In the short time it’s been operating, I’ve been getting some interesting feedback from readers of The Good Life column.
Among them was an exuberant lady named Susan Ebanks I met in Butterfield Bank one day – this was shortly after I did a piece on the good things about life here that we should see as worth money, or at least appreciate.
Said the young lady: ‘You know what I appreciate? Coming in the bank like now and you don’t have that long line to deal with; I feel like I got a bonus.’ Actually, I never thought of it before, but Susan is right; that short line, especially post-Ivan, feels sweet. Next time you’re in one, give thanks for your good fortune.
Another lady called me up to say she was very happy with the Environmental Health folks who have been coming around to her yard during this anti-mealybug drive. ‘These guys are so thorough and professional – they take the time to explain what they’re doing,’ she said. ‘Between them and the guys from the Agriculture Department, you feel they have things under control.’
Barefoot Man (by the way, he’s frequently in shoes these days) took time from counting cassette sales to say he never stops appreciating the good life here. ‘Almost every morning I sit in my house at Breakers, enjoying the beach view, and I almost have to pinch myself that I’m living here with all that beauty.’
A fellow from Trinidad made the point that the George Town Hospital staff at the Dental Clinic show a lot of care by calling the day before your appointment to remind you to be there. He’s right.
Think about it: calls to remind you of an appointment? Are you kidding? The usual pattern is that most businesses don’t remind you of an appointment, but when you miss one, they want to send you a bill for not showing up.
After a column mentioning the aloes plant in Bodden Town decorated with egg shells, Andrew Guthrie, the manager of the Botanic Park, phoned to enlighten me.
After he politely pointed out that I had the plant wrong – it’s an agave, not aloe – Andrew explained that putting egg shells on thorny plants is an Hispanic practice based on the belief that it helps to ward off misfortune. He says he’s seen it in several places in the Caribbean and that it is a practice that goes back to the Arawaks.
Another reader pointed out that it’s a safety measure; the tips of those leaves are needle-sharp. (Come to think of it, if that’s the case, why have the plant in the first place?)
The column about the things you see on cruise days resonated with a lot of folks. A lady cab-driver took time to tell me about a recent incident with a taxi driver on Harbour Drive.
Apparently, an older visitor on one of those mobility scooters (those battery-driven three-wheelers) fell off crossing the street on a busy cruise-ship day, and the cab driver got out of his car to help her. Unfortunately, by the time he got back to his vehicle, a cop was writing him a ticket for blocking the street. Despite the taxi driver’s Good Samaritan explanations, the officer proceeded to write the ticket. What’s your name; the driver told him. What’s your address; the driver told him. Then the policeman paused, looked around, clearly embarrassed, leaned closer to the taxi driver and said, ‘What’s the name of this street?’ The lady who told me this story said, ‘Left to me, I wouldn’t have told him.’ (I wanted to quote her by name, but she balked. ‘No man. You do that, he’ll probably write me a ticket, too.’)
If you think about those incidents, they demonstrate that the apparently inconsequential things in life aren’t inconsequential at all – people are noticing them.
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