Packed In Like Sardines All Over Barbados

I see those buses every morning when I go on the School run and they scare the hell out of me. It doesn’t matter if it is the Government owned buses or the privately owned ones, they are rammed full of people.

It surely can’t be legal to have so many people on one bus at a time; they are severely over laden with people. I can only imagine the carnage that would happen if one of these buses were to be in a serious accident, and the way some of them are driven it is something that will happen one of these days.

Just the other day, I watched school kids literally hanging out the bus windows because the bus was so packed. What a way to begin your day of learning at school, it must have a negative effect on many school children’s concentration levels to be crammed in like a sardine before they get to school.

Just as I watched the packed bus in the picture come past, in fact I think this particular bus was going for the world record for the most amount of people that could fit in a bus, to say it was packed would be an understatement. A few minutes later a very comfortable looking private mini bus came past on it’s school pick up run, with the kids whose parents obviously have a bit of money.

I think David Thomson should come out of lllaro House and get driven around Barbados in his Limo and see for himself what is happening in his country, buses packed full of school children, the crazy drivers that obviously shouldn’t have a driving license, the state of the roads. To make things even more fun, PM Thomson you should come out when it is lashing down with rain.

Ravenala Madagascariensis Wont Let Me Become Thirsty

Ravenala Madagascariensis or more commonly known as The Travellers Palm is an exotic and very useful plant that I came across during my recent visit to the wonderful and educational Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary. When I finally make enough money to build a new house on my plot of land, this plant is one that I will defiantly be having in my garden.

As it said on the information sign at Graeme Hall, there is an optimistic travellers saying, “If a traveller stands directly in front of a Travellers Palm and makes a wish in good spirit that wish will definitely come true.” I will let you know how long it takes to come true, when it happens!

The Travellers Palm was given it’s nomadic sounding name because a thirsty traveller can drink the water that accumulates in various parts of the plant, such, as the leaf folds, flower bracts and inside each of the hollow leaf bases. Each leaf base may hold a litre of water, which is an interesting fact.

As the sign at Graeme Hall says the Travellers Palm is an exotic looking travellers “wishing well” and drinking-water “fountain”.

Bajan Proverbs Created from Nature!

During my recent visit to the Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary in Barbados, I came across some Bajan Proverbs that are linked to animals and plants, which is fitting because of the type of centre that it is.

The proverbs of Barbados are seemingly short, one-sentence sayings that express a well-known truth or fact and I would be inclined to agree with most of them.

When a bird fly too fast’e does fly past’e nest.
Being overly ambitious or travelling too fast in life is not always wise.

Sometimes de same tamarind rod yuh cut does turn round and cut yuh own ass.
A person can be harmed by situations he or she has created. “The Tamarind Rod” is a branch of the Tamarind tree that makes a strong switch sometimes use on the person who cut it from the tree.

If crab don’ walk ‘bout e’ don’ get fat.
A stay-at-home person accomplishes nothing.

If blackbird fly wide pigeon e’ will get shoot.
Socializing with the wrong people can lead to bad results.

Better fish in de sea dan wha’ ketch
Somewhere there is a better lover than the present lover.

Early bird get de sweetest flower.
The early morning person gets the best reward.

Dam I Need To Know The Code

Yesterday I had a few international telephone calls to make and my brain and remembering numbers, especially international dialling codes don’t go too well together.

I had to call the UK, USA and Dubai all on the same day and believe me my head was spinning thinking about all the dialling codes and different time zones. Life in Barbados was feeling kind of confusing, I needed help real bad.

The answer to many of life’s tricky problems is of course Google; it has saved me on so many occasions. All I had to do was type in international dialling codes into the wee search box and all my prayers would be answered. Well it wasn’t quite as easy as I hoped, I tried a couple of web sites but they were what I would call utter garbage.

Eventually I was rescued by a site that not only very easily gives you the dialling codes required but they also have a time zone convertor. That sure made my job of calling all around the world a hell of lot easier.

The site I used was called time and date.com, and I think it is a great resource for travellers and business people alike. I may add I found this site all by myself through Google and that I’m giving a review for no other reason than because I want too!

For some real self promotion I’m going to mention my  other Barbados related blog called Barbados Photo Blog.

Barbados Provides Me With The Bumpiest Rides Of My Life

I’m sure that every car driver that has ever driven in the Caribbean island of Barbados will agree that the roads are ever so slightly bumpy. I use to moan about the condition of the roads back home in Scotland, but the unbelievable condition of the roads here make the ones back home seem like a bowling green.

I have already had 2 burst tyres and 2 slow punctures in the 2 months since I have had my car, all the shocks on my car are also needing replaced. There are pot holes all over the roads in Barbados and  you could really mess up more than just your tyre if you had the misfortune of driving over some of the huge ones, and believe me at night when its dark it is difficult to see them.

I know quite a few people that carry two spare tyres just in case they have a real unlucky day. You really need to keep your eyes peeled to avoid the potholes. It kind of gets crazy when its raining as the roads do flood real bad in Barbados and of course the pot holes get filled with water and you cant see the dam holes. Also the you wouldn’t believe how some of the roads here just seem to crumble when they flood, I don’t know what kind of tarmac they use here but they need to change it real quick. An article I wrote about my recent experience of driving through floods in Barbados, The Heavens Opened And The Rains Came Down In Barbados.

I don’t envy those brave souls in Barbados that cycle or the motor bikers, they are most certainly dicing with death or serious injury on a regular basis. I’m living in hope that the huge increase in road tax will mean a huge improvement in the dire state of the roads in Barbados.

If Barbados wants to be taken seriously as a top quality tourist destination, they have to start doing something about things like the crap state of the roads and the lack of signs, because there are loads of countries out there that are doing everything they can to grab a slice of the tourist dollar. I have previously written about the joys of driving on the roads in Barbados, The Nightmare Of Driving In Barbados.

I recently read an article that helps to highlight how dangerous the roads are in Barbados and  that something radical needs to be done to make them safer a safer place, More Road Deaths Than Murders.