a departure for home to clean up, put back on my usual work clothes, eat a quick dinner, a pasta dish left over from the evening before, a dish I had made because my wife was out for a civic meeting leaving me to tend the kitchen, and back to the Museum with my wife along to hear Mr. Farmer deliver his lecture on the archaeological and historical collections at the Museum. A nice social interaction followed, then home very late, to bed around 10:45pm, again too, too late, the bane of we who live on farms and like to arise early, early, early. My God, living in Paradise is really boring!!!!!!
DIARY ENTRY 23
From:
G B C
Add to: Blog, To Do, Calendar
To:
'ingrid'
Cc:
Bcc:
Date:
Wed, 7 May 2008 10:23 am
May 6, 2008—Lived by an American-Bajan in Ocean City, St. Philip
My routine is predictable. But I suppose routines are predictable. We wished our houseguests a fond farewell yesterday which means it’s back to life-as-usual here in St. Philip.
5am: The dogs are grooming my husband hoping he will tire of having his hair washed by tongues and get up and let them go outside. Thankfully he gets up, and I have once again escaped the duty of letting the dogs out.
5:30am: I am in the kitchen, putting water in the kettle, grinding coffee beans, zapping oatmeal, feeding the dogs, filling water bowls, giving the dogs their treats for bringing in the morning Nation and pouring coffee for the husband (who misses all this excitement conducting his own morning routine of shaving, showering and *cough*). When the dogs and the husband have been tended to, I grab my coffee, turn on the fan and saddle up on the sofa to enjoy my few minutes watching either a random movie for 30 minutes, or Pearson and Belle. I tune in to see Pearson’s shirt and tie. What a dresser! I wonder if I would have the guts to introduce myself to Pearson if I ran into him in person?
6:30am: The husband is on his way into “town” and the dogs are looking under the gate for a visit from the neighbor’s dog and I have abandoned the sofa (and Pearson) and am in front of my computer. After the gossip pages are read, the New York newspaper’s homepages scanned and the Sudoku puzzle is completed, I begin my work writing. I have newsletters to finish this week for my employer. Between writing about higher education funding woes I manage do some internet shopping, anticipating my trip stateside.
9am: I wanted to get out of the neighborhood today. I should have gone to Desmond’s 9am spin class but my knee was the size of a grapefruit rather than the size of an orange. I hate getting old!
12 noon: I haven’t gotten much done on my newsletters, but have purchased 12 shirts, 3 pairs of pants, 4 pairs of shoes, 3 pairs of shorts and 2 dresses. The rains here in St. Philip have turned to glorious skies, so I have ventured out to our deck to smell the sea air and marvel at the beauty here. Five years and counting and I am still awestruck at the beauty of the sea. I hope I never take this for granted.
2pm: I need to work on my newsletters. Judge Mathis is coming on and I have to layout two newsletters before 4pm! I can do it! I also have to think about dinner. My Waitrose cottage cheese at lunch tasted a bit wonky, I think I should have paid attention to the expiration date.
3pm: How much time can I waste by not working on my newsletters? I caught up with a friend from the states. I have take advantage of my VOIP phone when it’s working because it doesn’t work that often—Life in the tropics where technology (and Cable & Wireless) have many, many issues.
5pm: Got my Oprah watching in while chopping onions and garlic. Husband is home cleaning out his mess of a car, which gets serviced tomorrow, so I will be without car for two days. Guess that is my excuse tomorrow and Thursday to skip a step and Pilates class. I am attempting to make spaghetti for dinner. I have lost my will and desire to cook. How did my mother do it without ever complaining? I complain every time I enter the kitchen. She cooked for four, and I cook for two. I am a spoiled brat and hope she isn’t embarrassed sitting up there on her cloud looking down at me. I wish I could cook the Bajan and Indian dishes my husband grew up on. I haven’t the heart to even try, because I don’t handle failure well. If I time this right, I can watch Judge Judy before we sit down to dinner.
7pm: Husband is watching the Channel 8 news and I am ensconced in the bedroom watching Judge Judy, yes again. I have trouble watching the local news here because that side camera they use for a wide shot looks like there is Vaseline smeared all over the lens. I do wonder if it is the same camera that they use in Parliament when they tape the goings on between the government officials. Seriously, can someone in charge not see that there is a problem with the clarity of that camera? I get an extra kick with Pearson is anchoring the news. I will step away from Judge Judy for Pearson.
8:30pm: We are both showered and in bed watching Sweet Home Alabama, but husband is complaining because I have made him watch it before. So he goes to sleep, I turn up the volume so I can hear the TV over the lawnmower lying next to me, but soon my eyelids have had enough for the day and I sadly (or gladly) turn off Reese and McDreamy, and the TV, and call it a day—one dog in happily dreaming in his crate the other in her place spooning with the husband’s legs.
All is quiet here in our little place on the rock.
This St. Philip girl, who works from home, never did make it outside her house today. Maybe tomorrow, but somehow I doubt it.
G B C
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Wed, 7 May 2008 10:23 am
May 6, 2008—Lived by an American-Bajan in Ocean City, St. Philip
My routine is predictable. But I suppose routines are predictable. We wished our houseguests a fond farewell yesterday which means it’s back to life-as-usual here in St. Philip.
5am: The dogs are grooming my husband hoping he will tire of having his hair washed by tongues and get up and let them go outside. Thankfully he gets up, and I have once again escaped the duty of letting the dogs out.
5:30am: I am in the kitchen, putting water in the kettle, grinding coffee beans, zapping oatmeal, feeding the dogs, filling water bowls, giving the dogs their treats for bringing in the morning Nation and pouring coffee for the husband (who misses all this excitement conducting his own morning routine of shaving, showering and *cough*). When the dogs and the husband have been tended to, I grab my coffee, turn on the fan and saddle up on the sofa to enjoy my few minutes watching either a random movie for 30 minutes, or Pearson and Belle. I tune in to see Pearson’s shirt and tie. What a dresser! I wonder if I would have the guts to introduce myself to Pearson if I ran into him in person?
6:30am: The husband is on his way into “town” and the dogs are looking under the gate for a visit from the neighbor’s dog and I have abandoned the sofa (and Pearson) and am in front of my computer. After the gossip pages are read, the New York newspaper’s homepages scanned and the Sudoku puzzle is completed, I begin my work writing. I have newsletters to finish this week for my employer. Between writing about higher education funding woes I manage do some internet shopping, anticipating my trip stateside.
9am: I wanted to get out of the neighborhood today. I should have gone to Desmond’s 9am spin class but my knee was the size of a grapefruit rather than the size of an orange. I hate getting old!
12 noon: I haven’t gotten much done on my newsletters, but have purchased 12 shirts, 3 pairs of pants, 4 pairs of shoes, 3 pairs of shorts and 2 dresses. The rains here in St. Philip have turned to glorious skies, so I have ventured out to our deck to smell the sea air and marvel at the beauty here. Five years and counting and I am still awestruck at the beauty of the sea. I hope I never take this for granted.
2pm: I need to work on my newsletters. Judge Mathis is coming on and I have to layout two newsletters before 4pm! I can do it! I also have to think about dinner. My Waitrose cottage cheese at lunch tasted a bit wonky, I think I should have paid attention to the expiration date.
3pm: How much time can I waste by not working on my newsletters? I caught up with a friend from the states. I have take advantage of my VOIP phone when it’s working because it doesn’t work that often—Life in the tropics where technology (and Cable & Wireless) have many, many issues.
5pm: Got my Oprah watching in while chopping onions and garlic. Husband is home cleaning out his mess of a car, which gets serviced tomorrow, so I will be without car for two days. Guess that is my excuse tomorrow and Thursday to skip a step and Pilates class. I am attempting to make spaghetti for dinner. I have lost my will and desire to cook. How did my mother do it without ever complaining? I complain every time I enter the kitchen. She cooked for four, and I cook for two. I am a spoiled brat and hope she isn’t embarrassed sitting up there on her cloud looking down at me. I wish I could cook the Bajan and Indian dishes my husband grew up on. I haven’t the heart to even try, because I don’t handle failure well. If I time this right, I can watch Judge Judy before we sit down to dinner.
7pm: Husband is watching the Channel 8 news and I am ensconced in the bedroom watching Judge Judy, yes again. I have trouble watching the local news here because that side camera they use for a wide shot looks like there is Vaseline smeared all over the lens. I do wonder if it is the same camera that they use in Parliament when they tape the goings on between the government officials. Seriously, can someone in charge not see that there is a problem with the clarity of that camera? I get an extra kick with Pearson is anchoring the news. I will step away from Judge Judy for Pearson.
8:30pm: We are both showered and in bed watching Sweet Home Alabama, but husband is complaining because I have made him watch it before. So he goes to sleep, I turn up the volume so I can hear the TV over the lawnmower lying next to me, but soon my eyelids have had enough for the day and I sadly (or gladly) turn off Reese and McDreamy, and the TV, and call it a day—one dog in happily dreaming in his crate the other in her place spooning with the husband’s legs.
All is quiet here in our little place on the rock.
This St. Philip girl, who works from home, never did make it outside her house today. Maybe tomorrow, but somehow I doubt it.
DIARY ENTRY 22
from D. J.
to Notes From A Small Rock,
"I. Persaud",
date Wed, May 7, 2008 at 4:52 AM
subject Make today history
mailed-by yahoo.com
signed-by yahoo.com
Images from this sender are always displayed. Don't display from now on.
hide details 4:52 AM (2 hours ago) [maketodayhistory.doc]
Reply
Here you are, contribution number 157,344...
Good luck and look forward to seeing the product.
DJ
The day of May 6, 2008 began for me at around 1.30am, when I woke for normal, natural reasons, but checked how things were going in Asian financial markets. You see, I am an online foreign exchange trader and markets operate 24 hours during the week. I made a nice little profit and with that in my pyjama pockets, went back to bed. I woke again around 5am—my normal time—and began my work trading in the London market. I wanted to have all of my dealing done by 8.30 because I had plans for the morning. The markets cooperated and I did some nice deals before 6.30, hitting my day's target. I then went to play tennis at the Garfield Sobers Gymnasium with my coach.
It was a cooler, cloudier morning than usual. The regular groups of walkers were there, as were the early morning young swimmers. My wife had played before me and left as I arrived. She went home to do the school run and then go to her office, which ironically is right by the Gymnasium. The tennis was a good session of sweat without tears, mixed with banter about whether Chelsea or Manchester United would with the English Barclays Premier League this coming weekend: both teams are tied on points with their last games to play. Exciting! Tennis got washed out, though, by a sharp morning shower around 7,30. So, off I headed home toward Pine Gardens, having to deal with the new source of traffic frustration—the redesigned Wildey Triangle and it's one way traffic flows. I am not going to solve this new problem, but just observe that the level of congestion is much higher than it should be because the road works are not yet complete. Some roads have been widened to make for better flow, but are not yet open so create unexpected bottlenecks. That said, I think the basic idea is flawed but we will see how people adapt.
My morning continued at 9am with a scheduled massage from a physiotherapist, whom a friend had recommended. She left my body relaxed but sore and it was useless for most things for the rest of the day. I can just about move my shoulders as I write.
The usual flow of workmen came to the house: today, the painter and the gardener; the maintenance man for the washing machine and drier called to say that he was still inside a cooker in St. Philip repairing that—maybe we'll see him tomorrow. Well, we solved the problems of drying clothes by putting up a good old clothes line—inside a covered area in the basement.
I take most of my meals at home, and my wife came for lunch around 1.30pm, when we enjoyed rotis and chicken, serenaded by the dulcet hum of the gardner's motor blower.
My young daughter was at school the whole day and then had swimming lessons at Pebbles Beach—the ideal way to learn [picture?]. She then went to play with some Jamaican children in Fort George Heights.
The evening had a non-Bajan flavour as I focused on following the US presidential primaries in Indiana and North Carolina.
to Notes From A Small Rock
"I. Persaud"
date Wed, May 7, 2008 at 4:52 AM
subject Make today history
mailed-by yahoo.com
signed-by yahoo.com
Images from this sender are always displayed. Don't display from now on.
hide details 4:52 AM (2 hours ago) [maketodayhistory.doc]
Reply
Here you are, contribution number 157,344...
Good luck and look forward to seeing the product.
DJ
The day of May 6, 2008 began for me at around 1.30am, when I woke for normal, natural reasons, but checked how things were going in Asian financial markets. You see, I am an online foreign exchange trader and markets operate 24 hours during the week. I made a nice little profit and with that in my pyjama pockets, went back to bed. I woke again around 5am—my normal time—and began my work trading in the London market. I wanted to have all of my dealing done by 8.30 because I had plans for the morning. The markets cooperated and I did some nice deals before 6.30, hitting my day's target. I then went to play tennis at the Garfield Sobers Gymnasium with my coach.
It was a cooler, cloudier morning than usual. The regular groups of walkers were there, as were the early morning young swimmers. My wife had played before me and left as I arrived. She went home to do the school run and then go to her office, which ironically is right by the Gymnasium. The tennis was a good session of sweat without tears, mixed with banter about whether Chelsea or Manchester United would with the English Barclays Premier League this coming weekend: both teams are tied on points with their last games to play. Exciting! Tennis got washed out, though, by a sharp morning shower around 7,30. So, off I headed home toward Pine Gardens, having to deal with the new source of traffic frustration—the redesigned Wildey Triangle and it's one way traffic flows. I am not going to solve this new problem, but just observe that the level of congestion is much higher than it should be because the road works are not yet complete. Some roads have been widened to make for better flow, but are not yet open so create unexpected bottlenecks. That said, I think the basic idea is flawed but we will see how people adapt.
My morning continued at 9am with a scheduled massage from a physiotherapist, whom a friend had recommended. She left my body relaxed but sore and it was useless for most things for the rest of the day. I can just about move my shoulders as I write.
The usual flow of workmen came to the house: today, the painter and the gardener; the maintenance man for the washing machine and drier called to say that he was still inside a cooker in St. Philip repairing that—maybe we'll see him tomorrow. Well, we solved the problems of drying clothes by putting up a good old clothes line—inside a covered area in the basement.
I take most of my meals at home, and my wife came for lunch around 1.30pm, when we enjoyed rotis and chicken, serenaded by the dulcet hum of the gardner's motor blower.
My young daughter was at school the whole day and then had swimming lessons at Pebbles Beach—the ideal way to learn [picture?]. She then went to play with some Jamaican children in Fort George Heights.
The evening had a non-Bajan flavour as I focused on following the US presidential primaries in Indiana and North Carolina.
DIARY ENTRY 21
to maketodayhistory@gmail.com,
Diary of S. F. C. for Tuesday, May 6, 2008
6:30 a.m Alarm went off. Woke up. Can’t believe it’s that time of day again, but I’ve got to open the
gate for the gardener and the housekeeper. Why can’t they sleep in? Frankly, after last
night’s long dinner, and more wine than I needed, I could use some extra sleep. Great
conversation at dinner, but it’s a bit disturbing to hear some of the views that the investor
community expresses, though. Sure, Barbados needs to welcome foreign investment—and
it does—but don’t they think that Barbadians are going to be concerned about their apparent
marginalization each day, as more of their homeland seems to slip away from their grasp?
The island is only 166 sq miles. A US$40 million condo at Four Seasons is not going to be
something with which Bajans readily identify. Or welcome, for that matter, when they can’t
afford a BDS$400,000 home. It’s a good thing we’re such a docile people. I hope that
doesn’t change or we could all be in for a rude awakening.
7:00 a.m. Made breakfast. Read newspaper. Quite frankly the news is not particularly encouraging:
Barbados is in the throes of an awakening that people don’t seem to be able to come to
grips with. Oil and food prices are increasing and no one seems to know what to do about it
except blame the Government and expect them to fix the problem. Hello?? Wake up,
Barbados. Stop spending money at Reggae on the Hill. Record crowds there last week.
Start carpooling: our roads are clogged at every hour of the day. Learn to cook. Have you
seen what Chefette and KFC look like at meal time? They’re rioting in Somalia and Haiti
over food. Maybe Barbados will be next.
Today will be a day of conference calls to my EC Country Heads all day, so I might as well
be comfortable – a “no-tie” day, I think. I’ll wear a crested shirt at least so I look like I work
somewhere. But short sleeves it will be.
12:30 p.m. Five calls under my belt already. I don’t know how I do it sometimes. Everybody has the
same gripe: too much pressure. “Why can’t the company cut us some slack?” “Don’t they
understand how de-motivated our people are becoming?” Well, that’s the way the world is
right now, I’m afraid. Can’t say that 2008 is shaping up to be one of those years that we sit
around hoping for!!
Lunch was another treat. Barbecue Barn’s salad bar is pretty good, but I’m amazed how
difficult it is to get things to stay working in Barbados. The general attitude of the people
must wear off on the equipment. It’s the second day in a row (I was there yesterday also)
that the soda fountain is not working and there is no chicken breast. How is that possible at
a busy location like Warrens? Who manages these things?
