Dear Nesta,
Well, I really hope you in better healf dan me, ’cause ef I got to keep on much longer wid dis starvation diet dat I been force to go on, I en know wuh gine happen to muh after a while. Evry week, de grocery items in my trolley gettin’ less an’ less, while de bill risin’ mo’ an’ mo’ high. Mo’ money fuh less goods! When it gine en’, doh?
Girlchile, I en know ’bout de res’ o’ de islan’. I could only speak fuh muhself, but I keep wonderin’ hummuch longer I got to go t’rough dis Gethsemane. All I keep hearing is how rough it is fuh de big countries, an’ we should be glad we Guvment still able to keep we afloat in dese hard times. Talk like dah is all well an’ good, but it en helpin’ to increase de groceries in my trolley.
De ethuh mornin’, befo’ I could scarcely open muh eyes to t’ank God fuh seein’ anethuh day, my telephone start to ring. Philomena was at de ethuh en’, axin’ ef I could tell she de date fuh elections. Well, I en know how you en stop up dey in Engelant an’ hear muh!
I had firs’ to fine out ef she was now runnin’ fuh a seat, so dat de date become important to she, and nex’, I ax she wuh de devil it is to do wid me! I don’ wuk in Guvment, I en a MP, I don’ live in de gentleman constituency, I en belongks to no inner circle (dah is, ef de PM got one), so how ’pon earf I would know ’bout anyt’ing so? I waitin’, jes’ like she an’ de res’ o’ Buhbayduss!
One man alone ’pon dis islan’ know dah date – de PM – an’ he en sayin’ neffin! Bajans could gi’e as much oncalled fuh advice as duh like, ’bout de right or wrong time to call elections, but it en mekkin a bit o’ diff’rence to Mr Stuart. Mum’s de word! When he decide de time is right fuh de res’ o’ we to know, he would announce de date.
I en no Bible scholar, but it put muh in min’ o’ de words o’ Jesus, when He say “But about that day and hour, no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father”. Jesus speak dem words over 2 000 years ago, an’ we still waitin’.
I sure Mr Stuart en gine keep we in suspense dat long, so we could as well drop de subjeck fuh now, an’ get on wid somet’ing else. He ringin’ dah election bell when ’e good an’ ready, an’ not a minute befo’.
I din remember to tell yuh dat las’ monf was Senior Citizens’ Monf. Why youff look ’pon de aged as nuisances – excep’ fuh duh pension checks? Ef duh onderstan’ dat ole age gine come to dem too – ef duh lucky to live dah long – duh would treat duh elders wid kindness an’ respeck.
To abandon yuh ole relatives, den turn ’roun’ an’ t’ief duh money to spen’ ’pon yuhself, is a disgrace! Yuh en got no shame? God don’ like ugly! I glad enuff de Minister of Healf inten’ to do somet’ing ’bout it.
As de years fly by, we don’ know how an’ whey we gine en’. I was visitin’ somebody in a nursin’ home recently, an’ when I look ’roun’ an’ see people I used to know in duh much younger days – bright, intelligent people, holdin’ big-payin’, responsible jobs – now jes’ sittin’, starin’, in a worl’ o’ duh own, depennin’ ’pon a nurse at evry turn, I went ’way feelin’ real depress.
Life could tek some strange turns – a impo’tant high-flyer today, a feeble, near-helpless ole body tomorrow. Oh well, dat’s life!
Tek care o’ yuhselfuh frien’ Babsie
