A View To Kill For In Barbados
I took this picture of the stunning view at Codrington College when I was there the other day and oh boy, what a magnificent view it is too. I feel that it is a view fitting of a place of religious learning, as god after all created it.
One thing that I truly appreciated about Codrington College was the fact that they had benches all over the place, if only the Barbados Government could follow suit and arrange to have seating set up at more beauty spots and beaches around the island.
The seat in the picture was where I chose to eat my lunch and what can I say apart from that it sure was a wonderful place to enjoy the view and have a wee bite to eat. I shall return again to this Barbados beauty spot in the near future.
“We do not remember days, we remember moments”
Cesare Pavese
Santa Clause Is Coming To Barbados
It is Christmas Eve and Santa Clause is getting ready to embark upon his travels once again. When I was a wee kid growing up in Scotland we were always told that Santa came down the chimney to deliver our Christmas presents. Now that creates one big problem here in Barbados, because we don’t have a chimney. How am I meant to explain to the kid when he asks me how is Santa going to deliver our Christmas presents?
This is my first Christmas spent away from Scotland and the cold and if we were lucky it would be snowing, but such is the huge variation each year in the weather back home, that we unfortunately wouldn’t be guaranteed snow. Which is a shame because I just love it when it snows at Christmas.
The BBC weather forecast is telling me it will be a sunny and warm Christmas day in Barbados, well that will be a new experience for me and one that I will do my best to enjoy! Is it too late to get a flight to Lapland to enjoy the snow and have freezing cold wind rattling my bones!
I have the answer to the dilemma as to how Santa gets into houses in Barbados, he obviously has a special key that opens all the doors here. I better remind the kid that you have to leave a large glass of Mount Gaye rum with coke and ice, along with a nice extra large piece of carrot cake for me, I meant to say for Santa to help him on his travels.
To help you on your way Santa Clause I’m going to feature one of the best Christmas songs of all time courtesy of “the Boss”, Bruce Springsteen, and his version of ” Santa Claus is Coming to Town”
Merry Christmas Everybody All Over the World
Business Principles That You Should Abide By For Long Term Success
As a budding entrepreneur I believe that there are certain core principles, which every business owner should abide by, if they want to build a long-term successful business. I certainly abide by them and believe that they are quite frankly the difference between success and failure. It doesn’t matter if you are in Barbados, Scotland, America, China, Canada or anywhere for that matter they are principles of business that will help you to succeed.
For me they are not only business principles, but it wouldn’t do your life in general any harm to abide by them. They are the basics, which should be the cornerstone of every business, but sadly they seem to be constantly lacking in so many companies nowadays. But you know something I do my talking with my wallet and if and when companies think they are too good to worry about their customers or don’t treat them properly I go somewhere else.
It seems to be a problem that I constantly come across, and it irritates the hell out of me, and believe me it happens on a regular basis here in Barbados, just like it happens in the UK and probably all over the world. So many companies are so good, professional and first class at making the sale, but once that sale is made, it becomes very clear, very quickly that all they cared about was getting the money. There only principle is to take your money! Everything else is secondary!
It is something, which effects big and small companies, I would like to make a special personal mention here, one of the worst offenders I have ever came across was a web design company called UK192.co.uk, they are impossible to deal with and they cost me so much effort, money and time. I’m pretty certain they wont last as a business, they haven’t got a clue. They agreed a price to complete a job to a certain specification and they didn’t have the ability to do it. Instead of saying this, they took the money and tried to change the rules. Now every chance I get I tell people the truth about this company, they totally lack any business principles.
Business Principles for Success:
Honesty: Always be 100% honest with your customers and clients. Never lie to make the sale, if you cant do what they want, when they want it, be truthful and tell them that. They may compromise and you may make the sale anyway, but if you fail to deliver, you deserve to lose them as a future customer and any recommendations they may have provided.
Always Meet Your Obligations:
When you have made the sale with a customer, you must make sure that you meet every single obligation, which you have promised to deliver. It should be your priority to achieve total satisfaction for your clients, meeting deadlines and specifications are what creates happy customers, which in turn creates free business for you through recommendations.
Respect:
Treat all customers with the utmost respect and make sure all members of staff treat each other respectfully. It shouldn’t matter what position, title, age, skin colour or any kind of distinctions there is, everyone should be treated in a professional, respectful manner at all times and with courtesy.