6:00 p.m. What a day! More conference calls in the afternoon, and that very unsatisfactory update by
my HR/ER team on our union negotiations. How can a Union seriously expect 25% increase
in wages over a 3-year period when we’re struggling to control inflation in this country?
Anyway, gotta get out of here as I still have to brave the traffic and get to my stress-relieving
session of playing music with Willie and the gang. It really does help to get away from all of
this stuff for a few hours and just play some music.
No time to prepare anything for supper. I’m lucky I have some leftovers in the refrigerator.
I’ve been wondering how single people survive. Who wants to cook every day? But I think
it’s quite simple: cook twice a week and make enough for 3 meals. The only thing is: you’d
better really enjoy what you’re cooking, because you’re going to be seeing it pretty often
over the next week.
11:30 p.m. Really enjoyed our music session. We agreed to get together tomorrow night again. This
time we’ll rehearse with Eliana. She really adds another dimension to the group: particularly
when she sings in Spanish and Portuguese. Latin music is so beautiful.
12:30 a.m. Called my son, Sean, in Toronto: had a good chat. Too late to call Mary. She’d have been
sleeping long ago! I’m supposed to call every day. Can’t believe it’s after midnight already,
and I haven’t had a chance to do any reading. 6:30 is going to be here pretty quickly.
Diary of S. F. C. for Tuesday, May 6, 2008
6:30 a.m Alarm went off. Woke up. Can’t believe it’s that time of day again, but I’ve got to open the
gate for the gardener and the housekeeper. Why can’t they sleep in? Frankly, after last
night’s long dinner, and more wine than I needed, I could use some extra sleep. Great
conversation at dinner, but it’s a bit disturbing to hear some of the views that the investor
community expresses, though. Sure, Barbados needs to welcome foreign investment—and
it does—but don’t they think that Barbadians are going to be concerned about their apparent
marginalization each day, as more of their homeland seems to slip away from their grasp?
The island is only 166 sq miles. A US$40 million condo at Four Seasons is not going to be
something with which Bajans readily identify. Or welcome, for that matter, when they can’t
afford a BDS$400,000 home. It’s a good thing we’re such a docile people. I hope that
doesn’t change or we could all be in for a rude awakening.
7:00 a.m. Made breakfast. Read newspaper. Quite frankly the news is not particularly encouraging:
Barbados is in the throes of an awakening that people don’t seem to be able to come to
grips with. Oil and food prices are increasing and no one seems to know what to do about it
except blame the Government and expect them to fix the problem. Hello?? Wake up,
Barbados. Stop spending money at Reggae on the Hill. Record crowds there last week.
Start carpooling: our roads are clogged at every hour of the day. Learn to cook. Have you
seen what Chefette and KFC look like at meal time? They’re rioting in Somalia and Haiti
over food. Maybe Barbados will be next.
Today will be a day of conference calls to my EC Country Heads all day, so I might as well
be comfortable – a “no-tie” day, I think. I’ll wear a crested shirt at least so I look like I work
somewhere. But short sleeves it will be.
12:30 p.m. Five calls under my belt already. I don’t know how I do it sometimes. Everybody has the
same gripe: too much pressure. “Why can’t the company cut us some slack?” “Don’t they
understand how de-motivated our people are becoming?” Well, that’s the way the world is
right now, I’m afraid. Can’t say that 2008 is shaping up to be one of those years that we sit
around hoping for!!
Lunch was another treat. Barbecue Barn’s salad bar is pretty good, but I’m amazed how
difficult it is to get things to stay working in Barbados. The general attitude of the people
must wear off on the equipment. It’s the second day in a row (I was there yesterday also)
that the soda fountain is not working and there is no chicken breast. How is that possible at
a busy location like Warrens? Who manages these things?
6:00 p.m. What a day! More conference calls in the afternoon, and that very unsatisfactory update by
my HR/ER team on our union negotiations. How can a Union seriously expect 25% increase
in wages over a 3-year period when we’re struggling to control inflation in this country?
Anyway, gotta get out of here as I still have to brave the traffic and get to my stress-relieving
session of playing music with Willie and the gang. It really does help to get away from all of
this stuff for a few hours and just play some music.
No time to prepare anything for supper. I’m lucky I have some leftovers in the refrigerator.
I’ve been wondering how single people survive. Who wants to cook every day? But I think
it’s quite simple: cook twice a week and make enough for 3 meals. The only thing is: you’d
better really enjoy what you’re cooking, because you’re going to be seeing it pretty often
over the next week.
11:30 p.m. Really enjoyed our music session. We agreed to get together tomorrow night again. This
time we’ll rehearse with Eliana. She really adds another dimension to the group: particularly
when she sings in Spanish and Portuguese. Latin music is so beautiful.
12:30 a.m. Called my son, Sean, in Toronto: had a good chat. Too late to call Mary. She’d have been
sleeping long ago! I’m supposed to call every day. Can’t believe it’s after midnight already,
and I haven’t had a chance to do any reading. 6:30 is going to be here pretty quickly.
DIARY ENTRY 20
From: I.P.
to maketodayhistory@gmail.com,
My Day – 6 May 2008
It’s finally THE day of the project and I am very anxious about whether it is going to work or not. It is 5am and I don’t bother to pretend I can sleep anymore. I hit the computer and start sending out reminders to friends and strangers alike hoping they will engage in the project. I send out “Save the Date” emails for my upcoming show.
Gradually the house stirs to life. Jack, our Jack Russell snoozes beside one of our twin sons, Anish while his brother sleeps on. We finally wake sleeping beauty about 6:40. They are good little boys and get themselves dressed for school without my intervention. I make them their favorite breakfast of pancakes and strawberries smothered in maple syrup with a bit of bacon on the side. Jack waits expectantly under the table for crumbs.
Andre, our manny and everything else calls to say he is running late. He pulls in at 7:30 rather than his customary 7:05 and they are off to school. I sink back into bed with the laptop reading news and emails and making a few phone calls. I see Barbados Free Press has given the project a huge plug. This publicity alone should make it work but I am nervous and want to just hide under the sheets. But that is not to be.
I drive to the Barbados Museum in my diesel-powered car. I love speed but there is no where to race this baby on this small rock. I tune into Love FM and sing along to the silly music. Joanne Spencer, the photographer, meets me at the entrance to the Museum. We spend the next hour doing two different sets of photos. One set is of me cleaning the Museum and the other is for general publicity. I am aiming for the soulful, serious artist look. She is a happier soul who wants me to smile and not look so constipated. We compromise and I leave sure we have got the shots we need.
I feel so very tired like I could sleep for days but it is only 11am. There is a coffee place I often retreat to called Coffee Bean. It has the added attraction of being a couple minutes drive from the Museum so I head there. I always have the same thing: corn soup and ceaser salad. This time I also indulge in a diet coke and a chocolate brownie. They don’t quite cancel each other out but I am relying on the sugar rush to keep me going for the rest of the day.
A woman approaches me as I walk back to my car. She has seen me on TV the day before. I beg her to do her diary but I know she will not. I feel so tired. I drive home and crawl into bed. The kids are playing squash with grandpa after school then having supper with them so I have a clear few hours. I fall into deep sleep for about two hours. Jack sleeps too – at the foot of my bed. My husband calls at some point and we chat for a bit. He is in Geneva at a conference. He is away so often.
I am supposed to go see the boys and take their stuff for school tomorrow as they are having a sleepover at my parents. This is to allow me to go my friend’s lecture at the Museum but I am weak with tiredness. I drive to my parents, have dinner and decide to call it a day. The kids come back home with me. They beg for some TV time. I oblige. Then they want to sleep in my bed. I oblige.
I feel so guilty for not going to the lecture and for my rather unproductive day so I start working on my next blog due at the end of this week. The last one was not good so I owe my readers something special. Work till about 11:30 then decide to call it a night. In my bed the twins are sprawled out. There is no space for me so I go to sleep in Ishan’s bed. I know I will wake by 3am again. Early waking is just the way things are.
to maketodayhistory@gmail.com,
My Day – 6 May 2008
It’s finally THE day of the project and I am very anxious about whether it is going to work or not. It is 5am and I don’t bother to pretend I can sleep anymore. I hit the computer and start sending out reminders to friends and strangers alike hoping they will engage in the project. I send out “Save the Date” emails for my upcoming show.
Gradually the house stirs to life. Jack, our Jack Russell snoozes beside one of our twin sons, Anish while his brother sleeps on. We finally wake sleeping beauty about 6:40. They are good little boys and get themselves dressed for school without my intervention. I make them their favorite breakfast of pancakes and strawberries smothered in maple syrup with a bit of bacon on the side. Jack waits expectantly under the table for crumbs.
Andre, our manny and everything else calls to say he is running late. He pulls in at 7:30 rather than his customary 7:05 and they are off to school. I sink back into bed with the laptop reading news and emails and making a few phone calls. I see Barbados Free Press has given the project a huge plug. This publicity alone should make it work but I am nervous and want to just hide under the sheets. But that is not to be.
I drive to the Barbados Museum in my diesel-powered car. I love speed but there is no where to race this baby on this small rock. I tune into Love FM and sing along to the silly music. Joanne Spencer, the photographer, meets me at the entrance to the Museum. We spend the next hour doing two different sets of photos. One set is of me cleaning the Museum and the other is for general publicity. I am aiming for the soulful, serious artist look. She is a happier soul who wants me to smile and not look so constipated. We compromise and I leave sure we have got the shots we need.
I feel so very tired like I could sleep for days but it is only 11am. There is a coffee place I often retreat to called Coffee Bean. It has the added attraction of being a couple minutes drive from the Museum so I head there. I always have the same thing: corn soup and ceaser salad. This time I also indulge in a diet coke and a chocolate brownie. They don’t quite cancel each other out but I am relying on the sugar rush to keep me going for the rest of the day.
A woman approaches me as I walk back to my car. She has seen me on TV the day before. I beg her to do her diary but I know she will not. I feel so tired. I drive home and crawl into bed. The kids are playing squash with grandpa after school then having supper with them so I have a clear few hours. I fall into deep sleep for about two hours. Jack sleeps too – at the foot of my bed. My husband calls at some point and we chat for a bit. He is in Geneva at a conference. He is away so often.
I am supposed to go see the boys and take their stuff for school tomorrow as they are having a sleepover at my parents. This is to allow me to go my friend’s lecture at the Museum but I am weak with tiredness. I drive to my parents, have dinner and decide to call it a day. The kids come back home with me. They beg for some TV time. I oblige. Then they want to sleep in my bed. I oblige.
I feel so guilty for not going to the lecture and for my rather unproductive day so I start working on my next blog due at the end of this week. The last one was not good so I owe my readers something special. Work till about 11:30 then decide to call it a night. In my bed the twins are sprawled out. There is no space for me so I go to sleep in Ishan’s bed. I know I will wake by 3am again. Early waking is just the way things are.
DIARY ENTRY 19
from S. V.
to "I. Persaud"
date Thu, May 8, 2008 at 9:35 AM
subject RE: From Ingrid - gentle reminder to send in your diaries of Tuesday 6 May please
hide details 9:35 AM (2 hours ago) [May 6.doc]
Reply
Hi Ingrid,
Interesting exercise. I'm eager to see what comes of this.
Regards,
S. V.
Tuesday, May 6
4:15 a.m. Deep sleep. Hear my dogs barking. Ignore it. They come into the bedroom and bark. Beau’s voice is shrill. Can no longer ignore it. Get up in a fog and let them out, where they bark some more. Put in earplugs. Go back to sleep.
8:53 Wake up. Either the alarm has not gone off or I have not heard it. Brush teeth.
Make coffee. Turn on computer. Check email and news.
Tweak and finalise the article for Select on historical presence of Jews in Barbados. How to fix those last paragraphs? Send it. Vici emails about photos. Hadn’t thought of that.
More coffee.
Check email. Respond to some. Delete lots of spam. Wonder what is going on with the Internet, why there is suddenly so much garbage coming through.
11:15? Wash last night’s dishes. Uh-oh. A rat again. Mental note to get more bait.
Feed the dogs. Get a little something for myself, just a bite, not a proper breakfast.
This place is a mess. No time to clean.
Back to desk. Organise list of phone calls. Organise agenda.
More stupid emails.
X calls, asking if I’ll write something for her magazine. Make notes.
1:30-ish Shower. Get dressed, something decent in case I go out. What’s clean? Jeans and a pressed white shirt. Look in fridge. Last night’s leftover tuna was supposed to have gone into making a nice salade Nicoise for lunch, something to look forward to, but there are no olives. Could use capers instead. Uh-oh. I haven’t cooked the potatoes or the beans either. Tuna would make a good sandwich. Do that instead.
Watch a little Oprah while eating. The show is really dumb today, but at least I’m finding out who this Hannah Montana person is. Look at all those screaming kids! Some are crying with joy. Many sing along. The song says something about having shoes in all different colours. What is she promoting?
No wonder people grow up with blind obsession to consume. But wait, I like shoes too. Hmm.
Go out for cigarettes, check the mailbox.
Make several phone calls to hotels for site visits. The editor for that project said her other writers got these things done in X amount of time per site. Is she nuts? Is something wrong with me?
Check email. Finalise appointment for conference call—whose time zone are we talking about?
Worry about smoking too much. Worry about productivity. About possible addiction to computer solitaire. Those little breaks must add up. Get up from desk and tidy here and there for a few minutes. Hardly a dent. Feel overwhelmed. This is tropical living?
Time to work on contributions to a website.
4:30-ish Working up some steam. Voices at the door. Bad timing. It’s people I like
and haven’t seen (except for a few minutes in a crowd last night) for the 5 months they’ve been away. She is allowing the dogs to jump on her. Knows better. But they’re excited to see each other. Start an argument, sortof, about something else. Explain how what they did/didn’t do made me feel insignificant. Hear their side. Counter. Hear them. Consider pointing out an inconsistency. Is this any way to re-unite? Let it go. Sit out back talking.
Someone calls them. They leave.
5:15 Time to get it together for an artists’ meeting at 6:30. How? Send apologies.
Feed the dogs. C calls, wanting to know when we are making travel arrangements. Oh God. How to explain on the phone about the intricacies of getting around the Grenadines? Better come over.
Prepare presentation for tomorrow’s marketing meeting. Printer screws up. Fix it later.
What’s for dinner? Leftover rice & beans, salad, omelette. C is late. Work on odds & ends.
7:40 C arrives. Look at map of St V & Grenadines. Look at ferry schedules. Look
for scheduled flights between islands. Websites out of date. Send email queries. Eat dinner while watching a borrowed movie, Before Sunrise. It’s wonderful. Discuss it.
11:15 pm Past my bedtime. Arrange for C to phone in morning, in case I don’t hear
the alarm again. She leaves.
11:25 pm
Work on tomorrow morning’s presentation for a moment so it will gel in my sleep. Get ideas. Write them down. Change some bits. Oh God, look at the time.
Say goodnight to dogs.
Why does the bedside lamp work only when it feels like it?
There’s a mosquito inside the net. Get up and kill it.
12:45 Go to sleep.
to "I. Persaud"
date Thu, May 8, 2008 at 9:35 AM
subject RE: From Ingrid - gentle reminder to send in your diaries of Tuesday 6 May please
hide details 9:35 AM (2 hours ago) [May 6.doc]
Reply
Hi Ingrid,
Interesting exercise. I'm eager to see what comes of this.
Regards,
S. V.
Tuesday, May 6
4:15 a.m. Deep sleep. Hear my dogs barking. Ignore it. They come into the bedroom and bark. Beau’s voice is shrill. Can no longer ignore it. Get up in a fog and let them out, where they bark some more. Put in earplugs. Go back to sleep.
8:53 Wake up. Either the alarm has not gone off or I have not heard it. Brush teeth.
Make coffee. Turn on computer. Check email and news.
Tweak and finalise the article for Select on historical presence of Jews in Barbados. How to fix those last paragraphs? Send it. Vici emails about photos. Hadn’t thought of that.
More coffee.
Check email. Respond to some. Delete lots of spam. Wonder what is going on with the Internet, why there is suddenly so much garbage coming through.
11:15? Wash last night’s dishes. Uh-oh. A rat again. Mental note to get more bait.
Feed the dogs. Get a little something for myself, just a bite, not a proper breakfast.
This place is a mess. No time to clean.
Back to desk. Organise list of phone calls. Organise agenda.
More stupid emails.
X calls, asking if I’ll write something for her magazine. Make notes.
1:30-ish Shower. Get dressed, something decent in case I go out. What’s clean? Jeans and a pressed white shirt. Look in fridge. Last night’s leftover tuna was supposed to have gone into making a nice salade Nicoise for lunch, something to look forward to, but there are no olives. Could use capers instead. Uh-oh. I haven’t cooked the potatoes or the beans either. Tuna would make a good sandwich. Do that instead.
Watch a little Oprah while eating. The show is really dumb today, but at least I’m finding out who this Hannah Montana person is. Look at all those screaming kids! Some are crying with joy. Many sing along. The song says something about having shoes in all different colours. What is she promoting?
