Thank you, Bermuda

December 1, 2004

Dear Sir,

May I, through the medium of your excellent newspaper, say a very sincere “thank you” to everybody on your beautiful Island for the kindness and friendliness that I have experienced over the last eight years. In 1996, after the death of my wife, I was invited out to stay for a holiday with friends to ‘pick myself up and dust myself down'. Such was the welcome that I was given, I have never ever considered going anywhere else for my annual “breaks”.

Over the years I have been introduced to so many people, all of whom I see every November and renew old friendships. Yes, I am one of your ‘tourists on a scooter', but at my age, I don't believe I am in any danger of becoming a ‘ton up' kid or a ‘tailgater'! It certainly gives me the freedom to visit many places on the Island that other visitors don't get to see.

Another highlight of my annual visits is the privilege I am accorded to taking part in the November 11 Remembrance Day Parade. As a former ‘part-time' Royal Marine Sergeant (only 24 years service!) it is an honour to assist in selling poppies, marching with the “vets” and enjoying a very pleasant lunch afterwards at the Mariners' Club in company with HE the Governor and other honoured guests. Not being born until 1943 I am not even officially a ‘veteran', but am readily accepted by those that ‘served the colours' in WW II.

In closing, may I once again express my most sincere thanks to all of you who have so enriched my life over the past few years. No names, no pack drill, you all know who you are. Health (and a little finance!) permitting, I hope to see you all for many years to come.

KEITH W. BRETTELL

Kent, UK

Great Island, great hosts

December 6, 2004

Dear Sir,

We recently spent a week on your lovely Island. We were on the Celebrity Horizon docked from October 25 to October 30 in Hamilton.

This was our second trip to Bermuda and we will return. This is the only island we feel we can visit and feel totally safe and relaxed. Your greatest treasure is your people.

Other islands have the scenery and water, but everywhere we went we were welcomed by courteous, professional people. From past experience we purchased the three-day bus and ferry passes to tour the Island.

Without exception, all the bus drivers and ferry operators were helpful and never lost their patience with lost tourists.

Thanks again for being such lovely hosts. We shall return.

DONALD AND DIANNE JONES

Manteo, North Carolina

Bah, humbug to you too

December 5, 2004

Dear Sir,

Sick of Christmas? I am. Part of the problem is the celebrants have appropriated the vocabulary.

Here is some new vocabulary for the antixmasts (there are more of us than you think). Re-appropriate the vocabulary!

Christmassist - A person who goes into the seasonal myopia, consuming massively in order to cherish the lord “Christ was born! Engorge!”

Christian - one who insists, contrary to appearances (and with a good deal of historical fact to back them up) the holiday was not accidentally also the date for celebrating the Birth of Christ.

Instead of cheerfully screaming “Christmas is coming!” (with eyes all wobbly like a manipulative toy on a TV commercial), say matter of factly and with a grim murmur “Christmas has fallen” as when saying “night has fallen”.

Call Christmas “The Feast of Consumption” (redundancy intended). People know what I mean and go on talking about it as if I had said “Christmas”. So the new vocabulary is slipping into the Awful Spiritus Mundi.

When people call you Scrooge, explain to them that they are wrong. Remind them that if Scrooge were alive today he would be very happy because at Christmas time he would be making great stinking piles of filthy Lucre off the Christmassists and would have been right with them screaming “Merry Christmas”.

Everything he is before his transformation into a decent person is rigorously encouraged by the season. He never would have been converted to the kindly person he is at the end of “A Christmas Carol”.

“Christ is born! I'm getting rich!” he would scream. And of course he would be right. The Christmas spirits past, present and future could go hang.

If it's all too much - have Christmas in Morroco, an Islamic country: On Christmas Day walk out into the street and scream “Merry Christmas!” When someone insults you, hug them and say “Thank You!”

JOHN ZUILL

Pembroke

The Island is overweight

December 3, 2004

Dear Sir,

I would like to applaud Karlos Burch and the Devon Springs Recycling Centre staff for their recent protest of the dumping of tons of recyclables by Works and Engineering.

The problem apparently arose because W&E has neglected to properly maintain the machines.

The staff argued the valid point that if W&E could hire five trucks to come and haul away the excess (to the dump), they could be paid a bit of overtime to finish the job.

It was encouraging to find out that they did finish the job, and hundreds of thousands of new aluminium cans and glass bottles are not at the bottom of the Castle Harbour leaching toxins into the ecosystem.

Where is the Ministry of the Environment in this whole situation? Waste management is an environmental issue and that Ministry should be working closer with W&E. Particularly for a 22-square-mile Island, quality waste management is paramount. There is no more room for landfills and our incinerator is spewing out mysterious toxins by the minute.

Our environment must be made a priority.

Do you not see the connection? Is tourism is a separate issue? Housing? Violence? Increasing health care costs? We must look at things holistically. This Island is overweight and has several health problems.

Its health will only improve if the environment becomes a priority. We are over-developed and therefore have too many cars, resulting in more vehicle emissions and more illness. With more cars comes more traffic, more road rage, more accidents, more tourist deaths and more tourists going home with the report that ‘Bermuda is not the place it once was'.

Our over-development also means more trash, more wrongful incineration of plastics resulting in more toxins in the air and soil and again, more illness. Higher health care costs from our sick population means individuals are forced to work harder to make ends meet resulting in more illness, less family time, lack of the family unit, more violence.

Every issue we are dealing with is an environmental one. Healing our Island requires, first and foremost, the willingness of our leaders to put a solid, long-term environmental plan in place.

The plans for the new recycling plant should be sped up and should include plastic and paper recycling. If this is not possible, container ships that go back to the mainland virtually empty should transport materials that can be recycled.

The bottle bill should be implemented. Every household and business should be recycling and there should be penalties for not adhering to this. For example, if trash collectors notice that you have recyclables in your trash, your trash will not be collected.

We can no longer afford to sweep our garbage under the proverbial rug. The root cause must be dealt with - from the top.

ERIN MORAN

Flatts

Include BSX details please

December 6, 2004

Dear Sir,

I read in The Royal Gazette this past week articles in the Business section that relate to the acquisitions of certain companies by public entities that are listed on the Bermuda Stock Exchange. The articles in question referred to the following:

1. BAS purchase of local courier company IBC.

2. Argus Insurance purchase of a Gibraltar insurer.

3. Bermuda Press Holdings purchase of local printer Engravers Ltd.

4. Argus Insurance purchase of the Bermuda business held by UK group Aviva Plc.

As publicly quoted companies on the Bermuda Stock Exchange (BSX), I would have thought that the purchase price and funding details of these transactions should be ‘front and centre' when these announcements are made.

Many Bermudians are investors in these publicly quoted entities, either directly or as owners through their pension plans, and therefore there is not only a need for such information to be made public, but also a moral obligation to publish the full details of these transactions.

It appears to me that the ball was dropped not only by the BSX as the Regulator of public companies, but also the journalists covering these stories, and one would hope that follow up coverage will ‘enlighten' the public and give full disclosure on these transactions.

If the rules of the exchange do not require full disclosure of such transactions, then the rules ought to be changed.

After all, if we are to demand more transparency from the Government of the day, we should also demand the same from our corporate entities that are publicly owned.

ALLAN D. MARSHALL JP

Smith's Parish