Accounting and Bookkeeping:
Make sure you maintain a hands on approach to accounting and bookkeeping. It is vital to the future success of your business to become knowledgeable in these areas. It allows you to see exactly how much money you are making, how much you are spending and if any dubious activities are occurring you can spot them early.
Forward Thinking:
Stay ahead of the game; constantly look out for new innovations, which may benefit your business and your customers, also make an effort to master new technologies when they are happening, don’t be last.
When I was living in London for a short period before I moved to Barbados, on the road I was living in London there was a father and son driveway business which layed those nice lock block drives drives, I spoke to them one day, they hadn’t been out of the Road for over 4 months, and had at least another 3 months worth of business still to do. They had a little sign at the side of the road, they lay drives beautifully, and they are pleasant people and obviously they kept getting recommedations from happy customers!
The driveway guy told me he hasn’t had to advertise in 25 years of business. He gets all his customers from recommendations, plain and simple. He tells me that his philosophy has always been the same, do a great job, complete it on time and don’t act like an idiot when working, and he has never ripped anybody off in his life. He admits he isn’t the cheapest, but he provides true old school quality. I feel there are some valuable lessons to be learnt from this small business. As he said to me, “it aint rocket science”. He has got very clear principles which are providing great business results.
Never lie, cheat, mislead, steal or provide a crap service to your new or existing clients, it is a simple philosophy, which will pay dividends for you as a person and as a business owner.
I hope all those builders that I have had working for and with me in Barbados take heed of the above and all those that think it is smart business practise to rip people off and do shoddy work, you will never get the chance to make money from me again, and you sure as heck wont get a recommendation! In fact I will go out of my way to advise people not to employ you!
I wish I new why everyone in Barbados is a builder? When most of them haven’t got a clue about building work and doing even a reasonable good job. All they want is the big money for a second rate job!
Bath Beach Is A Good Place To Go For A Bath
Yesterday I was badly in need of escaping the day to grind of work and the noise of builders working in the house. So I formulated an escape plan, the mother in law was given the job of supervising the builders, so the wife the kid and myself jumped in the car and headed over to the parish of St John in search of Bath Beach.
Fortunately getting there wasn’t much of a problem as my wife has loads of family over there and knew the way, that saved the nightmare situation of trying to figure out the maps you get here and the non existent road signs.
After another real bumpy ride we eventually made it to Bath Beach, which is seemingly the safest beach for swimming in on the east coast of the island. There was a lifeguard on duty when we were there, but I didn’t fancy my chances of going in for a deep swim, the current was real strong. So we settled for basically just sitting in the water and enjoying the cooling waters of the Atlantic Ocean.
Bath Beach is a fairly busy beach at the weekend and you will find loads of locals picnicking and enjoying themselves in the beautiful surroundings. Even though I personally don’t rate it very highly for swimming in and it sure isn’t the prettiest sands you will find on the island, I think it is a great place to go for a walk. I walked to beside the cliffs of Conset Bay and then all the way back to beside Congor Rocks.
There is an picnic area and wash rooms at Bath Beach, which I’m always glad to see at beaches in Barbados.
The ruggedness and beauty of the coastline around the Bath Beach area is nothing short of breathtaking and I would recommend it for those that are aiming to escape the more touristy areas. The biggest downside to my trip to Bath Beach was the amount of rubbish that was littering the beach; it was nothing short of disgusting. The Government needs to take some action regarding this matter and do it NOW.
Codrington College the Perfect Picnic Location
I finally managed to pay Codrington College a visit during the course of last week and I must admit it was long overdue. For some inexplicable reason I have never visited the college, even though I have driven past it many times.
Each time I have past by Codrington College I have been impressed by the long drive, lined by those huge palm trees and the impressive historic looking building at the start of it. I wish I had a good reason for driving past it so many times without paying it a visit, for I get a real buzz out of visiting such places.
So on Thursday I finally drove down that incredible beautiful driveway of Codrington College and ventured forth and to the Theological College of the West Indies. For those interested in what the college is all about and finding out about its history visit the web site, Codrington College.
When I was there on Thursday afternoon the place was virtually deserted and their wasn’t one single tourist in sight. It is of course the holiday season at the moment so there wasn’t any students kicking around. It really amazes me, why so many tourists are scared to venture off the beaten track to go and see what Barbados has to offer apart from the popular Caribbean side beaches and the well known tourist attractions.