No wonder people grow up with blind obsession to consume. But wait, I like shoes too. Hmm.
Go out for cigarettes, check the mailbox.
Make several phone calls to hotels for site visits. The editor for that project said her other writers got these things done in X amount of time per site. Is she nuts? Is something wrong with me?
Check email. Finalise appointment for conference call—whose time zone are we talking about?
Worry about smoking too much. Worry about productivity. About possible addiction to computer solitaire. Those little breaks must add up. Get up from desk and tidy here and there for a few minutes. Hardly a dent. Feel overwhelmed. This is tropical living?
Time to work on contributions to a website.
4:30-ish Working up some steam. Voices at the door. Bad timing. It’s people I like
and haven’t seen (except for a few minutes in a crowd last night) for the 5 months they’ve been away. She is allowing the dogs to jump on her. Knows better. But they’re excited to see each other. Start an argument, sortof, about something else. Explain how what they did/didn’t do made me feel insignificant. Hear their side. Counter. Hear them. Consider pointing out an inconsistency. Is this any way to re-unite? Let it go. Sit out back talking.
Someone calls them. They leave.
5:15 Time to get it together for an artists’ meeting at 6:30. How? Send apologies.
Feed the dogs. C calls, wanting to know when we are making travel arrangements. Oh God. How to explain on the phone about the intricacies of getting around the Grenadines? Better come over.
Prepare presentation for tomorrow’s marketing meeting. Printer screws up. Fix it later.
What’s for dinner? Leftover rice & beans, salad, omelette. C is late. Work on odds & ends.
7:40 C arrives. Look at map of St V & Grenadines. Look at ferry schedules. Look
for scheduled flights between islands. Websites out of date. Send email queries. Eat dinner while watching a borrowed movie, Before Sunrise. It’s wonderful. Discuss it.
11:15 pm Past my bedtime. Arrange for C to phone in morning, in case I don’t hear
the alarm again. She leaves.
11:25 pm
Work on tomorrow morning’s presentation for a moment so it will gel in my sleep. Get ideas. Write them down. Change some bits. Oh God, look at the time.
Say goodnight to dogs.
Why does the bedside lamp work only when it feels like it?
There’s a mosquito inside the net. Get up and kill it.
12:45 Go to sleep.
DIARY ENTRY 18
from N. R.
to maketodayhistory@gmail.com
date Fri, May 9, 2008 at 3:12 PM
subject Diary - 6th May
mailed-by gmail.com
hide details 3:12 PM (7 hours ago)
Reply
Got up at 6:30 after 4 hours sleep.
Finished packing and got some stuff done on the computer.
Bathed, dressed, said good bye to dad - went back in the house (again) for the last check of what I might need.
Finally left home at 11am
Called Hajar to check up on her about her shoulder - she's ok (phew)
Went by Mum to drop off the popcorn.
Got to the gym at 12:30 after MAD traffic.
Worked my flat ass off, bathed and changed (again)
Waiting for Lisa, the passport and the money
Left the gym at 2pm, got to Naomi's and left the car, met Lisa and Steve.
Got to the airport a little early to find out that the plane was delayed an hour - so PIZZA!
Met Auntie B and L, Mum, Fliss and Naomi.
Spent about an hour chatting
Left Naesch (tears), went through customs, making mock sport with the customs officials
Bought alcky and ciggies for the Manchester lot.
Chatted with Mum and Fliss.
Got pissed off with the ground staff of Virgin due to how they treated that old woman (she wasn't that drunk).
Made mock sport with the air stewards
Got seated - plane took off - watched bucket list, must make my own list
Ate a very nondescript meal
Went to sleep.
to maketodayhistory@gmail.com
date Fri, May 9, 2008 at 3:12 PM
subject Diary - 6th May
mailed-by gmail.com
hide details 3:12 PM (7 hours ago)
Reply
Got up at 6:30 after 4 hours sleep.
Finished packing and got some stuff done on the computer.
Bathed, dressed, said good bye to dad - went back in the house (again) for the last check of what I might need.
Finally left home at 11am
Called Hajar to check up on her about her shoulder - she's ok (phew)
Went by Mum to drop off the popcorn.
Got to the gym at 12:30 after MAD traffic.
Worked my flat ass off, bathed and changed (again)
Waiting for Lisa, the passport and the money
Left the gym at 2pm, got to Naomi's and left the car, met Lisa and Steve.
Got to the airport a little early to find out that the plane was delayed an hour - so PIZZA!
Met Auntie B and L, Mum, Fliss and Naomi.
Spent about an hour chatting
Left Naesch (tears), went through customs, making mock sport with the customs officials
Bought alcky and ciggies for the Manchester lot.
Chatted with Mum and Fliss.
Got pissed off with the ground staff of Virgin due to how they treated that old woman (she wasn't that drunk).
Made mock sport with the air stewards
Got seated - plane took off - watched bucket list, must make my own list
Ate a very nondescript meal
Went to sleep.
DIARY ENTRY 17
from M. P.
to "I. Persaud"
date Thu, May 15, 2008 at 8:16 AM
subject Re: From Ingrid - gentle reminder to send in your diaries of Tuesday 6 May please
mailed-by yahoo.com
signed-by yahoo.com
hide details May 15 (2 days ago)
Reply
Hello Ingrid,
On Tuesday 6th May 2008 I M. P., the researcher
sat at my desk and researched and wrote text for the
museums 75th anniversary exhibits. It was a real
barrel of laughs.
M.
to "I. Persaud"
date Thu, May 15, 2008 at 8:16 AM
subject Re: From Ingrid - gentle reminder to send in your diaries of Tuesday 6 May please
mailed-by yahoo.com
signed-by yahoo.com
hide details May 15 (2 days ago)
Reply
Hello Ingrid,
On Tuesday 6th May 2008 I M. P., the researcher
sat at my desk and researched and wrote text for the
museums 75th anniversary exhibits. It was a real
barrel of laughs.
M.
DIARY ENTRY 16
from M. S.
to maketodayhistory@gmail.com
date Fri, May 9, 2008 at 7:21 PM
subject MRS may 6th Diary
mailed-by yahoo.com
signed-by yahoo.com
hide details 7:21 PM (3 hours ago) [MRS - May 6th Artist Diary.doc]
Reply
Hi Ingrid,
We met at Waterfront the other evening with Ewan, and I promised i'd write something. No alter ego though - just my initials.
So you'll find attached my May 6th diary. Only just realised that it has to be between 600 an 1000 words. mine is probably over. please feel free to edit as it suits you.
I've left out direct references to my name and the names of most of my acquaintences. they'd prefer it that way. Have no idea what you were looking for, but hope this works and is at least marginally interesting.
Best wishes,
May 6th Artist Diary
A day in the life of MRS
1:30am Just put down my palette and paints, rinsed out my brushes. Yellow ochres, Browns and blacks meld as one down my kitchen drain. I’ve spent the last 3 hours painting the sun kissed arm and bare back of a little boy named Omar – A character in a story I’m working on. I feel satisfied with my attempt to capture his youthful determination to pluck a mango from the top of a tree. Capturing the light and shadow of his vertebrae was hard to do. Maybe I’ll work on his face tomorrow.
6:00am Woke up like clockwork to the blue morning sky. Fell asleep on the couch again. Too early. No pressing commitments. Gone back to sleep.
8:00am A blustery wind wakes me up. It knocks my town sets of chimes about like leaves on a coconut tree. The blue sky is now grey. Not my kind of colour or my kind of day. A little inconvenient because I want to take a photo of my painting, as I have been for the past few mornings, to chronicle developments.
8:05am I Call R to borrow her digital camera. No answer. Talk to A.B. who’s back in the land.
8:10am R calls back, she’ll leave the front door open. I only have to walk next door. Peanut, her cat, is here sleeping in my chair. I’ve given him milk and a few pats on the head to distract him from the mother and baby pigeon seeking shelter on my balcony. The wind is too strong for the baby bird to fly.
8:30am I lock the door, leave the cat sleeping inside. Walk up the stairs to R’s apartment. Not intending to stay long. Just get the camera and run. It never turns out that way. I sit on her couch and we old talk while she gets ready for work. I’m having an easy day.
9:15am The cat sleeps through the rumble of my blender as I make my usual breakfast shake. I like to keep it interesting and vary the ingredients somewhat, but it’s always got in 1 banana, a lettuce mix, and rice milk. Today I add ½ a cucumber (peeled), sesame seeds, some ginger beer concentrate. Sometimes I’ll add some coffee, peanut butter, arugula, or sorrel concentrate. Most of my friends think it tastes too green. Works for me though!
9:30-10:30 Chat with my uncle, mother and sister in that order. It’s phone call time. Make an appointment with my accountant; touch base with graphic artist – not a good week for him – computer problems. Unfortunately his problems are my problems. I Make some more appointments, send and receive a couple text messages. Take photos of painting, turn on the computer, check and return emails, let the cat out, start to work in earnest.
11:15am Oh the throne, the heavenly throne! Nothing like it!
11:25am I look out onto the south coast from my balcony. Can’t see the horizon – cloud covers the sea from Oistins to Bay Street. This is all day weather. Not much rain though. Uhmm! Shower is hot. Surprising… solar power not affected by the grey skies.
11:55am Time to water plants, make lunch. Am hungry. Amazing how the day goes by. More phone calls, text messages, I live my life on the phone.
12:00pm A slice of Bajan salt bread. A shot ah Vodka to tide me over. Too early? Put some pre-seasoned blue shark on the stove. I contemplate the beverage. Whoever heard of vodka made in Jamaica? Mauby pocket, can’t buy no Absolut. Does this even taste like vodka? Or really good white rum?
12:30pm Ate shark. Spoke to sis – crisis moment. She’s travelling with my mom on Thursday. Will not be the last time I speak to her over the next couple of days.
1:43pm Somebody burning onions! Called my lawyer. Can’t believe I actually got through. Progress even slow is always good. Shark went down so good had to have a little siesta. Just got back up.
1:50pm Ok. Just went to the stove. Turns out it was me burning onions! My intention was to pickle them in some balsamic vinegar, then put them on the stove to give a head start. Fell asleep. Not good. There’s a lesson in this somewhere. That’s the end of the pot. Might have to change the couch…too comfortable.
2:00pm Called A.D. my sound engineer extraordinaire. Didn’t get through. He’s keeping me back. I can’t do my work until he does his. Neither of us will get paid until we do.
5:04pm A cousin stops by to collect the bed he’d loaned me to accommodate my house guests. Let the cat in. let the cat out. Feeling peckish, I eat a sweet concoction of peanut butter, ice-cream, sorrel syrup and bananas. Have been working on computer since 2:00pm.
6:12pm Just got back in from an emergency drop off of the camera to R. Had to travel all round the flipping world just to get from Clapham to C&W. A trip that should have taken 5 minutes tool half an hour. Didn’t know the C&W main entrance was all dug up. Tried to cut through the no-entry-from-both-ways short cut, but took a swift right back up the gymnasium hiss when I saw the police ticketing a driver in a jeep. Poor fellow. Me, I had to continue all the way up to Fort George and come back down through Upton just to get to the C&W back entrance. Which had it not been for the RBPF would have been just a second away.
What can you do with all this driving and wasting gas but enjoy the view? Bajans trying to get healthy, striding around the track, children and people coming home from school, cars in endless traffic and construction everywhere!
I’ve seen better views.
6:16pm Had to drive all round the flipping world just to get back home too. Thank god for cart tracks! So park the car, chat with my neighbours in Apt 1 and 2, let the cat in and get back to work.
6:20pm So of course my stomach’s hurting. Kinda overdid the peanut butter… still trying to find my sound engineer.
6:30pm Just opened my light and power bill. Surfing the net, looking at the Nat Geo sales, the latest on Hillary and Obama.
7:21pm Watching American Idol top 5 online. Had some soup for dinner.
8:04pm Watched Alanis Morissette on Yahoo music Live sets. A new experience for me. Listened to Univited, So Unsexy, and You Learn. Talented girl. Graphic Artist is back in business!
8:24pm Photoshopping the shots of my paining. Getting tired.
9:51pm Drinking a pot of coffee to stay awake. Have to pick up friend from the airport. Miami. Rested for about ½ hour.
10:28pm Sitting outside the arrivals waiting on Suzy. Coffee or no coffee, still sleepy. Atmosphere feels muted. Will use this time to write tomorrow’s things to do list.
Midnight Just got in from dropping off my friend - after a cup of peppermint tea and a slice of Mammie’s pound cake. Trying to decide whether I should go to bed or stay up and paint Omar’s face. Who knows… only tomorrow will tell…
to maketodayhistory@gmail.com
date Fri, May 9, 2008 at 7:21 PM
subject MRS may 6th Diary
mailed-by yahoo.com
signed-by yahoo.com
hide details 7:21 PM (3 hours ago) [MRS - May 6th Artist Diary.doc]
Reply
Hi Ingrid,
We met at Waterfront the other evening with Ewan, and I promised i'd write something. No alter ego though - just my initials.
So you'll find attached my May 6th diary. Only just realised that it has to be between 600 an 1000 words. mine is probably over. please feel free to edit as it suits you.
I've left out direct references to my name and the names of most of my acquaintences. they'd prefer it that way. Have no idea what you were looking for, but hope this works and is at least marginally interesting.
Best wishes,
May 6th Artist Diary
A day in the life of MRS
1:30am Just put down my palette and paints, rinsed out my brushes. Yellow ochres, Browns and blacks meld as one down my kitchen drain. I’ve spent the last 3 hours painting the sun kissed arm and bare back of a little boy named Omar – A character in a story I’m working on. I feel satisfied with my attempt to capture his youthful determination to pluck a mango from the top of a tree. Capturing the light and shadow of his vertebrae was hard to do. Maybe I’ll work on his face tomorrow.
6:00am Woke up like clockwork to the blue morning sky. Fell asleep on the couch again. Too early. No pressing commitments. Gone back to sleep.
8:00am A blustery wind wakes me up. It knocks my town sets of chimes about like leaves on a coconut tree. The blue sky is now grey. Not my kind of colour or my kind of day. A little inconvenient because I want to take a photo of my painting, as I have been for the past few mornings, to chronicle developments.
8:05am I Call R to borrow her digital camera. No answer. Talk to A.B. who’s back in the land.
8:10am R calls back, she’ll leave the front door open. I only have to walk next door. Peanut, her cat, is here sleeping in my chair. I’ve given him milk and a few pats on the head to distract him from the mother and baby pigeon seeking shelter on my balcony. The wind is too strong for the baby bird to fly.
8:30am I lock the door, leave the cat sleeping inside. Walk up the stairs to R’s apartment. Not intending to stay long. Just get the camera and run. It never turns out that way. I sit on her couch and we old talk while she gets ready for work. I’m having an easy day.
9:15am The cat sleeps through the rumble of my blender as I make my usual breakfast shake. I like to keep it interesting and vary the ingredients somewhat, but it’s always got in 1 banana, a lettuce mix, and rice milk. Today I add ½ a cucumber (peeled), sesame seeds, some ginger beer concentrate. Sometimes I’ll add some coffee, peanut butter, arugula, or sorrel concentrate. Most of my friends think it tastes too green. Works for me though!
9:30-10:30 Chat with my uncle, mother and sister in that order. It’s phone call time. Make an appointment with my accountant; touch base with graphic artist – not a good week for him – computer problems. Unfortunately his problems are my problems. I Make some more appointments, send and receive a couple text messages. Take photos of painting, turn on the computer, check and return emails, let the cat out, start to work in earnest.
11:15am Oh the throne, the heavenly throne! Nothing like it!
11:25am I look out onto the south coast from my balcony. Can’t see the horizon – cloud covers the sea from Oistins to Bay Street. This is all day weather. Not much rain though. Uhmm! Shower is hot. Surprising… solar power not affected by the grey skies.
11:55am Time to water plants, make lunch. Am hungry. Amazing how the day goes by. More phone calls, text messages, I live my life on the phone.
12:00pm A slice of Bajan salt bread. A shot ah Vodka to tide me over. Too early? Put some pre-seasoned blue shark on the stove. I contemplate the beverage. Whoever heard of vodka made in Jamaica? Mauby pocket, can’t buy no Absolut. Does this even taste like vodka? Or really good white rum?
12:30pm Ate shark. Spoke to sis – crisis moment. She’s travelling with my mom on Thursday. Will not be the last time I speak to her over the next couple of days.
1:43pm Somebody burning onions! Called my lawyer. Can’t believe I actually got through. Progress even slow is always good. Shark went down so good had to have a little siesta. Just got back up.
1:50pm Ok. Just went to the stove. Turns out it was me burning onions! My intention was to pickle them in some balsamic vinegar, then put them on the stove to give a head start. Fell asleep. Not good. There’s a lesson in this somewhere. That’s the end of the pot. Might have to change the couch…too comfortable.
