Etcetera continued

They Never Tell You Everything...

Do they deliberately withhold information or are they just inefficient, or do they assume I know?  I can't even guess.  Here are a few examples:

FedEx should have told me what to expect in the way of extra duty and taxes.  The woman at the beginning of the chain of people I had to deal with clearly knew. When I went in to tell her, she only confirmed it all.

We have several old rusty stoves and metal chairs in the yard that I have been after Solid Waste to come and take away.  For weeks the  Solid Waste office would only say that they would let me know when the truck was coming, or they couldn't pick up the stuff at all.  Finally, someone told me to go to the Town Council, that that was the correct place. I went.  the woman at the desk took the information.  No one ever came.  I went to the Town Council several times and was always told that they had the information.  On my visit to the office 2 weeks ago she said, "But you never paid".  I kicked myself.  Of course! I should have known that there was a fee. When I looked at her and asked but why didn't you tell me weeks ago, she only looked puzzled and didn't answer.  I was happy to pay for it and was promised that the truck would come the following week.  Fool that I am, I believed her.  No truck.  McD saw the truck driver last week and he assured McD that he would come on Wednesday.  No truck.  There is no point in going back to the Town Council with the receipt.   The truck will come in its own time and the stuff will be taken away.  That is life in Dominica.  

I went to the Georgetown Health Center again today to get the results of the giardia test and get my permit.  They couldn't find the report.  Same as last week.  This time I went back and forth from the receptionist to the nurse to the environmental health officer.  Luckily they are all in the same building.  The nurse called the lab,  They hadn't sent the report in the last batch but they did tell her it was negative and to go ahead and process me.  Phew.  No giardia.  But no card either! Environmental Health didn't bring any! Why?  Wednesday is their day at the health center for the food handlers.  I have to go back next Wednesday to pick it up.  Wednesday is the baby clinic and is very crowded with mothers, infants and children up to 4 years old.  I wait my turn in line with them all.

Everything is in its own time.

On  Sunday we caught Smiley, a street person, dumping someone's garbage on our beach.  Smiley is the same guy who was sleeping on our veranda.  McD, EBoy, and I went after him shouting and yelling.  He dumped the garbage and ran, shouting invective back at us

Yesterday the police came to the Bar because they had information that Jeff, whom they had been looking for for a while, was there.  Someone else in the Bar warned Jeff who took off, jumped over our sea fence ran along the seawall, and disappeared

I don't think we'll be seeing Smiley or Jeff for a while!

Etcetera

 One week after Carnival and all is back to normal.  Usual traffic, usual heat, usual street noises, usual folk, usual disasters, usual wilted vegetables in the market, usual shortages. All is well.

A few updates:  

The iPhone is fully functional.  The aching shoulder has its off and on days, McD gave his daughter $$$ for the dentist and she canceled all her appointments.  He is out some money.  I told him to pay the dentist directly, but nooooo!

The piles on the beach are still there and being added to by the vendors on the Square.  I hope it is drying out so NEP or someone can move it.  Maybe burn it?  The sea will take it back in the next storm, but this is the Karam, the dry season, so no storms for months.

New sample has just been delivered to the lab and I will get giardia results by week's end.  I have had some side normal effects to the medication, lethargy and upset intestinal system mostly, but back on track now.  

At this moment, Bef is scrubbing some really nice heavy iron pots and pans  that I found and EBoy is sweeping up the dried fallen leaves from the yard.  The dogs are sleeping in the shade behind the house. Nice west breeze coming in off the ocean.

My complaint is that I am finding stairs, getting up from a sitting position, and carrying stuff increasingly troubling.  I used to be so graceful and strong.    Balance is wonky too.  I feel that I go tottering down the street like a drunken sailor!  and slow. I don't like this at all.

I cant get photos from the tablets to this laptop.  I would like to attach photos to these blogs

'til next time

STORMS, CARVIVAL, HEN

 Early February started off with a tropical depression extreme weather,  Cold, pouring, drenching rain, Sahara Dust, very high angry seas, and sailboats tossed ashore. Almost 5 days of this,  By Carnival time it was over, leaving our beach with 3 meters  of ocean debris, large logs, and uprooted coconut trees, garbage, a smelly mess and no interesting driftwood.

Then came pre-carnival week with its own kind of storm....noise, relentless, thumping, pounding, stultifying, mindless noise.  I will not honour it with the word "music", although this is what the local people call it.  It is a computer-driven rhythm only, which I guess is what is required. The Saturday before Carnival Monday's 5 am Jouvert, the guy with the Bar on the Square had his amplifier on overdrive until 3 am.

I managed all of it, including McD's multiple preparations and worries,  and had Hen and Mait on standby in case of my collapse.  By the time the band and its revelers came around again, I knew my breakdown was coming so I called my team.  Hen arranged to pick me up.  Tracy turned up and we went  to meet Hen.

