I Squashed the Little F**ker Last Night

Last night I achieved something monumental in my life, I reached a major milestone, which gave me a real sense of satisfaction, honest it really did! You may be wondering what made me so happy and content with life, had I finally won the lottery, NOPE, it was something even more satisfying.

I managed to squash one of those little f**kers of things known as mosquitoes with a piece of tissue I was holding in my hand. I watched it flying around and took aim and caught it perfectly in the tissue, it required near perfect hand to eye co ordination, and it felt good to see it squashed and dead.

But unfortunately I’m not too sure if the pesky mosquito had the last laugh because the tissue was covered in blood, which the wee beastie had sucked from someone, it may well have been mine.

I intend to take my mosquito squashing on to a whole new level, my next task is to catch and squash one of them with a pair of Chinese chop sticks, Mr Miyagi from the Karate Kid will be proud of me, has anybody got his number so I can get a few tips to help me out.

Interesting Facts About Mosquitoes:

1. It is the female mosquito that sucks blood from its victims.
2. A mosquito can fly for 1 to 4 hours continuously at up to 1-2km/h, travelling un to 10 km in a night.
3. Most species of mosquito are dawn or dusk feeders, resting during the heat of the day in a cool place.
4. One brown bat can consume 1200 mosquitoes in an hour, I wish the bats round here would do a better job!

I don’t know if the mosquitoes in Barbados have thing for juicy tasty Scottish blood for they can’t seem to leave me alone. I have had to resort to slapping on citronella oil on a regular basis to keep them at bay, it aint quite Hugo Boss aftershave, but I suppose it does work reasonable well.

Indicators Aren’t Difficult to Use Barbados

Why do so many drivers in Barbados not know what indicators are used for. It doesn’t matter if it is car drivers, bus drivers, lorry drivers or even motorcyclists they haven’t got a clue how to use there indicators, in fact I’m not even sure if half of them even know that they have indicators. For all I know maybe using your indicators in Barbados just depends on whether you can be bothered to use them or not.

I for one find it pure bad manners, ignorance and laziness not to use your indicators. It is the basics of driving to make other road users aware of your intentions whilst driving on the road. If you are intending on turning right or left, why wouldn’t you want to let other drivers know of your intentions, it is basic common sense.

Also why do some drivers stop on a busy roads, whether they are broken down or they are waiting on someone to finish having their breakfast before they pick them up, or whether they are having a 10 minute conversation with someone at the side of the road, why the hell don’t they switch on their indicators to let everyone else know they have stopped. Honestly it isn’t exactly rocket science to flick the switch to turn  on your hazard lights, or maybe it is for some people.

Maybe the driving test in Barbados needs to become a little bit more difficult because this island has some of the craziest drivers I have ever witnessed on the roads, apart from possible Egypt. I couldn’t believe what I was witnessing this morning, I was sitting waiting to pull on from a roundabout on the ABC heading towards the airport, when a lunatic drove into the hard shoulder so he could pull out ahead of me in his beat up van.

Don’t get me wrong there are many good and considerate drivers here in Barbados, the problem is that there seems to be too many lunatics on the roads here.

The Heavens Opened Again and the Roads Turned Into Rivers Again!

Just as I started out on the school run yesterday, the heavens opened and the rain poured down again. Not a big deal you would think, just a wee bit of rain again, it is a fairly regular occurrence in Barbados at this time of the year. I suppose that’s why they call it rainy season.

I don’t have a problem with driving in the rain, I come from Scotland and driving in heavy rain, snow, black ice, and wild winds is a regular thing during wintertime. The thing I find highly amusing and a bit of an adventure is when the roads turn into virtual rivers after only 15 minutes of rain.

I can’t understand why after such a short period of time the drainage systems in Barbados cant handle a wee bit of rain. Yesterday it was fun and games again; driving up the hill beside Courtesy the water was flowing down the hill like crazy. I felt sorry for the pedestrians that were walking in water that was above their ankles; they badly needed some welly boots. Can you even buy welly boots in Barbados?

The worst thing about driving in the river like roads here in Barbados, is that you cant see the deep potholes that fill up with water, you could lose a wheel if you were unlucky enough to drive into some of them. Also any time there is a bit of rain in Barbados, it creates chaos on the roads, you get the usual suspects that are always in a rush to get somewhere and they go and bang into someone and the traffic comes to a standstill.

Thankfully the rainy season is coming to an end in Barbados and the Government can finally sort out the drainage systems.

I wrote all about my previous experience of driving in the river like roads of Barbados not so long and that was real creazy, The Heavens Opened And The Rains Came Down In Barbados.  Here is a another great picture of those  crazy road conditions,  Another Day In The Paradise Called Barbados.

 

Scrooge Is Well and Truly Alive and Well in Barbados

It is almost that time of the year again, and by that I mean before we know it, it will be Christmas time. I don’t know about you but I love Christmas and everything about it. This will be my first Christmas experience in a hot country, which I’m sure will be a bit of a culture shock to my system. Yesterday I had my first experience with an Xmas icon that we all have heard of, good old Scrooge.

Let me explain things a wee bit better for you all, I was in one of the major supermarkets yesterday in Barbados and I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I was so taken aback by what I saw, I almost had a heart attack, but fortunately I’m still fit and healthy, otherwise it could have been the end of me.

I was wandering around the supermarket as you do, when I came across some tins of a sweet that no Christmas is complete without and that is of course Quality Streets. I just love Quality Streets and like everyone else I have my favourites, which are strawberry delight and chocolate orange, pure heaven.

My problem wasn’t the fact I was seeing tins of Quality Street, it was the ridiculous price that the supermarket here in Barbados is charging for them, would you believe that the price was $96.00BDS, I know you think I have typed the wrong prices, but yes it was $96.00BDS.

I have came across many rip off’s in the supermarkets in Barbados, but this must be the ultimate one. I for one live in the real world and know how much Quality Streets should really cost. Fortunately I have some friends coming over for Christmas and they have already purchased some tins in London for me, which are exactly the same as the ones on sale in Barbados and they only cost £5.00GBP, which is roughly $15.00BDS. Just a wee bit of price difference!

As you can clearly see Scrooge is well and truly alive in Barbados, what can you do apart from boycott the buying of Quality Streets and such crazy prices. Thankfully I will have my tins of Quality Street ready to be demolished over the Christmas period, it just wouldn’t be the same without them.

Today The Barbados Blog is featuring clip from Scrooge and this is for the benefit of supermarket owners in Barbados.