2:00pm Called A.D. my sound engineer extraordinaire. Didn’t get through. He’s keeping me back. I can’t do my work until he does his. Neither of us will get paid until we do.
5:04pm A cousin stops by to collect the bed he’d loaned me to accommodate my house guests. Let the cat in. let the cat out. Feeling peckish, I eat a sweet concoction of peanut butter, ice-cream, sorrel syrup and bananas. Have been working on computer since 2:00pm.
6:12pm Just got back in from an emergency drop off of the camera to R. Had to travel all round the flipping world just to get from Clapham to C&W. A trip that should have taken 5 minutes tool half an hour. Didn’t know the C&W main entrance was all dug up. Tried to cut through the no-entry-from-both-ways short cut, but took a swift right back up the gymnasium hiss when I saw the police ticketing a driver in a jeep. Poor fellow. Me, I had to continue all the way up to Fort George and come back down through Upton just to get to the C&W back entrance. Which had it not been for the RBPF would have been just a second away.
What can you do with all this driving and wasting gas but enjoy the view? Bajans trying to get healthy, striding around the track, children and people coming home from school, cars in endless traffic and construction everywhere!
I’ve seen better views.
6:16pm Had to drive all round the flipping world just to get back home too. Thank god for cart tracks! So park the car, chat with my neighbours in Apt 1 and 2, let the cat in and get back to work.
6:20pm So of course my stomach’s hurting. Kinda overdid the peanut butter… still trying to find my sound engineer.
6:30pm Just opened my light and power bill. Surfing the net, looking at the Nat Geo sales, the latest on Hillary and Obama.
7:21pm Watching American Idol top 5 online. Had some soup for dinner.
8:04pm Watched Alanis Morissette on Yahoo music Live sets. A new experience for me. Listened to Univited, So Unsexy, and You Learn. Talented girl. Graphic Artist is back in business!
8:24pm Photoshopping the shots of my paining. Getting tired.
9:51pm Drinking a pot of coffee to stay awake. Have to pick up friend from the airport. Miami. Rested for about ½ hour.
10:28pm Sitting outside the arrivals waiting on Suzy. Coffee or no coffee, still sleepy. Atmosphere feels muted. Will use this time to write tomorrow’s things to do list.
Midnight Just got in from dropping off my friend - after a cup of peppermint tea and a slice of Mammie’s pound cake. Trying to decide whether I should go to bed or stay up and paint Omar’s face. Who knows… only tomorrow will tell…
DIARY ENTRY 15
from L. S.
to maketodayhistory@gmail.com
date Sat, May 10, 2008 at 6:50 AM
subject 6th May 2008
hide details 6:50 AM (29 minutes ago)
Reply
0.00
I23 you have 1 new voice message, please dial 123
Bzzz... bz.... I’m going to bring my ticket back, i‘ve been thinking a lot about it, I think it s better like that, i hope I can get my money back. I don’t want to see you anymore.. Bzz... bz...
I try to call
-Please answer-
No answer, she’s probably sleeping, shall see tomorrow –
06.00 it’s time to wake up zzzz....
06.09 it’s time to wake up zzzz...
06.18 it’s time to wake up zz..
06.25, i try to call again
-Hallo?-
I told her everything, trying to explain myself while not having any excuse. Still i’m sincere, and my best wish now would be to be close to her.
Now plan: shower first, then coffee and news.
Infact I get up, and the plan doesn’t work.
A glance to the garden: any monkeys around? Not today, too much construction going on around. News first: the former minister interview, a couple of scary crimes, the picture of the day, sport related but I don’t remember, gallery of some fashion shows, pretty the girls, the clothes I didn’t notice, then quotes, energy going up, good, communication going down, bad, Oil: record, dollar: at least today is not worst than yesterday, you’ve always got to be optimistic.
Coffee, sugar, shower, dress up, mail, coffee, let’s go.
7.51 it usually take 6 minute to go to work with no traffic. Plants, trees, flowers along the way are beautiful. The green and the purple melts against the sea/sky background. ..radio volume down windows up, parking.
Now geometry.
It is difficult to explain into words because is another world where the language is made of geometrical feelings, where you feel the distance of the bodies and listen to the relation of the lines, that in your mind develop into a space made of void and solid. Void is good because is light, breezy and very cheap to build. But you need to define it with solid to get the required void.
10.25 i take a pause, today I’m early, go visit lizards and african snails shell in the back, where nobody see me while I’ve my break, I wonder about the past and the future, few comments on the pretty girls in the office, a nice cigarette while I develop my to do list for the rest of the morning: fix the landscape with smart simplicity, a gentle green slope, we’ve room for a 30% slope, easy to build and to mantain, and can also be used for lounge chairs or to play with the kids. None of the existing trees will be damaged because they’re on the side. Tha go work.
Back to x,y,z, (30*12+7)/2.54 ctrl+v @ sc .3937 ent. (esc esc esc)
New mail, they’re telling me that i have a meeting at 2 o’clock – ahi ahi that means that i can’t go home for lunch.
13.30 the sandwich is so small for 15 dollars...
13.55 I try to draw a perspective of my friend house while waiting for other people to show up for the meeting. My hand is not still and lines e not straight. What’ wrong? I need some training.
14.50 The meeting is boooooring, why I only get invited to meetings on field and not to the ones in the nice meeting room with coffee and fruit juice?
15.45 happy to jump back in my little house, that few people know yet beside me, in fact it only exist in my head and in my drawings. I check up the swimming pool, the pump and the water tank...and xzyxyzyyzxyxzxyzyz
19.30 home finally, that was long, too much a waste of time these meeting... mph! (bottle opening)
I call her again –how is it going, feeling better? (...) miss you too. –
Dinner easy, nothing much in the fridge, let’s have a good salad, lattuce cabbage carrots tomatoes, healthy and refreshing, and a piece of bread with some cheese as appetizer.
I have a look to tomorrow newspapers, that’s the good about living in a gmt-4 country while belonging to a gmt+1, you’re 6 hours later compared to people from your country, and you can read tomorrow newspaper over the web before going to sleep,
Soon time to go to sleep....
Tomorrow!
to maketodayhistory@gmail.com
date Sat, May 10, 2008 at 6:50 AM
subject 6th May 2008
hide details 6:50 AM (29 minutes ago)
Reply
0.00
I23 you have 1 new voice message, please dial 123
Bzzz... bz.... I’m going to bring my ticket back, i‘ve been thinking a lot about it, I think it s better like that, i hope I can get my money back. I don’t want to see you anymore.. Bzz... bz...
I try to call
-Please answer-
No answer, she’s probably sleeping, shall see tomorrow –
06.00 it’s time to wake up zzzz....
06.09 it’s time to wake up zzzz...
06.18 it’s time to wake up zz..
06.25, i try to call again
-Hallo?-
I told her everything, trying to explain myself while not having any excuse. Still i’m sincere, and my best wish now would be to be close to her.
Now plan: shower first, then coffee and news.
Infact I get up, and the plan doesn’t work.
A glance to the garden: any monkeys around? Not today, too much construction going on around. News first: the former minister interview, a couple of scary crimes, the picture of the day, sport related but I don’t remember, gallery of some fashion shows, pretty the girls, the clothes I didn’t notice, then quotes, energy going up, good, communication going down, bad, Oil: record, dollar: at least today is not worst than yesterday, you’ve always got to be optimistic.
Coffee, sugar, shower, dress up, mail, coffee, let’s go.
7.51 it usually take 6 minute to go to work with no traffic. Plants, trees, flowers along the way are beautiful. The green and the purple melts against the sea/sky background. ..radio volume down windows up, parking.
Now geometry.
It is difficult to explain into words because is another world where the language is made of geometrical feelings, where you feel the distance of the bodies and listen to the relation of the lines, that in your mind develop into a space made of void and solid. Void is good because is light, breezy and very cheap to build. But you need to define it with solid to get the required void.
10.25 i take a pause, today I’m early, go visit lizards and african snails shell in the back, where nobody see me while I’ve my break, I wonder about the past and the future, few comments on the pretty girls in the office, a nice cigarette while I develop my to do list for the rest of the morning: fix the landscape with smart simplicity, a gentle green slope, we’ve room for a 30% slope, easy to build and to mantain, and can also be used for lounge chairs or to play with the kids. None of the existing trees will be damaged because they’re on the side. Tha go work.
Back to x,y,z, (30*12+7)/2.54 ctrl+v @ sc .3937 ent. (esc esc esc)
New mail, they’re telling me that i have a meeting at 2 o’clock – ahi ahi that means that i can’t go home for lunch.
13.30 the sandwich is so small for 15 dollars...
13.55 I try to draw a perspective of my friend house while waiting for other people to show up for the meeting. My hand is not still and lines e not straight. What’ wrong? I need some training.
14.50 The meeting is boooooring, why I only get invited to meetings on field and not to the ones in the nice meeting room with coffee and fruit juice?
15.45 happy to jump back in my little house, that few people know yet beside me, in fact it only exist in my head and in my drawings. I check up the swimming pool, the pump and the water tank...and xzyxyzyyzxyxzxyzyz
19.30 home finally, that was long, too much a waste of time these meeting... mph! (bottle opening)
I call her again –how is it going, feeling better? (...) miss you too. –
Dinner easy, nothing much in the fridge, let’s have a good salad, lattuce cabbage carrots tomatoes, healthy and refreshing, and a piece of bread with some cheese as appetizer.
I have a look to tomorrow newspapers, that’s the good about living in a gmt-4 country while belonging to a gmt+1, you’re 6 hours later compared to people from your country, and you can read tomorrow newspaper over the web before going to sleep,
Soon time to go to sleep....
Tomorrow!
DIARY ENTRY 14
from L. W.
to maketodayhistory@gmail.com,
date Wed, May 7, 2008 at 12:03 AM
subject my journal entry
mailed-by hotmail.com
hide details 12:03 AM (6 hours ago) [may the 6.docx]
Reply
Tuesday may 6th found me waking up in the parish of Christ Church, Maxwell Plains to be precise where I currently reside. After not going to bed early it took some time despite my alarms best efforts to start my day. My first task for the day was getting ready for work as an invigilator for CXC at the Deighton Griffith Memorial School. I have a somewhat rigid attitude to work ethic and attire. In a professional situation and one like this were young children are watching the onus is persons in this field to dress and behave in an appropriate manner. I wore a blue, sleeveless, knee length dress with a corresponding long sleeve jacket. The Jacket has no buttons which exposes the dress in the front and highlights the fact that there is a dress underneath. Deighton Griffith is a twenty minute walk from my home and to make quick work of that commute I wore flats. In my bag I had with me a pair of heals in the event that I felt differently or incomplete about my choice once I had arrived.
The morning exam went smoothly and uneventfully. For lunch I treated myself to some Chinese food which I purchased from Sheraton Centre. After that may a stop in the grocery store in the mall, Imart, which totalled my trip there to a little over $60 in food. The items were not many but I thought them all necessary; cat food, coffee and a few snacks. It is now officially a custom for me that as I pass the store directly opposite the entrance to Imart I lament the loss of my favourite clothing store. Radical Designs was the one person a person of my petite size could depend on getting a jeans and a nice top or two whether it be formal causal or in between. For about a month now, it has been replaced by a bedding store...which from the transparent glass/wall one cannot ignore the beautifully displayed four poster beds. Whether loosing the clothing store or admiring beds I probably cannot afford was more distressing I am not sure.
After getting home around 3:30pm a friend stopped by for a few hours. What was supposed to be a time of reading and studying eventually turned into making jokes and watching episodes of different series on the internet. While the air was still potentially studious an overseas call from my aunt made the day a bit more pleasant. Around 8 o’clock my guest left and I was free to spend the rest of my night perusing the internet.
to maketodayhistory@gmail.com,
date Wed, May 7, 2008 at 12:03 AM
subject my journal entry
mailed-by hotmail.com
hide details 12:03 AM (6 hours ago) [may the 6.docx]
Reply
Tuesday may 6th found me waking up in the parish of Christ Church, Maxwell Plains to be precise where I currently reside. After not going to bed early it took some time despite my alarms best efforts to start my day. My first task for the day was getting ready for work as an invigilator for CXC at the Deighton Griffith Memorial School. I have a somewhat rigid attitude to work ethic and attire. In a professional situation and one like this were young children are watching the onus is persons in this field to dress and behave in an appropriate manner. I wore a blue, sleeveless, knee length dress with a corresponding long sleeve jacket. The Jacket has no buttons which exposes the dress in the front and highlights the fact that there is a dress underneath. Deighton Griffith is a twenty minute walk from my home and to make quick work of that commute I wore flats. In my bag I had with me a pair of heals in the event that I felt differently or incomplete about my choice once I had arrived.
The morning exam went smoothly and uneventfully. For lunch I treated myself to some Chinese food which I purchased from Sheraton Centre. After that may a stop in the grocery store in the mall, Imart, which totalled my trip there to a little over $60 in food. The items were not many but I thought them all necessary; cat food, coffee and a few snacks. It is now officially a custom for me that as I pass the store directly opposite the entrance to Imart I lament the loss of my favourite clothing store. Radical Designs was the one person a person of my petite size could depend on getting a jeans and a nice top or two whether it be formal causal or in between. For about a month now, it has been replaced by a bedding store...which from the transparent glass/wall one cannot ignore the beautifully displayed four poster beds. Whether loosing the clothing store or admiring beds I probably cannot afford was more distressing I am not sure.
After getting home around 3:30pm a friend stopped by for a few hours. What was supposed to be a time of reading and studying eventually turned into making jokes and watching episodes of different series on the internet. While the air was still potentially studious an overseas call from my aunt made the day a bit more pleasant. Around 8 o’clock my guest left and I was free to spend the rest of my night perusing the internet.
DIARY ENTRY 13
From:
G B C
Add to: Blog, To Do, Calendar
To:
'ingrid'
Cc:
Bcc:
Date:
Wed, 7 May 2008 10:23 am
May 6, 2008—Lived by an American-Bajan in Ocean City, St. Philip
My routine is predictable. But I suppose routines are predictable. We wished our houseguests a fond farewell yesterday which means it’s back to life-as-usual here in St. Philip.
5am: The dogs are grooming my husband hoping he will tire of having his hair washed by tongues and get up and let them go outside. Thankfully he gets up, and I have once again escaped the duty of letting the dogs out.
5:30am: I am in the kitchen, putting water in the kettle, grinding coffee beans, zapping oatmeal, feeding the dogs, filling water bowls, giving the dogs their treats for bringing in the morning Nation and pouring coffee for the husband (who misses all this excitement conducting his own morning routine of shaving, showering and *cough*). When the dogs and the husband have been tended to, I grab my coffee, turn on the fan and saddle up on the sofa to enjoy my few minutes watching either a random movie for 30 minutes, or Pearson and Belle. I tune in to see Pearson’s shirt and tie. What a dresser! I wonder if I would have the guts to introduce myself to Pearson if I ran into him in person?
6:30am: The husband is on his way into “town” and the dogs are looking under the gate for a visit from the neighbor’s dog and I have abandoned the sofa (and Pearson) and am in front of my computer. After the gossip pages are read, the New York newspaper’s homepages scanned and the Sudoku puzzle is completed, I begin my work writing. I have newsletters to finish this week for my employer. Between writing about higher education funding woes I manage do some internet shopping, anticipating my trip stateside.
9am: I wanted to get out of the neighborhood today. I should have gone to Desmond’s 9am spin class but my knee was the size of a grapefruit rather than the size of an orange. I hate getting old!
12 noon: I haven’t gotten much done on my newsletters, but have purchased 12 shirts, 3 pairs of pants, 4 pairs of shoes, 3 pairs of shorts and 2 dresses. The rains here in St. Philip have turned to glorious skies, so I have ventured out to our deck to smell the sea air and marvel at the beauty here. Five years and counting and I am still awestruck at the beauty of the sea. I hope I never take this for granted.
2pm: I need to work on my newsletters. Judge Mathis is coming on and I have to layout two newsletters before 4pm! I can do it! I also have to think about dinner. My Waitrose cottage cheese at lunch tasted a bit wonky, I think I should have paid attention to the expiration date.
3pm: How much time can I waste by not working on my newsletters? I caught up with a friend from the states. I have take advantage of my VOIP phone when it’s working because it doesn’t work that often—Life in the tropics where technology (and Cable & Wireless) have many, many issues.
5pm: Got my Oprah watching in while chopping onions and garlic. Husband is home cleaning out his mess of a car, which gets serviced tomorrow, so I will be without car for two days. Guess that is my excuse tomorrow and Thursday to skip a step and Pilates class. I am attempting to make spaghetti for dinner. I have lost my will and desire to cook. How did my mother do it without ever complaining? I complain every time I enter the kitchen. She cooked for four, and I cook for two. I am a spoiled brat and hope she isn’t embarrassed sitting up there on her cloud looking down at me. I wish I could cook the Bajan and Indian dishes my husband grew up on. I haven’t the heart to even try, because I don’t handle failure well. If I time this right, I can watch Judge Judy before we sit down to dinner.