Hen lives below the school playground in Savanne Paille.  She has made the little house, (formerly owned by Annika) her own. Lovely, peaceful, calming. She graciously installed me in her downstairs fully equipped apartment, fed me a delicious supper, we chatted a bit, smoked a cigarette, and watched the sunset.  I slept, for 12 hours, doors and windows wide open, (McD's marauding evil spirits or mosquitos were not present), awoke restored and comforted and came home to Portsmouth.

At the moment it is far from quiet.  The truck with amplifiers as big as refrigerators is parked outside my veranda.  The poor old house is throbbing and things are jumping off the walls and shelves.  I came home too soon.

BUSY

Well, January might have been quiet but February started off with boom.  Nothing special just all at once.

Preparations for Carnival are underway.  The Kubuli (beer) truck just delivered 7 cases, now we have to buy couple of cases of Carib and Heineken.  Macoucherie is short on cask rum.  There are no cigarettes, only Dunhill. 

Very few tourists, and they are not spending!

The Vet came today, and the dogs are spayed and neutered.   The dogs are recovering and are hung over from the anesthetic.  They will sleep it off.  The process cost 350 EC dollars -  about $175 Canadian for the two. MUCH cheaper than Canada.  All done on the tables outside, under the almond trees.  No fancy animal hospital. No vaccine though.  There is no vaccine on the Island.  Soon they will go and stay at the farm and chase off the agouti and goats. They are expensive.  I cook big pots of dog rice and chicken neck for them.  Ugh.  I won't be sorry to see them  go.  Feeding them, making sure they have water and cleaning up after them are jobs I don't want.  They are McD's dogs.  He will do all this but in his own timeless kind of time, if you know what I mean.   No routine.  Meanwhile, I end up worrying about them and doing the dog chores.

McD's daughter has a problem with a bad tooth.  They are at the dentist in Roseau at the moment. I'm very sure she needs a lot of work on her teeth.  He will get an assessment, I hope.

I could not get my food handlers permit.  My test was positive for the giardia worm, a microscopic intestinal parasite common in the tropics.  I am completely asymtomatic! I am taking the prescribed medication, then retest in 3 weeks.  McDowell's test was negative because he purged the night before giving his sample.   I would have had a negative result too if I had also flushed.  Because his test was negative, he got his permit.  Good.

The iPhone is held up at customs.  They want 350EC to release it to me.  I won't have the money until next week.  I really only want it for the camera.  

No news at all from the lawyer about the status of the claim to this property.  It will be a year in May. 

McDowell is managing two properties for his friend Vans.  This involves me as I am the line of communication.  I don't mind, but it is time-consuming 

Stupid Microsoft keeps telling me that I don't have any more storage space and trying to scare me into buying protection from all the evil spirits out there.   They have about 3 different names for the same thing, I don't know what they are talking about.  A nuisance. 

Then there are the on-going expenses, work, and life.........but things are good     😄

Oh, and I should mention that all of this was with a very painful left shoulder and upper arm.  The doctor and I can't get seem to get a handle on it.  The ultrasound does tell us that there is no tear or damage, but some swelling of the long tendon, and I have the full range of motion.  I don't want any more steroids.  800mg of ibuprofen, 400 in the morning, and 400 at bedtime keep it quiet enough.  It is a very strange thing, seems to be worse at night and lying down.  Time and rest are what it needs. Maybe arthritis.   

 

THE NORTHERN LINK

My friend Hen and her visiting friend Annemarie, Ernard, McDowell, and I hired Henrik and his van and took our favourite road trip known as The Northern Link.  It connects the west coast and the east coast of the island along the north coast.  It climbs over Morne Aux Diables (2,826ft) and has stunning views both north to Guadeloupe and Les Saintes, and south across  Portsmouth to Morne Espagnol.  The summit is the crater of a dormant volcano.   

The weather was cool, and as we headed to Penville and Vielle Case became quite misty.  We drove through the clouds and decided not to stop and take the ten-minute easy hike in to see the Cold Soufriere where the sulfur bubbles up through the rocks.  We did stop by the side of the road to view the truly awesome verdant mountains and valleys.  On to Pointe Michel and the Chocolate Factory. There Allan Napier grows and makes the best chocolate anywhere.  We were graciously welcomed, given a tour, and shown the process - from tree to pod to bean to drying to curing to bar.  Annemarie bought several bars to take home to the UK.  I bought myself a large bar of ginger chocolate.

Then we headed to the village of Calibishie, walked around a bit, had a lovely leisurely lunch by the rolling Atlantic Ocean, and watched a man out in the ocean collecting winkles (wigo in patois).

From there we drove to Bense and spent some time there.  Both McDowell and Henrik knew everyone and were warmly greeted.   We had intended to go from there to the Chaudiere Pool but decided that since the road was all chewed up by the big trucks working at the new airport site, and we were tired and satiated by the overwhelming scenery we would save it for another trip.

