Hat's off to Mrs. Grizzle

May 9, 2002

Dear Sir,

As visitors to Bermuda we feel that there aren't enough superlatives in the dictionary to describe this beautiful and friendly island. But one particular incident stuck in our minds and indicates that respect and standards of good behaviour still prevail here - which sadly are so lacking in our native England. We took a bus from St. George's to Hamilton and at one stop a group of school children got on board. They were all smartly attired in uniform and there was no swearing or cursing and were generally well behaved. However, as the bus went on its way a few of the children got a bit noisy and boisterous and the bus driver (a lady called Mrs. Grizzle) stopped the bus. She got up and walked halfway down the bus and with a few firmly spoken and well chosen words she brought the children into order. She possessed the strength of character and authority to do this and the children all respected her enough to accept her words of chastisement. We say well done Mrs. Grizzle and well done Bermuda and keep your standards going.

ALAN & VAL WITHSTANDLEY

Taunton, Somerset

England

Poor first impression

May 1, 2002

The following was sent to the Director of Tourism and forwarded to The Royal Gazette

Dear Madam Director,

My wife and I returned to New York yesterday from a five night visit to Bermuda. It was my first visit in forty years and the first every for my wife.

We visit the Caribbean every winter but we had not had occasion to visit Bermuda. While we had a very nice visit, our first impression of Bermuda, with a forty minute wait to be cleared through Immigration, was extremely negative.

It does not seem to me to be a good idea for the Government of Bermuda to allow visitors to have an unpleasant experience at the beginning of their stay. I learned while on the Island that citizens of Bermuda frequently have unpleasant experiences on arrival as well. Bermuda is a very pleasant place but it is not the only pleasant place in the world and you are competing with those other places for the tourism dollar. We spent about 3,000 US in our brief stay and we could have spent that money elsewhere.

We are US citizens who have been to Anguilla, Grand Cayman, St. Martin, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Bonaire and other island destinations. Our immigration experience in Bermuda was by far the worst.

We were on an America Airlines 767 which was not full. If Bermuda expects to attract repeat visitors who are not cruise ship people but rather stay on the Island and spend money, your Government would be well advised to so something about expediting the arrival process.

CASIMIR C. PATRICK

New York