comes together for cricket, chowder and celebration.

This year should be no different. People will spend the weekend at "the game'', on the beaches, out at sea or relaxing at home.

This time of year has a greater meaning as well, marking the anniversary of the emancipation of slavery and the permanent settlement of Bermuda -- which was celebrated last Sunday with church services for Somers Day.

It is a time when people are able to forget their woes and challenges and to spend time with friends and family.

Three hundred and ninety years after the settlement of Bermuda, 165 years after Emancipation and forty years since the Theatre Boycott, Bermuda has made enormous progress which everyone should celebrate.

That is not to say that everything is perfect. Recently the Island has suffered three deaths on the roads in as many weeks and there is good reason to expect more unless common sense and care is exercised on the roads.

And the Physical Abuse Centre has noted that Cup Match, like other major holidays, sees an increase in all kinds of violence.

Heat, alcohol and late nights are a combustible combination, leading to dangerous driving and outbursts of anger which can have deadly consequences.

This Cup Match, Bermuda needs to stop and think. By all means we should enjoy ourselves, but we should stop before we put someone's life at risk.

DIVERTED EDT Diverted On Monday, we carried an interview with Jack Gordon, the outgoing head of Air Operations at the Airport.

Mr. Gordon rightly took pleasure in the fact that having taken over an Airport whose operations were virtually all run by the military, he is leaving behind a fully civilianised and much more "user friendly'' operation.

Perhaps more importantly, Mr. Gordon is also leaving behind an Airport whose operating staff are almost all Bermudian. Many Bermudians who wanted careers in aviation but were unable to get them on the Island returned to make this happen. Other people joined after the Base closure with little or no experience. Their efforts, and Mr. Gordon's leadership, ensured that the Island has an airport which is professionally run by Bermudians; something many people would have claimed was impossible at the outset.

For most people, that might be enough. Mr. Gordon unexpectedly has one more feather in his cap. In the space of one month, the Airport has successfully handled two serious aircraft diversions.

By all accounts these were handled seamlessly. Mr. Gordon and all the members of his team deserve praise for that as well.