Bad teaching

June 13, 2007

Dear Sir,

Once again, students, not to mention the parents of students, who attend the Government schools had their lives disrupted today by teachers who have a gripe with the Government run Ministry of Education. The teachers chose to pull sickies, walkouts or whatever vividly descriptive words that they wish to use and did not seem to be bothered that their actions affect so many people! But then again, maybe that is exactly what they wanted to happen! They had every intention of doing all that they could to annoy parents who had to take a half day off or leave work to collect their child from school, businesses which had to let them go, including Government offices, which would in turn enrage the Government who would give into their demands! How sneaky!

As a parent of a child who will be graduating next week from Primary 6, I am furious that they chose to effectively strike so close to the end of the school year when our children are preparing to leave the school that has been part of their lives for six years. The teacher’s actions today will leave a not so good lasting impression on our children and that I find totally unacceptable!

The Government school teachers seem to be more interested in their latest pay raise and fighting with their bosses, effectively the Bermuda Government, than in ensuring that our children have a complete and fulfilling educational experience. I am surer now than ever that the decision that I made to remove my child from the Bermuda Government education system for the new school year in September is the right one! Please sign me:

FURIOUS PARENT

Two party system works

June 8, 2007

Dear Sir,

I am a 21-year-old white kid born and raised on this pretty little island we all call home. Lately I have been hearing a lot of rumours to do with our Government, and, of course, the PLP is on the receiving end of a lot of these negations. But I want to put my biases, and those of my friends, aside. I’m tired of hearing how the PLP is ruining the island or that Bermuda is destined to fall into pandemonium if we continue on our present course. I understand that the PLP has been irresponsible in some ways, and as I have come to understand, misplaced money here and there. Yet it would be a fallacy to pretend that the UBP was perfect during its time in office and therefore I would be deceiving myself to believe the UBP was 110 percent better.

What I want, while my governmental biases of being a white Bermudian are put aside, is to have two parties. Not a black party versus a white party, but one good party versus another good party, and to vote based only on that. How do we expect to continue to thrive if each voter is simply looking at their skin and then voting for the corresponding candidate? And that’s how it goes.

The whites are threatened by the PLP because they feel their interests are not considered and the blacks are weary of the UBP because they feel their welfare will be glossed over. Leaving us all segregated, secretly and not so secretly marauding about, championing for our own colour-coded party.

Think about it. As one of the only existing utopias in the world, to have such a deep seeded racism within our government, is a shame; and when elections come around again let us try and examine the issues before us, not our skin colour.

ANONYMOUS

Pembroke

Flag rules

June 4, 2007

Dear Sir,

After recently hearing a few of my friends discussing the apparent half-hearted attempt at lowering the flag in front of the Cabinet Office on Front Street, I took notice of the state of many of the islands flags during the mourning period for Dame Lois. Some flags were flying full-staff, and others were lowered. Some were mixed. It became obvious that many individuals and businesses were adopting different protocols for flying flags at half-staff. I researched the issue and discovered that the Cabinet Office has lowered their flag appropriately. Traditionally, the flag should be lowered one flag width from the top. This tradition has evolved, and in the UK (and presumably in dependent territories) the flag should be flown using the following rules:

l The flag should be flown at [2/3] height

l When hoisting or lowering the flag, it should be raised to full-staff for an instant and then lowered to half-staff

l If more than one flag is flown on a half-mast day, they should all be lowered or none should be hoisted at all

l The flag of a foreign nation should not be flown at half-mast unless that country has also declared a day of mourning

I’m sure this is an incomplete list, but perhaps it will prompt someone to publish “official” flag lowering etiquette for sad occasions such as the passing of Dame Lois.

ANDREW WOODWORTH

Paget

Men of character

June 4, 2007

Dear Sir,

Thank you for printing my last letter in full. I had phone calls, positive comments and negative comments that are all a part of the pot of stew. Now I want to comment on some colourful characters in Bermuda of the past and the present. I am sure every country and city has one or two. The one I remember the most is the late Weatherbird of Hamilton. Some call him the town “bum”. I remember him living in the pond and walking through town with his herd of dogs and they all had names even though they were stray dogs. He took very good care of them. Whenever he drank his “happy juice” and became intoxicated he would lay down on the sidewalk anywhere and the dogs would automatically circle him and protect him. Not even the police could break the circle.

He was well-known as DA-DA-DEE. Weatherbird was intellectually intelligent and a very good conversationist. I believe he holds the record for visiting Casemates Hotel, for silly offences as wondering aboard, sleeping in public places, etc. I want to say that visitors loved to take his picture. His picture is all around the world also in some well established places in Bermuda because they found him very photogenic. The late Mr. Richard Gorham also must have found him a colourful character because he named the Bermuda Biological stations research vessel after Weatherbird , now if that doesn’t say something, you tell me what does. Weatherbird was a gentleman. He tipped his hat to all the ladies. Hamilton has characters now that are not welcomed in the city because they are not a weatherbird , they are nuisances to the public and visitors.