Codrington College is a truly beautiful place to visit, the college building itself is a grand impressive looking building and the grounds are a wonderful place to stroll around. There are plenty of benches to sit on and enjoy the views of the large fish pond, the various trees, and the amazing views.
It was good to be at such a beautiful place and not see one single piece of litter or rubbish spoiling things. Oh how I wish I could have said the same thing when I visited nearby Bath Beach!
Codrington College is a fantastic place to visit in Barbados and have a picnic with the family, I loved sitting at the back of the building sitting on a bench marvelling at the views of Barbados and the mighty Atlantic Ocean.
For those of you that don’t know how to take your rubbish with you and how to conduct yourself in a place of religious learning, it isn’t the place for you!
If At First Ye Don’t Succeed Try, Try, Try Again
It is coming to that time of the year when we should be reflecting on our endeavours and appraising how things have transpired for ourselves over the past 12 months. It is after all coming to the end of another year, whether it has a been a successful or terrible year will depend on each of our individual circumstances, and whether we have achieved any of what we have set out to achieve.
On a personal note I have made some pretty big changes, I have moved from Scotland to Barbados, I’m working for myself, and believe me I feel real good about the fact that my life is not in anyway controlled by the “Boss Man”. The fact I don’t earn too much at the moment and I don’t have too much financial security isn’t quite so good. But life is heading in the right direction!
I may not have achieved as much as I set out to in 2008, in fact I’m nowhere near where I wanted to be. Is it wrong of me to want to have a successful business, to earn more money, to travel to exotic places, is it wrong of me to dream the dream and desire much, much more out of life? Of course it isn’t, if as the saying goes you don’t have the dream, how can you expect to achieve it!
So over the next few days I will be reaffirming my aims and desires for life and figuring out how I can make them a reality. I will then start 2009 with total believe, enthusiasm and the will power to succeed and get to where I want to in life.
As the immortal Scottish King Robert Bruce once said, “If At First Ye Don’t Succeed Try, Try, Try Again”. According to legend Robert the Bruce had been hiding in a cave on the Western Isles of Scotland as his attempts to free Scotland from the rule of the English had constantly being defeated and all had seemed lost for him. The future king of Scotland sat despairingly watching a spider weave it’s web, as the wind howled and blew the web apart, the spider continued to rebuild it, inspiring his famous quote, If At First Ye Don’t Succeed Try, Try, Try Again”. He carried on his quest to free Scotland from the rule of the English, he eventually succeeded in his quest.
If we were to all to give up every time the going gets tough, or when we have tricky obstacles to overcome, we wouldn’t get very far in life. Life is full of exciting character building challenges that make us what we are, some people I suppose are winners, some are losers and some keep on trying till they become winners, which category do you fall into?
Shop Girls of Barbados Where Is Your Christmas Spirit?
Picture this image of Christmas shopping in Barbados and you will think that the Grinch stole Christmas here. In fact I’m certain he has!
I was doing a bit of Christmas shopping yesterday for the kid and wife as you do at this time of the year. For anybody that has a wife and kid they will know the complexities of buying presents for them!
I was in a fairly good mood wandering around the centre of Bridgetown searching for the perfect Christmas presents, which is of course all part of the fun of Christmas.
I had just been saved by the Snow Cone Man, The Snow Cone Man Saved My Life and was back in the land of the living and was back in the game. I was back on a roll and the search for whatever I was looking for was going strong.
I found the toy shop that I was looking for and they had the toy that the kid had asked Santa for, oh how I wish I had bought it in the UK, I could have bought 2 for the price of 1! I suppose that isn’t too bad for Barbados!
I would love to give the two girls at the till a special mention, one girl serving and one girl putting the stuff in a bag. I can’t understand why it takes two girls to do this job.
I watched a guy put well over $1000BDS worth of toys down on the counter and the girl serving and the girl packing never spoke to the man once during the entire transaction. I think they were kind of upset because the man dared to interrupt their conversation.
I made a point of going to the same counter and you guessed it, the same scenario. I also made a point of being as polite as possible, Hello how are you, are you having a good day and thank you very much when I left. Would you believe I never received one word back from both of the girls?