7pm: Husband is watching the Channel 8 news and I am ensconced in the bedroom watching Judge Judy, yes again. I have trouble watching the local news here because that side camera they use for a wide shot looks like there is Vaseline smeared all over the lens. I do wonder if it is the same camera that they use in Parliament when they tape the goings on between the government officials. Seriously, can someone in charge not see that there is a problem with the clarity of that camera? I get an extra kick with Pearson is anchoring the news. I will step away from Judge Judy for Pearson.
8:30pm: We are both showered and in bed watching Sweet Home Alabama, but husband is complaining because I have made him watch it before. So he goes to sleep, I turn up the volume so I can hear the TV over the lawnmower lying next to me, but soon my eyelids have had enough for the day and I sadly (or gladly) turn off Reese and McDreamy, and the TV, and call it a day—one dog in happily dreaming in his crate the other in her place spooning with the husband’s legs.
All is quiet here in our little place on the rock.
This St. Philip girl, who works from home, never did make it outside her house today. Maybe tomorrow, but somehow I doubt it.
G B C
Add to: Blog, To Do, Calendar
To:
'ingrid'
Cc:
Bcc:
Date:
Wed, 7 May 2008 10:23 am
May 6, 2008—Lived by an American-Bajan in Ocean City, St. Philip
My routine is predictable. But I suppose routines are predictable. We wished our houseguests a fond farewell yesterday which means it’s back to life-as-usual here in St. Philip.
5am: The dogs are grooming my husband hoping he will tire of having his hair washed by tongues and get up and let them go outside. Thankfully he gets up, and I have once again escaped the duty of letting the dogs out.
5:30am: I am in the kitchen, putting water in the kettle, grinding coffee beans, zapping oatmeal, feeding the dogs, filling water bowls, giving the dogs their treats for bringing in the morning Nation and pouring coffee for the husband (who misses all this excitement conducting his own morning routine of shaving, showering and *cough*). When the dogs and the husband have been tended to, I grab my coffee, turn on the fan and saddle up on the sofa to enjoy my few minutes watching either a random movie for 30 minutes, or Pearson and Belle. I tune in to see Pearson’s shirt and tie. What a dresser! I wonder if I would have the guts to introduce myself to Pearson if I ran into him in person?
6:30am: The husband is on his way into “town” and the dogs are looking under the gate for a visit from the neighbor’s dog and I have abandoned the sofa (and Pearson) and am in front of my computer. After the gossip pages are read, the New York newspaper’s homepages scanned and the Sudoku puzzle is completed, I begin my work writing. I have newsletters to finish this week for my employer. Between writing about higher education funding woes I manage do some internet shopping, anticipating my trip stateside.
9am: I wanted to get out of the neighborhood today. I should have gone to Desmond’s 9am spin class but my knee was the size of a grapefruit rather than the size of an orange. I hate getting old!
12 noon: I haven’t gotten much done on my newsletters, but have purchased 12 shirts, 3 pairs of pants, 4 pairs of shoes, 3 pairs of shorts and 2 dresses. The rains here in St. Philip have turned to glorious skies, so I have ventured out to our deck to smell the sea air and marvel at the beauty here. Five years and counting and I am still awestruck at the beauty of the sea. I hope I never take this for granted.
2pm: I need to work on my newsletters. Judge Mathis is coming on and I have to layout two newsletters before 4pm! I can do it! I also have to think about dinner. My Waitrose cottage cheese at lunch tasted a bit wonky, I think I should have paid attention to the expiration date.
3pm: How much time can I waste by not working on my newsletters? I caught up with a friend from the states. I have take advantage of my VOIP phone when it’s working because it doesn’t work that often—Life in the tropics where technology (and Cable & Wireless) have many, many issues.
5pm: Got my Oprah watching in while chopping onions and garlic. Husband is home cleaning out his mess of a car, which gets serviced tomorrow, so I will be without car for two days. Guess that is my excuse tomorrow and Thursday to skip a step and Pilates class. I am attempting to make spaghetti for dinner. I have lost my will and desire to cook. How did my mother do it without ever complaining? I complain every time I enter the kitchen. She cooked for four, and I cook for two. I am a spoiled brat and hope she isn’t embarrassed sitting up there on her cloud looking down at me. I wish I could cook the Bajan and Indian dishes my husband grew up on. I haven’t the heart to even try, because I don’t handle failure well. If I time this right, I can watch Judge Judy before we sit down to dinner.
7pm: Husband is watching the Channel 8 news and I am ensconced in the bedroom watching Judge Judy, yes again. I have trouble watching the local news here because that side camera they use for a wide shot looks like there is Vaseline smeared all over the lens. I do wonder if it is the same camera that they use in Parliament when they tape the goings on between the government officials. Seriously, can someone in charge not see that there is a problem with the clarity of that camera? I get an extra kick with Pearson is anchoring the news. I will step away from Judge Judy for Pearson.
8:30pm: We are both showered and in bed watching Sweet Home Alabama, but husband is complaining because I have made him watch it before. So he goes to sleep, I turn up the volume so I can hear the TV over the lawnmower lying next to me, but soon my eyelids have had enough for the day and I sadly (or gladly) turn off Reese and McDreamy, and the TV, and call it a day—one dog in happily dreaming in his crate the other in her place spooning with the husband’s legs.
All is quiet here in our little place on the rock.
This St. Philip girl, who works from home, never did make it outside her house today. Maybe tomorrow, but somehow I doubt it.
DIARY ENTRY 12
from E. A.
to maketodayhistory@gmail.com,
date Wed, May 7, 2008 at 3:56 AM
subject one day...
hide details 3:56 AM (3 hours ago)
Reply
12 am
The beginning of this.
I have been sitting in front of the computer typing responses to unanswered emails. A long tall glass of water sweats on the table. yum.
The curtains are closed. My feet are on the desk. The ash tray is full. The room is dirty. Crap on the TV.
12: 29 am
Been mindlessly surfing the web, reading music reviews. I watch a music video, then another, and another. time for a bathroom break.
12: 49 am
trying to find a movie to watch, don't want to go to sleep. My mind is on many many many things, and I don't feel like doing a thing about it right now.
1:05 am
i just realised i had forgotten about the water.
i have decided to watch Restoration. I had seen it years ago, remembered there was something I liked about it.
1:50 am
Cant really focus on the movie, worried about some paperwork I have to do.
Restless. Back to the movie.
3:50 am
movie done. not bad. hardcore insomnia. gotta pick another movie.
11:52am
Woke up with the computer screen on. i never made it through movie number two.
Didn't really want to move, big surprise. one foot to the floor first, feels like ages before the second even considers it.
check email. gotta eat and get ready to go to class.
12:50pm
all fed and clean, mail checked, newspapers read, off to school.
4:13pm
Back home, ate a fish cutter. school actually beginning to feel like an art school. Very few people around today, strange.
Emails back and forth to Sonia. Trying to figure out trip possibilities. Things seem to be falling into place. I will need a visa for Europe, Bart will not.
Natalya here on her break from work, she brought a steak and some broccoli. Gonna watch a few episodes of Weeds.
5:03pm
Justin stopped by. We talked about badly made chairs and Richard's birthday on Saturday.
Had two cigarettes while we spoke.
5:32pm
Natalya is cooking. Smells good. Nicholas called.
6:05pm
My mother offered me a glass of wine. Natalya had her meal. Had a conversation with my father about an exhibition at Queens Park.
Headache coming on. Haven't had one in a while. They start behind the eyes, moves its way around the side of my head to my jaw and my neck.
Staring at the computer screen cant be helping.
The sin is on its way out, the dogs are barking. The AC is a little too cold.
10:07pm
I just woke up after what seemed like ages of pain and at least an hour of trying to force myself to sleep. The headache got much worse. Light started to heart my eyes. Natalya left while i held a pillow over my eyes and pressed my fingers into my temples to try to ease the pain from the headache (or at least make me feel like i was able to do something about it). I took pills. two kinds, don't really know what they were, they came from the mother. Eventually the second set of pills must have made it possible to sleep. Whenever this happens, sleep is the only way to handle the pain.
Now its gone, and more of the day has passed without me. Now i will be up late again.
Ribs for dinner. I will eat by myself, the rest of the house has gone to sleep. Mytime.
What I listened to today:
Saturday Looks Good To Me
Leonard Chohen
Tunng
ESG
11:35pm
Spent some time on the phone with Nicholas. The regular rundown/catchup. It was a three cigarette conversation. the Obama/Clinton mess is on CNN, yet another primary, Indiana. This day will soon be over. My night will probably carry on for a while. I have things to do tomorrow.
12:00am - Again
Its over.
I am sitting in front of the computer typing this diary. A different glass of water sweats on the table.
The curtains are closed. My feet are on the desk. The ash tray is empty. The room is dirty. Crap on the TV.
to maketodayhistory@gmail.com,
date Wed, May 7, 2008 at 3:56 AM
subject one day...
hide details 3:56 AM (3 hours ago)
Reply
12 am
The beginning of this.
I have been sitting in front of the computer typing responses to unanswered emails. A long tall glass of water sweats on the table. yum.
The curtains are closed. My feet are on the desk. The ash tray is full. The room is dirty. Crap on the TV.
12: 29 am
Been mindlessly surfing the web, reading music reviews. I watch a music video, then another, and another. time for a bathroom break.
12: 49 am
trying to find a movie to watch, don't want to go to sleep. My mind is on many many many things, and I don't feel like doing a thing about it right now.
1:05 am
i just realised i had forgotten about the water.
i have decided to watch Restoration. I had seen it years ago, remembered there was something I liked about it.
1:50 am
Cant really focus on the movie, worried about some paperwork I have to do.
Restless. Back to the movie.
3:50 am
movie done. not bad. hardcore insomnia. gotta pick another movie.
11:52am
Woke up with the computer screen on. i never made it through movie number two.
Didn't really want to move, big surprise. one foot to the floor first, feels like ages before the second even considers it.
check email. gotta eat and get ready to go to class.
12:50pm
all fed and clean, mail checked, newspapers read, off to school.
4:13pm
Back home, ate a fish cutter. school actually beginning to feel like an art school. Very few people around today, strange.
Emails back and forth to Sonia. Trying to figure out trip possibilities. Things seem to be falling into place. I will need a visa for Europe, Bart will not.
Natalya here on her break from work, she brought a steak and some broccoli. Gonna watch a few episodes of Weeds.
5:03pm
Justin stopped by. We talked about badly made chairs and Richard's birthday on Saturday.
Had two cigarettes while we spoke.
5:32pm
Natalya is cooking. Smells good. Nicholas called.
6:05pm
My mother offered me a glass of wine. Natalya had her meal. Had a conversation with my father about an exhibition at Queens Park.
Headache coming on. Haven't had one in a while. They start behind the eyes, moves its way around the side of my head to my jaw and my neck.
Staring at the computer screen cant be helping.
The sin is on its way out, the dogs are barking. The AC is a little too cold.
10:07pm
I just woke up after what seemed like ages of pain and at least an hour of trying to force myself to sleep. The headache got much worse. Light started to heart my eyes. Natalya left while i held a pillow over my eyes and pressed my fingers into my temples to try to ease the pain from the headache (or at least make me feel like i was able to do something about it). I took pills. two kinds, don't really know what they were, they came from the mother. Eventually the second set of pills must have made it possible to sleep. Whenever this happens, sleep is the only way to handle the pain.
Now its gone, and more of the day has passed without me. Now i will be up late again.
Ribs for dinner. I will eat by myself, the rest of the house has gone to sleep. Mytime.
What I listened to today:
Saturday Looks Good To Me
Leonard Chohen
Tunng
ESG
11:35pm
Spent some time on the phone with Nicholas. The regular rundown/catchup. It was a three cigarette conversation. the Obama/Clinton mess is on CNN, yet another primary, Indiana. This day will soon be over. My night will probably carry on for a while. I have things to do tomorrow.
12:00am - Again
Its over.
I am sitting in front of the computer typing this diary. A different glass of water sweats on the table.
The curtains are closed. My feet are on the desk. The ash tray is empty. The room is dirty. Crap on the TV.
DIARY ENTRY 11
from E. O'C.
to maketodayhistory@gmail.com,
date Tue, May 6, 2008 at 7:00 PM
subject Today
mailed-by uwichill.edu.bb
hide details 7:00 PM (56 minutes ago)
Reply
7. 20 a.m. and the welcome sound of rain – we need it, as the countryside around St Thomas is dry, dry, dry and the wind blows the trash from cane fires into every crevice. Didn’t last long, but enough to lull me back to sleep – I was up late last night reading Phillip French’s authorized biography of V.S. Nighfall (addicitive stuff, though so much that’s distasteful). An academic colleague from the US phoned – he’s visiting family in Barbados and we plan to meet up on Friday, with a possibility of him applying for a post in my Department. We talk about the US primaries and the horrendous prospect of the drawn out squabble between the Democrat candidates leading to reelection of the Rebublicans; funny how domestic policy (in the US) is so important to him, whereas international policy is crucial for us here in the Caribbean, hey, the world!
Hazy, hot sky and interminable roadworks on the drive to the University – I detour at least once to get out of long lines going nowhere. Newspaper has more bad news about the rising price of food and not much else. Campus is relatively quiet as exams are in progress and I get on with the tedious business of marking scripts and entering marks online, which is a cumbersome business for non-techno dinosaurs like myself. Hey, it’s easier for this course as student name and index number are entered on the same form so I don’t need to keep crosschecking various lists.
Have as session with a postgraduate student who’s working on Caribbean women writers and how their exile/residence abroad impacts on their fictions. Difficult terrain really, because so many have argued that the whole concept of a Caribbean diaspora means that ‘abroad’ is now an extension of the region. That said, the stylistic and linguistic registers, and the concerns voiced by those in Toronto and those based in Trindidad do tend to reflect differences. Then the usual distractions of email – a publishing project, submissions to the Journal of West Indian Literature, stupid jokes people keep sending (and one or two that aren’t so stupid), people wanting you to record your unrelentingly banal activities of the day for an art project……it eats up hours, this email, and I am not alone in obsessively checking my inbox. Of course, it’s also a useful distraction from my main job of the day, which is to work on a paper for a conference on Caribbean women’s writing that is approaching fast. I am supposed to be presenting on the notion of ethical teaching – how, if at all, the teaching of literature (specifically that of Caribbean women writers) at tertiary level, has any impact on the increasing problems we face in our societies from xenophobia, homophobia, violence, domestic violence and so on. I am arguing a kind of airy-fairy position that changing ways of thinking via exposure to alternative textual visions of what our societies can become, is a positive first step; but I doubt it will wash among either materialist or theoretically focused academics. Oh well.
Finished up sending out interview questions to a number of writers on exile/rootedness and searching for contacts for those not on my mailing list. Now I pay a few bills and about 7.20 head home. Lovely and cool and breezy at nights in St Thomas. Left over pelau and the US primaries on TV and more Naipaul biography till about 2.00 a.m.. Could be worse!
to maketodayhistory@gmail.com,
date Tue, May 6, 2008 at 7:00 PM
subject Today
mailed-by uwichill.edu.bb
hide details 7:00 PM (56 minutes ago)
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7. 20 a.m. and the welcome sound of rain – we need it, as the countryside around St Thomas is dry, dry, dry and the wind blows the trash from cane fires into every crevice. Didn’t last long, but enough to lull me back to sleep – I was up late last night reading Phillip French’s authorized biography of V.S. Nighfall (addicitive stuff, though so much that’s distasteful). An academic colleague from the US phoned – he’s visiting family in Barbados and we plan to meet up on Friday, with a possibility of him applying for a post in my Department. We talk about the US primaries and the horrendous prospect of the drawn out squabble between the Democrat candidates leading to reelection of the Rebublicans; funny how domestic policy (in the US) is so important to him, whereas international policy is crucial for us here in the Caribbean, hey, the world!
Hazy, hot sky and interminable roadworks on the drive to the University – I detour at least once to get out of long lines going nowhere. Newspaper has more bad news about the rising price of food and not much else. Campus is relatively quiet as exams are in progress and I get on with the tedious business of marking scripts and entering marks online, which is a cumbersome business for non-techno dinosaurs like myself. Hey, it’s easier for this course as student name and index number are entered on the same form so I don’t need to keep crosschecking various lists.
Have as session with a postgraduate student who’s working on Caribbean women writers and how their exile/residence abroad impacts on their fictions. Difficult terrain really, because so many have argued that the whole concept of a Caribbean diaspora means that ‘abroad’ is now an extension of the region. That said, the stylistic and linguistic registers, and the concerns voiced by those in Toronto and those based in Trindidad do tend to reflect differences. Then the usual distractions of email – a publishing project, submissions to the Journal of West Indian Literature, stupid jokes people keep sending (and one or two that aren’t so stupid), people wanting you to record your unrelentingly banal activities of the day for an art project……it eats up hours, this email, and I am not alone in obsessively checking my inbox. Of course, it’s also a useful distraction from my main job of the day, which is to work on a paper for a conference on Caribbean women’s writing that is approaching fast. I am supposed to be presenting on the notion of ethical teaching – how, if at all, the teaching of literature (specifically that of Caribbean women writers) at tertiary level, has any impact on the increasing problems we face in our societies from xenophobia, homophobia, violence, domestic violence and so on. I am arguing a kind of airy-fairy position that changing ways of thinking via exposure to alternative textual visions of what our societies can become, is a positive first step; but I doubt it will wash among either materialist or theoretically focused academics. Oh well.