Home to Portsmouth, well satisfied with our day and the outing.

AN ARTIFACT

 Hans and I would have been married for 60 years when he died last summer.  We lived together, as a couple, for 45 of those 60 years.  We were married in the Hampstead registry office in London, July 26, 1963.  We exchanged wide gold wedding bands as was the custom of the times.  He never wore his.  I dont know where it is.  I didn't see it, or find it when I was there.  I did find mine. I had taken it off when I moved to Dominica and left it at home in Perth.

But some years before that, as my finger knuckles were swelling and knotting and becoming arthritic I had to get it cut off.  I could not get it past my now misshapen ring finger knuckle.  Steve, a local artisan goldsmith fashioned a little hinge and catch on it, so I could open it wide and then clip it on.  I wore it like this, safely, for years after, until I  took it off and left it in the Brooke Valley house. Then when I was home this past summer to say goodbye to Hans I found it and put it back on.  I don't know why, we had hardly even talked to each other for the last ten years, but it seemed the right thing to do and I was comfortable doing it. So I kept it on my finger when I came back. 

 After months of gardening, swimming in the sea, hauling stuff around, washing dishes, etc it never opened or slipped.   A couple of days ago I was feeding the dogs in the pouring rain and they were jumping up on me, night was falling.  I had slippery sandals on.  Down I went, onto the muddy cement path, scraped my knees, and had a hard time getting up as the dogs had me all tangled up in their rope.  That evening I noticed that the ring was not on my finger. The catch must have snapped open when I fell. 

I was more surprised at the emotion I felt when I saw it was gone than the fact that it was gone and that I had lost it. Sad.  I figured  I had lost it forever.   How could it not be gone in the rain, and mud, with mad dogs about?  A hunk of 18-carat gold.  I wrote it off.  No point in worrying about it, or grieving its loss.

The next morning dawned dry and sunny,  I went out with my coconut broom to clean up the path where I had fallen down. Sweeping, sweeping, sweeping......and there it was.... lying alone, clean, open, waiting to be found and put back on.

I haven't put it on.  It is safely put away with my other gold jewelry.  An artifact from another life.

A Quiet January '24

I have tried several times over the past week to write something but not much has happened or is happening. 

Christmas and New Year have come and gone.  Carnival opening in  Portsmouth has come and gone and was a success.  We are now awaiting Carnival itself.  I hope to have my iPhone back and camera working by then.

People have been lost at sea, murdered, died, gotten sick, and gone back to the UK, USA, and Canada in the past few months.  Petty thievery abounds. At the same time, people have continued the struggle, survived, and revived.  Dominican resilience has shown itself to be as strong as ever. New friends have been made and there have been some minor successes. 

Today's small success is that I called the vet and actually got him, and spoke to him on the first attempt,  The dogs are growing and are quite big, although not yet fully grown, and haven't been vaccinated.  I am nervous that the female will get pregnant, she needs to be spayed, and the male needs to be neutered. I have procrastinated about calling the Vet because I just knew it would be a frustrating hassle.  But an hour ago I had an inspiration!  Call NOW the 'voice' said.  So I did.  I got the Agricultural Station on the first try, the woman was pleasant and gave me the Vet's number.  I called, and he answered!  I said I am looking for Bryan the Vet, and he said, "Well, darling, you found him."  Great start.  He then told me that there is no vaccine on the Island, but a shipment is expected next week and he will come with it.  I hung up, happy, surprised, and feeling victorious.

The tourist season has been very slow. Shops, street vendors, bars and restaurants, guest houses, and tour guides are struggling. We have managed reasonably well.  I believe this because McDowell does not rely on the tourist trade. McDowell's patrons are local folk.  He cooks an inexpensive, thick, tasty, generous, savory broth (fish or chicken or vegetable) filled with rice, lentils or kidney beans,  green bananas, plantain, dasheen, breadfruit or noodles, and, of course, rum and beer.  He will also make a filling egg and cheese sandwich for you.  Fish in his coconut sauce with trimmings and side dishes and a garden salad is a specialty and a little more expensive (not enough, I say) No fancy lobster dinners.

It has been cold 27 degrees C during the day and 22 C degrees at night. Rainy, Rain and cool temperatures are good for the rum trade!  Portsmouth is dark and quiet at night.  Nothing is open, no one is on the street.  Quite odd.

Note.  I have been using the word 'easy' to describe life in Dominica.  That is the wrong word,  It is not easy to live here.  First of all, this is an island.  If you didn't bring it, it isn't here,  If it is here it rusts, corrodes, tears, won't work, or you have to go to several different shops to get what you need.  Exhausting.  A much more appropriate word would be 'simple'.  Simple, because there is very little choice or it is just not available.