I have never came across such bad service and ignorance at this level in any country in the world. Even in countries where they can’t speak English they make an effort.
I don’t know what the problem is in Barbados, but what I do know is that something serious has to be done to resolve the problem. It surely doesn’t take a lot to train people to have a little bit of manners and be polite. If I had staff that couldn’t manage the basics of good customer service, I would sack the FU***RS.
From the feedback I have received on this blog and from Bajans I personally know living in the UK and USA it is something that irritates a lot of people. What a way to treat customers whether they are locals, tourists or aliens from outer space, it is a disgrace.
As far as I can see, the Grinch has somehow stolen more than just Christmas here in Barbados; it seems to be an all year round problem. I can understand why so many people in Barbados go to Miami and New York to do their Christmas shopping, I know where I wish I went!
The Snow Cone Man Saved My Life
It had a been a long and hot morning in the capital of Barbados, which is of course Bridgetown as I got into the serious business of doing some Christmas shopping. It was real hot, it was real busy and the cost of everything here compared to back home in the UK is real high, at times unbelievable so.
Just when I thought I couldn’t take anymore of the crazy prices, just when I thought my life was coming to an end, a Snow Cone Man appeared on the horizon to bring be back to life. The Snow Cone Man was like the pied piper with a crowd of people of all ages desperate for his cup full of goodness.
For only $2BDS I bought a simple cup of ice with the red flavouring, what ever it may be called, I can’t quite recall. But what I do know is that the snow cone saved me and brought me back to life to go and endure some more Christmas shopping in Barbados.
The Beach Girls Of Barbados
I thought I better do an article that praises the beach girls of Barbados, and believe me there are lots of exceptionally good-looking girls enjoying the beautiful beaches and ever so inviting water of the Caribbean Sea.
I wouldn’t want people to think that the beaches in Barbados have been taken over by chimpanzee like hairy girls, especially after my recent article, Hairy Woman At Carlisle Bay, Ban Them All!
Let me put the record straight hairy girls are in a minority here in Barbados, in fact when I was at the beach the other day I never even spotted one. Maybe they have taken the kind advice, which I have regularly been offering them!
For the record the beaches of Barbados have more than there fare share of beautiful woman of all nationalities and believe me The Wandering Scotsman has a good eye for such things and here is another interesting picture to prove it, That Girl At the Beach Has Such A Big ***.
Another Crazy Day On the Road In Barbados
As I have documented in the past how I feel the roads in Barbados are a crazy and dangerous place, due to how certain individuals chose to driver their vehicles. I wrote an article not so long ago where I gave a few pointers as to how things can be improved, Another Driving Lesson For the Good Folks Of Barbados.
Even I was amazed a day last week when I witnessed not one, but the aftermath of four crashes during the morning and afternoon school runs. The good lord must have been looking after me that day because I only got held up badly by one of them, I however felt sorry for the drivers on the other sides of the roads who weren’t going anywhere fast!
As anybody that lives in Barbados will be fully aware of, is how badly the roads slow down here when there has been an accident. It is pure madness and I would rather visit the dentist that be forced to sit in a Bajan traffic jam, that has been caused by someone crashing into another vehicle because they don’t understand the concept of keeping an adequate distance from the car in front.
My personal favourite out of the four crashes had to be at the Emancipation Statue roundabout where a bus had went into the back of a lorry. All these stupid crashes must take up so much of the police forces time, there were two police vehicles dealing with the situation.
I was glad to read in the newspaper last week that the police hierarchy in Barbados are starting to take heed of how bad some people drive on the island. However I was surprised that there was no mention of the poor state of the roads, a stretch of the ABC Highway beside where I live has got some unbelievable pots holes in it and I feel they could quite easily cause an accident. This is meant to be a major road and that is used by thousands of vehicles every day.
I use to moan on about the state of the roads back home in Scotland but they are like bowling greens compared to here. I will tell you something else for free, if my car was damaged due to an excessively big pot hole anywhere in the UK, I would be within my rights to go and claim the cost of repairs from the council responsible for the road in question. The government in Barbados would be bankrupted if they were to pay for all the damage caused to vehicles due to the poor state of the roads!
Sponsor
Bridgetown, Barbados
Bridgetown, BARBADOS
84 °F (92 °F)
Weather data provided by weather.com®