Finished up sending out interview questions to a number of writers on exile/rootedness and searching for contacts for those not on my mailing list. Now I pay a few bills and about 7.20 head home. Lovely and cool and breezy at nights in St Thomas. Left over pelau and the US primaries on TV and more Naipaul biography till about 2.00 a.m.. Could be worse!
DIARY ENTRY 10
from D. J.
to Notes From A Small Rock,
"I. Persaud",
date Wed, May 7, 2008 at 4:52 AM
subject Make today history
mailed-by yahoo.com
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hide details 4:52 AM (2 hours ago) [maketodayhistory.doc]
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Here you are, contribution number 157,344...
Good luck and look forward to seeing the product.
DJ
The day of May 6, 2008 began for me at around 1.30am, when I woke for normal, natural reasons, but checked how things were going in Asian financial markets. You see, I am an online foreign exchange trader and markets operate 24 hours during the week. I made a nice little profit and with that in my pyjama pockets, went back to bed. I woke again around 5am—my normal time—and began my work trading in the London market. I wanted to have all of my dealing done by 8.30 because I had plans for the morning. The markets cooperated and I did some nice deals before 6.30, hitting my day's target. I then went to play tennis at the Garfield Sobers Gymnasium with my coach.
It was a cooler, cloudier morning than usual. The regular groups of walkers were there, as were the early morning young swimmers. My wife had played before me and left as I arrived. She went home to do the school run and then go to her office, which ironically is right by the Gymnasium. The tennis was a good session of sweat without tears, mixed with banter about whether Chelsea or Manchester United would with the English Barclays Premier League this coming weekend: both teams are tied on points with their last games to play. Exciting! Tennis got washed out, though, by a sharp morning shower around 7,30. So, off I headed home toward Pine Gardens, having to deal with the new source of traffic frustration—the redesigned Wildey Triangle and it's one way traffic flows. I am not going to solve this new problem, but just observe that the level of congestion is much higher than it should be because the road works are not yet complete. Some roads have been widened to make for better flow, but are not yet open so create unexpected bottlenecks. That said, I think the basic idea is flawed but we will see how people adapt.
My morning continued at 9am with a scheduled massage from a physiotherapist, whom a friend had recommended. She left my body relaxed but sore and it was useless for most things for the rest of the day. I can just about move my shoulders as I write.
The usual flow of workmen came to the house: today, the painter and the gardener; the maintenance man for the washing machine and drier called to say that he was still inside a cooker in St. Philip repairing that—maybe we'll see him tomorrow. Well, we solved the problems of drying clothes by putting up a good old clothes line—inside a covered area in the basement.
I take most of my meals at home, and my wife came for lunch around 1.30pm, when we enjoyed rotis and chicken, serenaded by the dulcet hum of the gardner's motor blower.
My young daughter was at school the whole day and then had swimming lessons at Pebbles Beach—the ideal way to learn [picture?]. She then went to play with some Jamaican children in Fort George Heights.
The evening had a non-Bajan flavour as I focused on following the US presidential primaries in Indiana and North Carolina.
to Notes From A Small Rock
"I. Persaud"
date Wed, May 7, 2008 at 4:52 AM
subject Make today history
mailed-by yahoo.com
signed-by yahoo.com
Images from this sender are always displayed. Don't display from now on.
hide details 4:52 AM (2 hours ago) [maketodayhistory.doc]
Reply
Here you are, contribution number 157,344...
Good luck and look forward to seeing the product.
DJ
The day of May 6, 2008 began for me at around 1.30am, when I woke for normal, natural reasons, but checked how things were going in Asian financial markets. You see, I am an online foreign exchange trader and markets operate 24 hours during the week. I made a nice little profit and with that in my pyjama pockets, went back to bed. I woke again around 5am—my normal time—and began my work trading in the London market. I wanted to have all of my dealing done by 8.30 because I had plans for the morning. The markets cooperated and I did some nice deals before 6.30, hitting my day's target. I then went to play tennis at the Garfield Sobers Gymnasium with my coach.
It was a cooler, cloudier morning than usual. The regular groups of walkers were there, as were the early morning young swimmers. My wife had played before me and left as I arrived. She went home to do the school run and then go to her office, which ironically is right by the Gymnasium. The tennis was a good session of sweat without tears, mixed with banter about whether Chelsea or Manchester United would with the English Barclays Premier League this coming weekend: both teams are tied on points with their last games to play. Exciting! Tennis got washed out, though, by a sharp morning shower around 7,30. So, off I headed home toward Pine Gardens, having to deal with the new source of traffic frustration—the redesigned Wildey Triangle and it's one way traffic flows. I am not going to solve this new problem, but just observe that the level of congestion is much higher than it should be because the road works are not yet complete. Some roads have been widened to make for better flow, but are not yet open so create unexpected bottlenecks. That said, I think the basic idea is flawed but we will see how people adapt.
My morning continued at 9am with a scheduled massage from a physiotherapist, whom a friend had recommended. She left my body relaxed but sore and it was useless for most things for the rest of the day. I can just about move my shoulders as I write.
The usual flow of workmen came to the house: today, the painter and the gardener; the maintenance man for the washing machine and drier called to say that he was still inside a cooker in St. Philip repairing that—maybe we'll see him tomorrow. Well, we solved the problems of drying clothes by putting up a good old clothes line—inside a covered area in the basement.
I take most of my meals at home, and my wife came for lunch around 1.30pm, when we enjoyed rotis and chicken, serenaded by the dulcet hum of the gardner's motor blower.
My young daughter was at school the whole day and then had swimming lessons at Pebbles Beach—the ideal way to learn [picture?]. She then went to play with some Jamaican children in Fort George Heights.
The evening had a non-Bajan flavour as I focused on following the US presidential primaries in Indiana and North Carolina.
DIARY ENTRY 9
from C. D.
to "I. Persaud"
date Sun, May 11, 2008 at 9:44 PM
subject Re: final appeal
mailed-by yahoo.com
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hide details 9:44 PM (2 hours ago)
Reply
Greetings Ingrid,
Tuesday May 6th
4:30- Shaka ( my 16th month son) woke me up. I struggled to the kitchen to get him formula, gave him the formula and breast fed him
6:00 am struggled out of bed headed to the kitchen made breafast, lunch and snacks for Shaka and his grandmother and uncle and myself
10:00 Left the house- made a couple stops
12:00 arrived at work at my new space at SCS Architects and worked on a proposal for an entrance exhibit for the Caribbean gift and craft show whilst trying to organise my new space
aorund 3;45 left and went to the gym where I spent 45 mins
arrived home aorung 5
played with Shaka
by 8:00 fell asleep putting Shaka to sleep
Hope this helps
Oneka
to "I. Persaud"
date Sun, May 11, 2008 at 9:44 PM
subject Re: final appeal
mailed-by yahoo.com
signed-by yahoo.com
hide details 9:44 PM (2 hours ago)
Reply
Greetings Ingrid,
Tuesday May 6th
4:30- Shaka ( my 16th month son) woke me up. I struggled to the kitchen to get him formula, gave him the formula and breast fed him
6:00 am struggled out of bed headed to the kitchen made breafast, lunch and snacks for Shaka and his grandmother and uncle and myself
10:00 Left the house- made a couple stops
12:00 arrived at work at my new space at SCS Architects and worked on a proposal for an entrance exhibit for the Caribbean gift and craft show whilst trying to organise my new space
aorund 3;45 left and went to the gym where I spent 45 mins
arrived home aorung 5
played with Shaka
by 8:00 fell asleep putting Shaka to sleep
Hope this helps
Oneka
DIARY ENTRY 8
from C. S.
to maketodayhistory@gmail.com
date Thu, May 8, 2008 at 4:06 PM
subject Art project - May 6, 2008, in Barbados
hide details 4:06 PM (24 minutes ago)
Reply
As requested, following is a journal of my day, May 6, 2008, in Barbados!
We had been experiencing such lovely weather for the past couple of weeks, but this morning, the first thing I noticed was that visibility was not as great as the day before! Summer is just about kicking in – today was rather hot when I happen to have left the office during the course of the day. We have had a really cool “winter”. Still sleeping in long pj’s, under the duvet, with the windows closed! That is the country for you!!
We currently have house guests visiting from the British Virgin Islands and staying with us in the cottage: Chris, Morgana and Tammy T. They are really here to obtain a Student’s Visa for Tammy to attend school in the UK and therefore have a meeting with the British High Commission here in Barbados today for that purpose. They went to The Cliff for dinner last night and Chris, who is in hospitality and very well traveled, commented that The Cliff is perhaps the best restaurant he has had the fortune of dining in and the ambience is simply spectacular! What a compliment. We had a great weekend with them and took them to Fisherpond Great House on Sunday for lunch – it is always such a treat to go there. Chloe loves the parrots and I love the old world of it all. The T. fell in love with the place and commented that if they were to make Barbados their home, they would want a place like Fisherpond Great House.
Mark, my husband, traveled to Trinidad today to attend the 12 Annual Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Investment Conference, which he has a speaking spot at. He is constantly away at the moment, which I have already said has to stop in late September/October when our 2nd child is due to arrive. Imagine that! 42 years in a couple of months and currently 5 months pregnant with our second – never thought that I would get married, or have a child, let alone being married with 2 children!!! But how exciting. The baby was very active today. While sitting at my desk today, experienced several flutters, kicks and general movements. Mark has not yet felt them, so something to share with him when he returns on Friday evening. Just in time for Mothers’ Day on Sunday – we are going to The Fish Pot for lunch on Sunday – another of our Sunday treat restaurants. Hope Mark and Chloe have not gone to too much trouble for that day, as I am just looking forward to a nice restful day and lunch with my family!
Regular busy day at the office.
Left the office promptly at 4:35 this afternoon to rush off home to prepare dinner for Chloe and me. Mark normally is the cook in our home, but these duties all fall to me when he is away. Chloe is an absolute doll and helped with dinner – Spaghetti Bolognese – Mark had prepared the sauce from the night before for us, so we simply had to warm up and cook the spaghetti, which Chloe likes to break up. Finished dinner quite early; Spag Bol is one of Chloe’s favourite meals, so she chows it down quickly and even ate more than me! She then got down from her chair and ran around while telling me all that she did at her little preschool, In The Woods, that day. She is such a delight, and very clever too with a tremendous vocabulary for a 2 year old. On Sunday while we were at lunch, an airplane flew by and she said, “Mummy, isn’t it amazing that an airplane can fly so high in the sky?” How does a 2 year old even think that?? After dinner and talking, it was bath time. She asked for one of the “little soaps” that the T. brought as a gift for me (beautiful ones from France) to take into the bath with her, which of course kept slipping out of her little hands. For bedtime, we had to read Cat in the Hat, which seems to be her favourite at the moment. Maybe we will get that painted on the walls in her new room that we will be decorating for her shortly, so that we can move her into that before the baby comes and gets the nursery, her current room! We called and chatted with Daddy for a little while after having milk, then of course, bedtime by 7:50 after pleas of more stories, more stories.
I have an appointment with my ob gyn tomorrow morning at 7 to have some tests done re the pregnancy. We had an ultrasound performed 3 weeks ago while undergoing the amnio (still waiting for the results, but hoping that the doctor will have them tomorrow when I see her). From the ultrasound, the doctor thought that the baby was a little bigger than it should be and therefore wants to do the relevant testing to ensure that I have not started with diabetes as I had during the last trimester with Chloe. We will see. That means with Mark away, have to be up by 5 to get through everything to leave home by 6:40 to be on time – the traffic here is horrid!
After getting Chloe to bed, back downstairs and chatted with the T. as it is their last night in Barbados. They had some wine; me water – how boring, when I would have loved to have a glass myself!. Bed and read for a wee bit – “What to expect when you are expecting”, then asleep by 10:15 – another very regular day in my very quiet life.
to maketodayhistory@gmail.com
date Thu, May 8, 2008 at 4:06 PM
subject Art project - May 6, 2008, in Barbados
hide details 4:06 PM (24 minutes ago)
Reply
As requested, following is a journal of my day, May 6, 2008, in Barbados!
We had been experiencing such lovely weather for the past couple of weeks, but this morning, the first thing I noticed was that visibility was not as great as the day before! Summer is just about kicking in – today was rather hot when I happen to have left the office during the course of the day. We have had a really cool “winter”. Still sleeping in long pj’s, under the duvet, with the windows closed! That is the country for you!!
We currently have house guests visiting from the British Virgin Islands and staying with us in the cottage: Chris, Morgana and Tammy T. They are really here to obtain a Student’s Visa for Tammy to attend school in the UK and therefore have a meeting with the British High Commission here in Barbados today for that purpose. They went to The Cliff for dinner last night and Chris, who is in hospitality and very well traveled, commented that The Cliff is perhaps the best restaurant he has had the fortune of dining in and the ambience is simply spectacular! What a compliment. We had a great weekend with them and took them to Fisherpond Great House on Sunday for lunch – it is always such a treat to go there. Chloe loves the parrots and I love the old world of it all. The T. fell in love with the place and commented that if they were to make Barbados their home, they would want a place like Fisherpond Great House.
Mark, my husband, traveled to Trinidad today to attend the 12 Annual Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Investment Conference, which he has a speaking spot at. He is constantly away at the moment, which I have already said has to stop in late September/October when our 2nd child is due to arrive. Imagine that! 42 years in a couple of months and currently 5 months pregnant with our second – never thought that I would get married, or have a child, let alone being married with 2 children!!! But how exciting. The baby was very active today. While sitting at my desk today, experienced several flutters, kicks and general movements. Mark has not yet felt them, so something to share with him when he returns on Friday evening. Just in time for Mothers’ Day on Sunday – we are going to The Fish Pot for lunch on Sunday – another of our Sunday treat restaurants. Hope Mark and Chloe have not gone to too much trouble for that day, as I am just looking forward to a nice restful day and lunch with my family!
Regular busy day at the office.
Left the office promptly at 4:35 this afternoon to rush off home to prepare dinner for Chloe and me. Mark normally is the cook in our home, but these duties all fall to me when he is away. Chloe is an absolute doll and helped with dinner – Spaghetti Bolognese – Mark had prepared the sauce from the night before for us, so we simply had to warm up and cook the spaghetti, which Chloe likes to break up. Finished dinner quite early; Spag Bol is one of Chloe’s favourite meals, so she chows it down quickly and even ate more than me! She then got down from her chair and ran around while telling me all that she did at her little preschool, In The Woods, that day. She is such a delight, and very clever too with a tremendous vocabulary for a 2 year old. On Sunday while we were at lunch, an airplane flew by and she said, “Mummy, isn’t it amazing that an airplane can fly so high in the sky?” How does a 2 year old even think that?? After dinner and talking, it was bath time. She asked for one of the “little soaps” that the T. brought as a gift for me (beautiful ones from France) to take into the bath with her, which of course kept slipping out of her little hands. For bedtime, we had to read Cat in the Hat, which seems to be her favourite at the moment. Maybe we will get that painted on the walls in her new room that we will be decorating for her shortly, so that we can move her into that before the baby comes and gets the nursery, her current room! We called and chatted with Daddy for a little while after having milk, then of course, bedtime by 7:50 after pleas of more stories, more stories.
I have an appointment with my ob gyn tomorrow morning at 7 to have some tests done re the pregnancy. We had an ultrasound performed 3 weeks ago while undergoing the amnio (still waiting for the results, but hoping that the doctor will have them tomorrow when I see her). From the ultrasound, the doctor thought that the baby was a little bigger than it should be and therefore wants to do the relevant testing to ensure that I have not started with diabetes as I had during the last trimester with Chloe. We will see. That means with Mark away, have to be up by 5 to get through everything to leave home by 6:40 to be on time – the traffic here is horrid!
After getting Chloe to bed, back downstairs and chatted with the T. as it is their last night in Barbados. They had some wine; me water – how boring, when I would have loved to have a glass myself!. Bed and read for a wee bit – “What to expect when you are expecting”, then asleep by 10:15 – another very regular day in my very quiet life.
DIARY ENTRY 7
from C.C.
to "I. Persaud"
date Fri, May 9, 2008 at 4:39 PM
subject Re: go on - send yuh diary nah...
hide details 4:39 PM (6 hours ago)
Reply
Hi
I got so caught up in the day that I totally forgot that I was supposed to be recording everything.....
so I will put together the bits that I remember...
Woke up at 5.30 and headed down to the beach at Bay Street .