Tommy Tucker was a Bermuda icon in my opinion. I got to know him really well when I worked at V.L.’s on Court Street as a cashier. He came in one day to buy dog food and I asked him, what’s the dog’s name? He bluntly replied, “DOG”. I burst out laughing. He thought it must have been a silly question, but I had found his answer amusing. He bought two tins of dog food. It took me 15 minutes to serve him. I told him the price. He was reaching for the money not in his pocket but in his pockets because he had seven pairs of pants on. He pulled out a $50 bill to pay for the dog food. The money stunk of axle grease, I couldn’t keep it in the cash register, so I had to give it to the boss. He started to leave without his change, and I said “Mr. Tucker here is your change”, he hollered back “keep it, I don’t want it”. He was the only guy who had a push bike that had pedals but he never use them, he would sit on the bike and walk the bike down the road. Tommy Tucker took sick one day and was hospitalised for a few weeks. He was not recovering from his illness as he should have, according to his Doctor a pink lady came to visit Tommy and she asked about his dog. He responded that he missed his best friend. The pink lady got special permission to take the dog to see Tommy, within five days all was well with Tommy. That’s one prescription the doctor could not write. Tommy Tucker worked on the docks as a longshoreman for many years.

George was my Albouy’s Point colourful character. He loved his moon shine. In those days he waited for Kitson’s round the island cruises to return back to the dock because he knew they would have left over rum swizzle. He was a good friend of the captain and crew and they would give it to him. His brother “Poker” worked in the stables at Government House during those days. One day the Governor had stopped by the stables to speak to Poker and George was there at the time. The Governor asked Poker if he could send down some refreshments. George heard him and yelled “send down a case of your brandy and while you are at it send some food, I’m hungry!”. Believe it or not it all showed up about half an hour later and they had themselves a party. I was a witness to that. Well that is enough about my three deceased buddies well known in the city of Hamilton.

Alabama also known as the unofficial mayor of St. George’s, also known as a St. George’s square character. I have a lot of respect for Alabama; most people look at him as being a nuisance. I find him a very pleasant person and a good conversationist when he doesn’t drink his ‘crump’ juice. By the way I am a wheelchair user and one time when I was visiting St. George’s it was a very hot dry day, I had become very very thirsty. All my so called intelligent friends were walking by, some even stopped just to say “Hi”, yet none of them offered me a drink. My friend Alabama stopped to say hello and he said “Foxy it is hot, would you like a cold drink”. He took his last crump juice money and bought me a soda. I really appreciated that neither have I forgotten it. Another day when I was in St. George’s a cruise ship tourist came to me and asked if I knew a guy name “Alabama”? I said yes he is a friend of mine. The tourist then asked where he could find him. I told him where. I then asked the tourist, what kind of work he done? He replied, a brain surgeon at Johns Hopkins Hospital. (That’s the kind of friends Alabama has.) I am still trying to find Alabama’s brain. This surgeon had visited the island five years prior and this time he had returned with his wife to introduce her to his friend Alabama. Another time a female tourist asked Alabama, where is the beach? He answered you will find it by the water.

He is a person who thinks fast, some of you would have taken 15 minutes explaining where the beach was. A friend of Alabama said to him, “if I gave you a shilling and a sixpence, how much would you have?”. He answered, “I’ll have it all”. That is not the answer the friend expected, but it was a true answer (watch how you ask questions). One time Alabama was under the weather and feeling nice. A police officer said, “Alabama you are under arrest”. Alabama asked, “who are you?”. The officer gave his name. Alabama asked, “how long have you been working in St. George’s?” The officer replied “two weeks”. Alabama said: “You haven’t been here long enough to arrest me!” During the arrest at the station, Alabama told the officer “not this cell you are putting me in”. “Why not, what’s the difference?”, the officer asked. Alabama said: “This cell over here has a softer mattress and pillow.”

What I do want to say about these gentleman is that they were all very respectful and in my opinion good citizens. We need to learn to judge people by the content of their character not their appearance. This is a quotation by the late Dr. Martin Luther King and I practice using it. I looked forward to bumping into those colourful characters Weatherbird, Tommy Tucker and George all deceased now. I am glad I had a chance to know them. Alabama is the only survivor and when I go to St. George’s I look for him and if I don’t see him, I ask for him. By the way Alabama was a good marathon runner but he never registered to run in the May 24 marathon race, he ran the course just for fun and he was also a good football player. Mr. Editor I did not use any of their real names so as not to be liable or offend their families.

W. S. FOX

St. David’s