In these days when gloom and doom encircle so many aspects of national life, it is always a pleasure to learn of experiences which contradict the new norm.
The story which broke on the front page of last Thursday’s DAILY NATION about the postman who was given an envelope containing two utility bills and their cash payments by an unidentified man in a Bridgetown business house and paid them the same day, exemplifies what is best in some Barbadians.
It highlights not only the postman’s honesty but also his serious commitment to basic human decency and doing unto others as he hopes they would do for him. On the larger level, he has brought great commendation to a hardworking public service department often taken for granted.
On two recent occasions, I have had to thank and congratulate my postman and those at Worthing Post Office.
Opening my gate to go to the supermarket early one Saturday morning, I was surprised to be greeted by my postman. When I expressed surprise, he told me he had agreed to work to ensure that National Insurance pensions, like mine, were delivered.
Pension cheques are normally delivered the Wednesday or Thursday before they are cashable. When mine was not delivered, I called the post office early Monday morning to find out if there was a problem. I was told it would be delivered the same day. So said, so done.
I spoke to two close friends about Thursday’s story. They too, were beneficiaries of their postmen going beyond the call of normal duty and being always polite and professional. Mr Tyrone Evelyn, the postman whose actions propelled him to front page prominence, deserves collective national kudos as an exemplar worthy of emulation.
*****
My friend and fellow columnist Carl Moore has for years been crusading against noise levels in Barbados.
I do not know if it is because I am at my immediate pre-geriatric stage and my ears are less tolerant and accommodating, but in recent times, the noise from traffic passing along the ABC Highway, at the bottom of my lawn, has increased to the point of being almost intolerable.
One of life’s pleasures was sitting on my patio in the early evening with a cold beer or a higher octane drink handy enjoying the breeze and panoramic South Coast views. There are less daily patio sojourns these days, especially on Sundays.
I do not know if there has been a relaxation of the policing of noise emissions by vehicles, particularly motorbikes, but to have two dozen speeding along the ABC Highway often two abreast with the front wheels airborne at full throttle is a most disconcerting assault on my eardrums and a reckless threat to motorists peacefully going about their business.
It is not just the noise but the danger to life and limbs. I trust this exposure of a growing problem, which scares unsuspecting drivers and which I have drawn to the attention of the police without any resolution, will result in something being done to control noise emissions and motorcyclists speeding two abreast on the highway.
The ABC Highway was conceptualized and constructed to speed up the movement of traffic between the airport and seaport and open areas of virgin land along its boundaries for development. Imagine Barbados without it and the nightmare of daily gridlock will boggle your mind.
It is a national shame it is being recklessly abused.
*****
I was surprised and shocked to read in last Tuesday’s DAILY NATION that the chief executive officer (CEO) of the National Cultural Foundation, Dr Donna Hunte-Cox, had been handed two letters, one from the minister responsible for culture and one from the chairman of the board, informing her that her contract was not renewed.
My shock was grounded not in the fact that she had been terminated but in the manner in which it was done. We pride ourselves on the advanced state of our industrial relations, though in recent times, there have been several work stoppages. Indeed, right now (Thursday), LIME’s workers have walked out again.
But if the CEO can be told just after four o’clock that her services are no longer required and that would be her last day, shivers must have gone down the spines of fellow workers.
Her contract ended the same day and the board was within its right not to renew it if so moved. But that fact would have been well known to the minister, chairman and board. It takes us back to the age before good industrial relations to terminate a worker without proper notice. It set a terrible precedent and was an ironic May Day surprise enhanced by the current Employment Rights Bill.
Government should set a better example!