Walked 2 miles on the beach ( eating a scrumptuous mango while walking ) and then did some aquajogging for another 36 mins.I wore a swimsuit with a pair of shorts over it for the walk .
Drove back home and ate a breakfast of cereal with almond milk , followed by whole wheat toast with butter and jam
Had a shower and got dressed for the day's work.Wore a beige linen skirt and white tshirt and sandals.
I work at home so there is no traffic to deal with ...
stopped for lunch( a large plate of salad with tuna on top) about 1 pm and checked up on the tv news at the same time....terrible story going on in Myanmar ..this makes me sad.
Back to work ....
About 4 pm the car mechanic returned my jeep which was being serviced so went down to inspect and make payment...looks like brand new!
Prepared some food to take to Lancaster house for monthly meeting of artists ...
Showered and dressed for that occasion( a pair of flowered pants and plain white shirt and green flip flops) and picked up a friend and made our way through the traffic to Lancaster in St.James.
the meeting was hosted by a resident artist and also by another artist who teaches figure drawing and painting at BCC .
the evening was very interesting and packed up around 10 pm . Dropped my friend home and finally climbed into bed around 11 pm.
to "I. Persaud"
date Fri, May 9, 2008 at 4:39 PM
subject Re: go on - send yuh diary nah...
hide details 4:39 PM (6 hours ago)
Reply
Hi
I got so caught up in the day that I totally forgot that I was supposed to be recording everything.....
so I will put together the bits that I remember...
Woke up at 5.30 and headed down to the beach at Bay Street .
Walked 2 miles on the beach ( eating a scrumptuous mango while walking ) and then did some aquajogging for another 36 mins.I wore a swimsuit with a pair of shorts over it for the walk .
Drove back home and ate a breakfast of cereal with almond milk , followed by whole wheat toast with butter and jam
Had a shower and got dressed for the day's work.Wore a beige linen skirt and white tshirt and sandals.
I work at home so there is no traffic to deal with ...
stopped for lunch( a large plate of salad with tuna on top) about 1 pm and checked up on the tv news at the same time....terrible story going on in Myanmar ..this makes me sad.
Back to work ....
About 4 pm the car mechanic returned my jeep which was being serviced so went down to inspect and make payment...looks like brand new!
Prepared some food to take to Lancaster house for monthly meeting of artists ...
Showered and dressed for that occasion( a pair of flowered pants and plain white shirt and green flip flops) and picked up a friend and made our way through the traffic to Lancaster in St.James.
the meeting was hosted by a resident artist and also by another artist who teaches figure drawing and painting at BCC .
the evening was very interesting and packed up around 10 pm . Dropped my friend home and finally climbed into bed around 11 pm.
DIARY ENTRY 6
from B. J. S.
to maketodayhistory@gmail.com,
date Tue, May 6, 2008 at 11:38 PM
subject May 6th, 2008
hide details 11:38 PM (7 hours ago)
Reply
6.00am
Woke to the dreaded alarm, dreaming that I was an airline mechanic warning a pilot that his jumbo jet had serious maintenance issues and was likely to crash, but he decided that he had to stick to his schedule and took off anyway, and then about Britain being held to ransom because the Queen had been hijacked inside Parliament – pretty normal stuff.
6.10am
Switched off alarm and attempted to get back into the dream, which was far too interesting to leave
6.30am
2nd Alarm clock rang. Checked blogs, e-mails, downloads, Facebook, group updates etc.
7.10am
Drove to work and planned out the day and what I needed the team to get done
7.30am
One of the guys turned up for work with four un-weaned kittens! He had found them yesterday, completely abandoned under one of our containers, in a cardboard box and decided to take them home for his family. Unfortunately, after a night of unsuccessfully being able to nurse them, his father had instructed him to return them to work, or they would go “into the pot”, (I blame food prices)
An hour of bedlam ensued, with angry kittens disrupting my workflow and mensa candidates coming up with ideas about feeding them every two hours from various contraptions ranging from rubber gloves, syringes to condoms and intravenous drips, someone finally had the sense to call the RSPCA. Relieved that they could take them, I instructed the kitten guy to drive them down to Spring Garden before they starved to death.
8.30am
Had to lend my pickup to someone for most of the day, so being office bound I decided to use the time to plan and organize the next two weeks – installations and boring stuff like that, oh and did I forget to mention book my vacation!
9.30am
Nicha and I then had a fight with the office printer, because, (like one of those bad dreams), it kept spewing hundreds of duplicates of the previous days stuff out and the only way we could get it to stop was to unplug it. As soon as it was plugged in again it would come to life and start spewing again, resurrecting old completed print jobs!
Dave, the computer man came round and reconfigured the network and erased conflicting versions (or something like that), solving the issue.
Spent the rest of the morning doing routine admin stuff, made some calls, & dealt with enquiries.
13.30pm
Realised in horror that I had been abandoned without vehicle, and that there was no way to get any lunch! Using every last survival instinct I checked the GPS tracker to see if there were any spare fleet vehicles in the vicinity. Spotting a large truck that was not being used for the afternoon, I plotted my escape.
I phoned up the local gas station (which makes a rather yummy chicken wrap in “Tiger” Sauce), and thought I would introduce them to the concept of pre-ordering. To my amazement, it worked and upon my arrival I was treated to a smile, a girl asking if I phoned for a wrap, and very promptly, my food! I was stunned! This is the way to go!! To hell with queuing for flabby old junk food again!
14.00pm
My happy time-savings were sadly negated this afternoon. The frustration came from the USA, (or perhaps, a call centre in New Delhi). I had to order some memory for a Dell computer … My boss specifically wanted me to get the parts from Dell, for reasons I won’t go into. WELL – if you have never experienced the Dell hotline, you have a treat awaiting you …. NOT!
Ist call – after a series of computer voice questions, I was put on hold for at least 20 minutes without so much as a prompt to ask me if I wished to continue holding – I thought I had been cut off , but then tried to restore my faith in American service. OK that’s it – too long.
2nd attempt – went through the same endless list of questions about which department I really wanted from computer-animated voices – “if your call is concerning your service plan, press 1, if you wish to purchase printer peripherals press 2, if you wish to purchase a monitor, a diode, a fuse or a lead press 3, your call is important to us…”, and so on, so I waited the statutory 15 minutes and hung up
3rd call – got through within minutes (I had chosen the option to say I wanted to buy a new computer) …Relief! … only to find out that they no longer supported our 2001 computer with spare parts and that was that!
4th call – phoned one of those unheard of dotcom companies from Google and successfully placed my order in minutes for the part that I needed. Happiness!
15.30pm
Decided to destroy some expired product – We had to have photographic evidence in order to claim back. The boy inside came up with the scheme of driving over 80 odd cases of juice with a large truck!!
16.00pm
Lined the juices up, behind the back wheels of the vehicle. Well it was quite fun and the truck got stuck amongst the cases for a while, while I directed and filmed the scene with my video camera.
Spent the next hour and a half picking up 500 flattened half-full juice cartons, and became covered in a mixture of Grapefruit and Orange juice (fruit punch)? Was soaked up to my knees in sticky concentrate. Realized it would have been easier to have taken them to the landfill … but much less fun!
18.00pm
Hosed off feet, checked the filming came out OK, and drove home to bathe and launder my clothes!
Enjoyed listening to Mr. Wickham on the radio on the way home, who was discussing meat in China, Vegetarians, how Winston Hall (a more than once prison escapee) went vegetarian for a while and as a result developed special abilities to jump over big walls.
18.40pm
Read reminder about diary and jotted down some of the things that happened today.
19.00pm to 21.30pm
Had very nice Thai Marlin Curry with rice and pappodums, mango chutney and raita, followed by meringues and fresh cream.
Played a couple of rounds of Canasta, won the match and then went back to my apartment to continue with the day’s diary.
21.30pm onwards
Typed out diary entry, made some calls and watched the end of August Rush on the computer.
I'm outta here!
to maketodayhistory@gmail.com,
date Tue, May 6, 2008 at 11:38 PM
subject May 6th, 2008
hide details 11:38 PM (7 hours ago)
Reply
6.00am
Woke to the dreaded alarm, dreaming that I was an airline mechanic warning a pilot that his jumbo jet had serious maintenance issues and was likely to crash, but he decided that he had to stick to his schedule and took off anyway, and then about Britain being held to ransom because the Queen had been hijacked inside Parliament – pretty normal stuff.
6.10am
Switched off alarm and attempted to get back into the dream, which was far too interesting to leave
6.30am
2nd Alarm clock rang. Checked blogs, e-mails, downloads, Facebook, group updates etc.
7.10am
Drove to work and planned out the day and what I needed the team to get done
7.30am
One of the guys turned up for work with four un-weaned kittens! He had found them yesterday, completely abandoned under one of our containers, in a cardboard box and decided to take them home for his family. Unfortunately, after a night of unsuccessfully being able to nurse them, his father had instructed him to return them to work, or they would go “into the pot”, (I blame food prices)
An hour of bedlam ensued, with angry kittens disrupting my workflow and mensa candidates coming up with ideas about feeding them every two hours from various contraptions ranging from rubber gloves, syringes to condoms and intravenous drips, someone finally had the sense to call the RSPCA. Relieved that they could take them, I instructed the kitten guy to drive them down to Spring Garden before they starved to death.
8.30am
Had to lend my pickup to someone for most of the day, so being office bound I decided to use the time to plan and organize the next two weeks – installations and boring stuff like that, oh and did I forget to mention book my vacation!
9.30am
Nicha and I then had a fight with the office printer, because, (like one of those bad dreams), it kept spewing hundreds of duplicates of the previous days stuff out and the only way we could get it to stop was to unplug it. As soon as it was plugged in again it would come to life and start spewing again, resurrecting old completed print jobs!
Dave, the computer man came round and reconfigured the network and erased conflicting versions (or something like that), solving the issue.
Spent the rest of the morning doing routine admin stuff, made some calls, & dealt with enquiries.
13.30pm
Realised in horror that I had been abandoned without vehicle, and that there was no way to get any lunch! Using every last survival instinct I checked the GPS tracker to see if there were any spare fleet vehicles in the vicinity. Spotting a large truck that was not being used for the afternoon, I plotted my escape.
I phoned up the local gas station (which makes a rather yummy chicken wrap in “Tiger” Sauce), and thought I would introduce them to the concept of pre-ordering. To my amazement, it worked and upon my arrival I was treated to a smile, a girl asking if I phoned for a wrap, and very promptly, my food! I was stunned! This is the way to go!! To hell with queuing for flabby old junk food again!
14.00pm
My happy time-savings were sadly negated this afternoon. The frustration came from the USA, (or perhaps, a call centre in New Delhi). I had to order some memory for a Dell computer … My boss specifically wanted me to get the parts from Dell, for reasons I won’t go into. WELL – if you have never experienced the Dell hotline, you have a treat awaiting you …. NOT!
Ist call – after a series of computer voice questions, I was put on hold for at least 20 minutes without so much as a prompt to ask me if I wished to continue holding – I thought I had been cut off , but then tried to restore my faith in American service. OK that’s it – too long.
2nd attempt – went through the same endless list of questions about which department I really wanted from computer-animated voices – “if your call is concerning your service plan, press 1, if you wish to purchase printer peripherals press 2, if you wish to purchase a monitor, a diode, a fuse or a lead press 3, your call is important to us…”, and so on, so I waited the statutory 15 minutes and hung up
3rd call – got through within minutes (I had chosen the option to say I wanted to buy a new computer) …Relief! … only to find out that they no longer supported our 2001 computer with spare parts and that was that!
4th call – phoned one of those unheard of dotcom companies from Google and successfully placed my order in minutes for the part that I needed. Happiness!
15.30pm
Decided to destroy some expired product – We had to have photographic evidence in order to claim back. The boy inside came up with the scheme of driving over 80 odd cases of juice with a large truck!!
16.00pm
Lined the juices up, behind the back wheels of the vehicle. Well it was quite fun and the truck got stuck amongst the cases for a while, while I directed and filmed the scene with my video camera.
Spent the next hour and a half picking up 500 flattened half-full juice cartons, and became covered in a mixture of Grapefruit and Orange juice (fruit punch)? Was soaked up to my knees in sticky concentrate. Realized it would have been easier to have taken them to the landfill … but much less fun!
18.00pm
Hosed off feet, checked the filming came out OK, and drove home to bathe and launder my clothes!
Enjoyed listening to Mr. Wickham on the radio on the way home, who was discussing meat in China, Vegetarians, how Winston Hall (a more than once prison escapee) went vegetarian for a while and as a result developed special abilities to jump over big walls.
18.40pm
Read reminder about diary and jotted down some of the things that happened today.
19.00pm to 21.30pm
Had very nice Thai Marlin Curry with rice and pappodums, mango chutney and raita, followed by meringues and fresh cream.
Played a couple of rounds of Canasta, won the match and then went back to my apartment to continue with the day’s diary.
21.30pm onwards
Typed out diary entry, made some calls and watched the end of August Rush on the computer.
I'm outta here!
DIARY ENTRY 5
from B. R.
to
Ingrid Persaud,
cc Ingrid Persaud,
date Wed, May 7, 2008 at 6:44 PM
subject Re: i trust you are sending your diary any minute now... 6-5-2008
mailed-by gmail.com
hide details 6:44 PM (0 minutes ago)
Reply
CURRENTLY, I'M ON HOLIDAYS AT THE MOMENT WITH A TIGHTER BUDGET THAN I'D LIKE. I WAS GONNA GET THE CAR SERVICED TODAY BUT SPENT A LAZY DAY HOME INSTEAD.
CAUGHT UP ON MY E-MAILS AND DID SOME BLOGGING TOO. PAUSED TO TENDERISE AND SEASON SOME PORK CHOPS FOR THE FAMILY DINNER, RUBBED IN NOT ONLY TENDERISER BUT A SPECIAL SPICE CALLED "PORK RUB," AND TO WITH THE CHOPS I DECIDED ON TRYING SOME PRE-PACKAGED SCALLOPED POTATOES I BOUGHT FROM CARLTON THE OTHER DAY.
WENT BACK TO "THE MATRIX" AS MY WIFE SEES ME WHEN I GO ON THE NET UNTIL ABOUT 2:00 PM TO STOP AND WASH THE DISHES AND LOOK AS THOUGH I AM A GOOD HOUSEHUSBAND BEFORE SHE GETS HOME FROM WORK. (HER VACATION WAS TO BE WITH ME, BUT IT GOT CANCELLED TO ENSURE SHE LEARNT A NEW COMPUTER SYSTEM, THAT'S WHY I HATE THE HOTEL INDUSTRY - SHIFTS CHANGE TOO MUCH)
DINNER WAS WEIRD IN THIS SENSE, MY STEP-DAUGHTER CLAIMS SHE DID NOT WANT ANY PORK - BUT SHE EATS HAM AND MIXED SAUSAGE - SO HER MOTHER FED HER SOME PIECES TO TRY OUT.
THAT WAS WEIRD FROM MANY LEVELS, SHE IS AN ADULT BEING TREATED LIKE A BABY, MY STEP-DAUGHTER ALSO HAS A CHILD OF HER OWN THAT SHE WAS BOTTLE-FEEDING AT THE SAME TIME. SO THERE IT WAS - FEEDING AS FEEDING HAPPENS, ALMOST LIKE A RUSSIAN BABOOTCHKA DOLL THAT OPENS TO INFINITY.
AS IT IS, ALL THE FAMILY ENJOYED MY MEAL - THE POTATOES WITH THE CHOPS THAT WERE SAUTEED IN RUM & OLIVE OIL. THE GRAVY IN TURN GRILLING SOME ONIONS AND MUSHROOMS. A VERY DECENT MEAL IN ALL, NOW A LUXURY WITH RISING COSTS - SOON MAY HAVE TO GROW TOMATOES, POTATOES AND EAT SNAILS!
MENTIONED IT THE OTHER DAY TO SAME WIFE AND STEP-DAUGHTER AND THEY LOOKED AT ME LIKE I'M FRANKENSTEIN!
AFTER TUESDAY'S SUMPTUOUS REPAST, DID THE TYPICAL CARIBBEAN THING OF DOZING 'TIL ABOUT 11:00 PM JUST IN TIME TO SWITCH ON MY MCTV AND CHECK MUSICIAN STEVE WINWOOD ON DAVID LETTERMAN'S TALK SHOW (WHY DO THEY NEVER INTERVIEW THE MUSICIAN AT THE END? THEY'RE ALL GUILTY OF THAT, LENO/ DAVE/ CONAN AND THE OTHER CRAIG) AND CALL IT A FULL DAY...
***
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to
Ingrid Persaud
cc Ingrid Persaud
date Wed, May 7, 2008 at 6:44 PM
subject Re: i trust you are sending your diary any minute now... 6-5-2008
mailed-by gmail.com
hide details 6:44 PM (0 minutes ago)
Reply
CURRENTLY, I'M ON HOLIDAYS AT THE MOMENT WITH A TIGHTER BUDGET THAN I'D LIKE. I WAS GONNA GET THE CAR SERVICED TODAY BUT SPENT A LAZY DAY HOME INSTEAD.
