Professional response

August 16, 2006

Dear Sir,

Late in the evening of August 17, two masked men armed with a machete and a club burst into the bedroom of our cottage at the St. George?s Club. They threatened my wife and me with their weapons, helped themselves to all of our US cash, and a cell phone, and fled into the night. Thankfully, neither of us suffered any physical harm, but as one would imagine, we were terrified. The following day, we returned, shaken, to Toronto.

We were, however, most favourably impressed with the response of your Police force.

From the officer and constable who responded to our call within minutes (presumably from the St. George?s detachment) to the two detectives and forensic specialist who were dispatched from Hamilton, their deportment was commendable. They were ? to a man ? polite, comforting in the face of our obvious distress, and painstakingly thorough and professional in their investigations. We are confident that they are doing their best to apprehend these two criminals. Unfortunately, in all the excitement, we neglected to make note of their names, and would like to take this opportunity to extend to them our thanks for their understanding and assistance.

They should know that, despite this incident, and because of their actions, we would not hesitate to vacation once again on your beautiful Island.

We will not, though, be saying at the St. George?s Club, where security of the property and the accommodations is virtually non-existent.

The ground level sliding glass and screen doors that give directly in to the bedrooms and sitting rooms of the cottages have no latches, no locks, and can only be secured from inside by a clumsy drop bar. (I was old that this device can be defeated from outside within seconds using nothing more than a piece of Venetian blind.)

A sincere apology

September 18, 2006

Dear Sir,

I would like to respond to a letter sent to the Editor in today?s entitled ?Perception is reality? by Ian and Lucinda Ward from Canada. They explained in their letter that they were ?sized up and neglected? in favour of other people upon entering our store. They also complained that they felt ?humiliated? that they did not receive our new pink bag after purchasing some of our discontinued and discounted products.

The Bermuda Perfumery strives to provide a truly unique Bermuda experience to all visitors to our store and indeed superior customer service is the cornerstone of that experience.

All our employees are Bermudians, hard working, dedicated and collectively have over 100 years experience in making and selling perfume. We would never intentionally ?belittle? any customer, but as the Wards correctly point out perception is reality so if we offended them I sincerely apologise.

Further, I agree with the Wards when they imply that Bermuda should market itself ?to an upmarket clientele?.

We are a high-end destination and most of our competitors would love to be able to market themselves as such.

Since acquiring the Bermuda Perfumery two years ago I identified the re-branding of the Bermuda Perfumery as an upscale and exclusive brand as our primary objective.

This past May, for the first time in over 20 years, the Bermuda Perfumery successfully launched two new fragrances ?Coral? and ?Lily? as well as new packaging to compliment the more sophisticated and contemporary image of the Bermuda Perfumery.

Part of the new branding and packaging is our pink paper bag ? replacing a dark blue plastic bag ? given whenever clients purchase products in our new packaging.

When we re-branded I decided that that we would not provide a new pink bag for discontinued products sold at discounted prices because it was not consistent with the image and ?perception? that we want.

However, we knew that some visitors would buy our discontinued products at deeply discounted prices as gifts.

These products are not sold anymore in our store.

Again I apologise to the Wards if we have unintentionally upset them and welcome them to meet with me personally on their next trip to Bermuda.

Kicking out expats

September 18, 2006

Dear Sir,

I always wonder if the people who hold the belief that Bermuda should kick out all the expats have ever really thought through what they are proposing. Do they think if the expats are kicked out that unemployed Bermudians will suddenly have jobs?

Do they not realise if companies cannot find employees that they will simply relocated elsewhere? What do these people think will happen on the Island if companies leave? If jobs evaporate MORE people will be unemployed, not fewer. The only jobs available will be service-oriented and those never pay well, so overall the Island?s economy will go into a tail spin. Who will this anonymous hate monger blame then for their situation?

Good perspective

September 16, 2006

Dear Sir,

An e-mail from a friend who writes from his distant, mountain home (providing good perspective, it would seem) says so much about our Government in so few words: ?Sad to think of sick people taking over the healthy garden of nature at the Botanical Gardens ... I wonder if you squat there for a few years if you can claim ownership and subdivide, like Oona?s gift of nature to Bermuda.?

Happily ever after

September 17, 2006

Dear Sir,

One last hope to turn the Loughlands development disaster into a happily ever after sustainable development plan for future generations: For the price of a new car, the 200-plus justifiably concerned residents could purchase the land and turn it into a magnificent park needed in the heart of that area. The land and historic building have unlimited potential. The ?big boys? could possibly chip in more to reduce individual financial impact.

Thanks to all

September 15, 2006

Dear Sir,

As per the Bermuda Sun article on September 15. How shocking to know that there were no dead bodies for said doctors to examine/autopsy.

I, for one am not shocked at/by the efforts of our Government, essential services including Police, ambulance, fire, Belco, Telco, etc. and Bermudians at large to weather said storm, pun intended, and emerge virtually unscathed. I prefer the path on the high road and say thanks to all!

Built for highways

September 14, 2006

Dear Sir,

I am writing this letter to ask why this Island continues to bring in and allow residents to drive these massive cars on our tiny roads.

As I was driving to work this morning, over Lighthouse Hill, in my Chevrolet Avero, which is quite small in size, I was almost run off the road by a Honda CRV passing in the opposite direction. Although the driver was not driving excessively over the speed limit, I found myself pulling over to the side of the road due to the size of the vehicle.

I know this type of incident must occur quite frequently given our narrow and curvy roads but there must be something we can do about these sport utility vehicles which are obviously built for highways and wide roads, elsewhere.