CAUGHT UP ON MY E-MAILS AND DID SOME BLOGGING TOO. PAUSED TO TENDERISE AND SEASON SOME PORK CHOPS FOR THE FAMILY DINNER, RUBBED IN NOT ONLY TENDERISER BUT A SPECIAL SPICE CALLED "PORK RUB," AND TO WITH THE CHOPS I DECIDED ON TRYING SOME PRE-PACKAGED SCALLOPED POTATOES I BOUGHT FROM CARLTON THE OTHER DAY.
WENT BACK TO "THE MATRIX" AS MY WIFE SEES ME WHEN I GO ON THE NET UNTIL ABOUT 2:00 PM TO STOP AND WASH THE DISHES AND LOOK AS THOUGH I AM A GOOD HOUSEHUSBAND BEFORE SHE GETS HOME FROM WORK. (HER VACATION WAS TO BE WITH ME, BUT IT GOT CANCELLED TO ENSURE SHE LEARNT A NEW COMPUTER SYSTEM, THAT'S WHY I HATE THE HOTEL INDUSTRY - SHIFTS CHANGE TOO MUCH)
DINNER WAS WEIRD IN THIS SENSE, MY STEP-DAUGHTER CLAIMS SHE DID NOT WANT ANY PORK - BUT SHE EATS HAM AND MIXED SAUSAGE - SO HER MOTHER FED HER SOME PIECES TO TRY OUT.
THAT WAS WEIRD FROM MANY LEVELS, SHE IS AN ADULT BEING TREATED LIKE A BABY, MY STEP-DAUGHTER ALSO HAS A CHILD OF HER OWN THAT SHE WAS BOTTLE-FEEDING AT THE SAME TIME. SO THERE IT WAS - FEEDING AS FEEDING HAPPENS, ALMOST LIKE A RUSSIAN BABOOTCHKA DOLL THAT OPENS TO INFINITY.
AS IT IS, ALL THE FAMILY ENJOYED MY MEAL - THE POTATOES WITH THE CHOPS THAT WERE SAUTEED IN RUM & OLIVE OIL. THE GRAVY IN TURN GRILLING SOME ONIONS AND MUSHROOMS. A VERY DECENT MEAL IN ALL, NOW A LUXURY WITH RISING COSTS - SOON MAY HAVE TO GROW TOMATOES, POTATOES AND EAT SNAILS!
MENTIONED IT THE OTHER DAY TO SAME WIFE AND STEP-DAUGHTER AND THEY LOOKED AT ME LIKE I'M FRANKENSTEIN!
AFTER TUESDAY'S SUMPTUOUS REPAST, DID THE TYPICAL CARIBBEAN THING OF DOZING 'TIL ABOUT 11:00 PM JUST IN TIME TO SWITCH ON MY MCTV AND CHECK MUSICIAN STEVE WINWOOD ON DAVID LETTERMAN'S TALK SHOW (WHY DO THEY NEVER INTERVIEW THE MUSICIAN AT THE END? THEY'RE ALL GUILTY OF THAT, LENO/ DAVE/ CONAN AND THE OTHER CRAIG) AND CALL IT A FULL DAY...
***
Le présent message, ainsi que tout fichier qui y est joint, est envoyé à l'intention exclusive de son ou de ses destinataires; il est de nature confidentielle et peut constituer une information privilégiée. Nous avertissons toute personne autre que le destinataire prévu que tout examen, réacheminement, impression, copie, distribution ou autre utilisation de ce message et de tout fichier qui y est joint est strictement interdit.
Si vous n'êtes pas le destinataire prévu, veuillez en aviser immédiatement l'expéditeur par retour de courriel et supprimer ce message et tout document joint de votre système.
Sauf indication contraire, les opinions exprimées dans le présent message sont celles de l'auteur et ne sont pas avalisées par l'employeur de l'auteur.
DIARY ENTRY 4
from A. D.
to maketodayhistory@gmail.com,
date Wed, May 7, 2008 at 10:03 PM
subject Fwd: an ordinary day
mailed-by gmail.com
hide details 10:03 PM (14 minutes ago)
Reply
5.15am - Oh God! It's not that time already....just a few more minutes.........
6.20am - Oh Shit! It's 6.20 already and Helen is doing the school run...she's often early! Cathal, quick get up.....help me!
(He continues to snore.)
It's Tuesday morning and I run into Seamus' room telling him to quickly get up and come downstairs for breakfast. I wake up Vandana,
who has taken to sleeping with a coconut who also needs to be fed this morning, and be brought to the table with her blanket! God help us all...
6.30am At the breakfast table...guiltily serving boxed cereal instead of my tradition of freshly cut fruit in little Earthworks bowls
with the small gold plated pineapple spoons the kids like to use in the morning...and something else a little more nutritious which helps to make me feel like a
more responsible mother....they'll survive....
Finally they're both out the door, in full uniform with lunch boxes packed and backpack or reading book.
7.00am Have on my walking shoes and I am ready to get my bit of exercise since I don't do the drive to school this morning. I love this time. On my own,
still cool enough. Out the gap of the dairy and up the road through Workmans....past homes mostly closed up, everyone off to work and school already.
Twnety minutes into the walk, I decide to go through a field and pick up at least a hundred burrs on my shoes and socks....the field is beautiful and large and green.
I can't see anyone. It's just me, the grass and the wind. I get to the cartroad and walk past a small wooded area with the shak shak trees making the most marvelous sounds,
rattling away against a sky which is now growing darker. Remembering last night's event - the launch of Phillip Nanton's CD Island Voices at the Waterfront cafe and thinking how wonderful the performance was...felt like Barbados actually had a buzz and a bit of a scene...
It will rain.
I can hear it coming....I love that...seeing it and hearing it - feeling excited that I am going to get rained upon.
Keep going, heading in a westerly direction now...the rain falls on my back.
Going past the shrivelling up pond with ducks facing the rain, pushing their chests out, all lined up together.
Past the lonely stallion, past the cows....walking, raining, feeling cool and sweet and exhilarated.
Down the road, up a grassy hill and home again...breath is short. Feel energised. Knees hurt a bit.
7.45am Hot shower and shampoo.
8.00am Breakfast - herbal tea, pineapple, whole grain bread with home made delicious, mango jam. Yum!
8.20am. Turn on the computer. Check emails. Respond. Try to figure out, unsuccessfully, the website which is supposed to be an idiot proof
guide to build your own Business Plan. Can't figure it out...dark realisation...I must be the idiot. General administrative work on the computer which
keeps me out of the studio where I really should be.
Cathal checks the TV off and on to see what the debate is re Barack and Hillary fighting for North Carolina and Indianna. Media seems to be suggesting that Hillary has a figthing chance....I can't handle anything other than Barack winning....get irritated by ANY anti-Barack sentiments and interact with the televsion from time to time.
Around noon...have lunch with Cathal....
to maketodayhistory@gmail.com,
date Wed, May 7, 2008 at 10:03 PM
subject Fwd: an ordinary day
mailed-by gmail.com
hide details 10:03 PM (14 minutes ago)
Reply
5.15am - Oh God! It's not that time already....just a few more minutes.........
6.20am - Oh Shit! It's 6.20 already and Helen is doing the school run...she's often early! Cathal, quick get up.....help me!
(He continues to snore.)
It's Tuesday morning and I run into Seamus' room telling him to quickly get up and come downstairs for breakfast. I wake up Vandana,
who has taken to sleeping with a coconut who also needs to be fed this morning, and be brought to the table with her blanket! God help us all...
6.30am At the breakfast table...guiltily serving boxed cereal instead of my tradition of freshly cut fruit in little Earthworks bowls
with the small gold plated pineapple spoons the kids like to use in the morning...and something else a little more nutritious which helps to make me feel like a
more responsible mother....they'll survive....
Finally they're both out the door, in full uniform with lunch boxes packed and backpack or reading book.
7.00am Have on my walking shoes and I am ready to get my bit of exercise since I don't do the drive to school this morning. I love this time. On my own,
still cool enough. Out the gap of the dairy and up the road through Workmans....past homes mostly closed up, everyone off to work and school already.
Twnety minutes into the walk, I decide to go through a field and pick up at least a hundred burrs on my shoes and socks....the field is beautiful and large and green.
I can't see anyone. It's just me, the grass and the wind. I get to the cartroad and walk past a small wooded area with the shak shak trees making the most marvelous sounds,
rattling away against a sky which is now growing darker. Remembering last night's event - the launch of Phillip Nanton's CD Island Voices at the Waterfront cafe and thinking how wonderful the performance was...felt like Barbados actually had a buzz and a bit of a scene...
It will rain.
I can hear it coming....I love that...seeing it and hearing it - feeling excited that I am going to get rained upon.
Keep going, heading in a westerly direction now...the rain falls on my back.
Going past the shrivelling up pond with ducks facing the rain, pushing their chests out, all lined up together.
Past the lonely stallion, past the cows....walking, raining, feeling cool and sweet and exhilarated.
Down the road, up a grassy hill and home again...breath is short. Feel energised. Knees hurt a bit.
7.45am Hot shower and shampoo.
8.00am Breakfast - herbal tea, pineapple, whole grain bread with home made delicious, mango jam. Yum!
8.20am. Turn on the computer. Check emails. Respond. Try to figure out, unsuccessfully, the website which is supposed to be an idiot proof
guide to build your own Business Plan. Can't figure it out...dark realisation...I must be the idiot. General administrative work on the computer which
keeps me out of the studio where I really should be.
Cathal checks the TV off and on to see what the debate is re Barack and Hillary fighting for North Carolina and Indianna. Media seems to be suggesting that Hillary has a figthing chance....I can't handle anything other than Barack winning....get irritated by ANY anti-Barack sentiments and interact with the televsion from time to time.
Around noon...have lunch with Cathal....
DIARY ENTRY 3
from A. T.
to maketodayhistory@gmail.com,
date Tue, May 6, 2008 at 11:53 PM
subject re: diary
mailed-by gmail.com
hide details 11:53 PM (7 hours ago)
Reply
A Record of My Day - May 6th, 2008
Barking dogs woke me up at 5:30 which was very annoying because I didn't want to wake up until 6.
Woke my daughter Isabella up, showered. Had coffee, an orange and bagel.
Raced out the door by 7:25 with Isabella, her large cardboard box rumshop art project she has laboured over for the past week, picked up the two boys next door and drove to school. Dropped the kids off and went to work - Div of Fine Art, BCC
Arrived by 8:00 - only me and the guards and a few students. Portfolio exhibition opens in 2 days so things are chaotic - lots of painting, construction, moving around, sending out invitations (still!!). Also interviewed incoming students for next year. Read through College Art Assoc. call for papers - deadline is Friday!! I've been telling myself to look at this for the past month!
Picked Isabella up after work and took her home. Had a pita sandwich with cheese and vegies. Wrote a draft for the CAA proposal.
7 pm - Went to Artist's Club at Lancaster House - first time I had gone. Artist in residence Natalie Buongiorno was speaking about her work - very nice portraits of Lancaster crew - Roger Chubb, VIrginia etc, and a self-portrait - with embroidered snakes - representing the seven deadly sins. Then Eva Campbell gave a painting demonstration - portrait painting. She had asked me to model for the session - she did a great job, chatted the whole way through the session - good fun.
Drove Eva home, got home about 10:30. Chatted with Jessica (eldest daughter) on the computer for 20 minutes, did some work, wrote my diary!!
Can't wait to get into bed!
to maketodayhistory@gmail.com,
date Tue, May 6, 2008 at 11:53 PM
subject re: diary
mailed-by gmail.com
hide details 11:53 PM (7 hours ago)
Reply
A Record of My Day - May 6th, 2008
Barking dogs woke me up at 5:30 which was very annoying because I didn't want to wake up until 6.
Woke my daughter Isabella up, showered. Had coffee, an orange and bagel.
Raced out the door by 7:25 with Isabella, her large cardboard box rumshop art project she has laboured over for the past week, picked up the two boys next door and drove to school. Dropped the kids off and went to work - Div of Fine Art, BCC
Arrived by 8:00 - only me and the guards and a few students. Portfolio exhibition opens in 2 days so things are chaotic - lots of painting, construction, moving around, sending out invitations (still!!). Also interviewed incoming students for next year. Read through College Art Assoc. call for papers - deadline is Friday!! I've been telling myself to look at this for the past month!
Picked Isabella up after work and took her home. Had a pita sandwich with cheese and vegies. Wrote a draft for the CAA proposal.
7 pm - Went to Artist's Club at Lancaster House - first time I had gone. Artist in residence Natalie Buongiorno was speaking about her work - very nice portraits of Lancaster crew - Roger Chubb, VIrginia etc, and a self-portrait - with embroidered snakes - representing the seven deadly sins. Then Eva Campbell gave a painting demonstration - portrait painting. She had asked me to model for the session - she did a great job, chatted the whole way through the session - good fun.
Drove Eva home, got home about 10:30. Chatted with Jessica (eldest daughter) on the computer for 20 minutes, did some work, wrote my diary!!
Can't wait to get into bed!
DIARY ENTRY 2
from A. C.
to maketodayhistory@gmail.com,
date Tue, May 6, 2008 at 9:20 PM
subject Fw: art project - need your participation please
hide details 9:20 PM (1 hour ago)
Reply
here is my diary entry for 6th. I write one day behind so its mostly Monday really. 600 words seem very optimistic, This took me 3 hours to type out.
ACA
6. 5. 08 Tuesday
Two sheep, loosed, lost, wander in the lawn in front . The black-belly sheep are very elegant.
Maddy ( my landlady) says Barbara's funeral in London is 11.30 tomorrow. Adam, Bonny and Liesha are flying up tonight. Kathleen ( my helper) says people spend 5 minutes in silence , if they can’t go to the funeral. Never heard of that . It will be 6.30am here though.
Sarah and Coral took me to Waterfront Cafe. We parked on a near empty wharf So I’d be near, while all the road up to the vicious pink Liquidation Centre, was full of cars.
Philip Nanton launched a CD of monologues called Island voices. These performed by Patrick Foster, Kaye Foster, Lauralin Hutchinson, and Phillip and a young black actor, Simon Alleyne, all amazing especially Patrick.
It started with two on after hurricane Ivan . I remember seeing him in a wet but intact Grenada airport on the Friday. He was teaching at the offshore University and all the American students were waiting to get out too. "They should have stayed and helped" said Jean. But by then food and water were getting short and I anyway felt guilty. Really I was afraid I'd never get home.
Bought a CD $40.
Saw Therese, (Hadchity director of Zemicon Gallery)
the raku wall plaque in the Juliana Innes exhibition
that Id decided I now wanted and Emailed her in the morning had been sold on the closed day at the gallery.
Finished the Monoprints at last for Barbadiana. Did number 5 "the foot ", the left foot. Sarah came to pay rent earlier & sang "Someday your prince will come" from the film Cinderella. Doesn't work well when written down , its prints/prince. She likes puns.
ACA
to maketodayhistory@gmail.com,
date Tue, May 6, 2008 at 9:20 PM
subject Fw: art project - need your participation please
hide details 9:20 PM (1 hour ago)
Reply
here is my diary entry for 6th. I write one day behind so its mostly Monday really. 600 words seem very optimistic, This took me 3 hours to type out.
ACA
6. 5. 08 Tuesday
Two sheep, loosed, lost, wander in the lawn in front . The black-belly sheep are very elegant.
Maddy ( my landlady) says Barbara's funeral in London is 11.30 tomorrow. Adam, Bonny and Liesha are flying up tonight. Kathleen ( my helper) says people spend 5 minutes in silence , if they can’t go to the funeral. Never heard of that . It will be 6.30am here though.
Sarah and Coral took me to Waterfront Cafe. We parked on a near empty wharf So I’d be near, while all the road up to the vicious pink Liquidation Centre, was full of cars.
Philip Nanton launched a CD of monologues called Island voices. These performed by Patrick Foster, Kaye Foster, Lauralin Hutchinson, and Phillip and a young black actor, Simon Alleyne, all amazing especially Patrick.
It started with two on after hurricane Ivan . I remember seeing him in a wet but intact Grenada airport on the Friday. He was teaching at the offshore University and all the American students were waiting to get out too. "They should have stayed and helped" said Jean. But by then food and water were getting short and I anyway felt guilty. Really I was afraid I'd never get home.
Bought a CD $40.
Saw Therese, (Hadchity director of Zemicon Gallery)
the raku wall plaque in the Juliana Innes exhibition
that Id decided I now wanted and Emailed her in the morning had been sold on the closed day at the gallery.
Finished the Monoprints at last for Barbadiana. Did number 5 "the foot ", the left foot. Sarah came to pay rent earlier & sang "Someday your prince will come" from the film Cinderella. Doesn't work well when written down , its prints/prince. She likes puns.
ACA
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