O-live Dickson scores 100

Ley me deal wid me Murray Village people first. Ah felt proud ah de children of O-live “Mother” Dickson who on Thursday (yesterday) chalked up her first hundred.

Actually she is de third female, ah repeat “female” in de village to have done so, all within de last six years. First was Beatrice “Tanty B” Smith, den Mother Mc Intosh nee English and now Mother Dickson. And if it is de will of de Lord, come next year “Aunt Hannah” Dickson nee Mc Lean will score ah hundred too.{{more}}

Mother Dickson clan came in from all over, twenty something ah dem dat include family and dear friends, all but one of her nine children alive made it, ah saw grand children, great-grand children, great-great-grand; imagine her grand-daughter is ah grand-mother!

De week long Anniversary Celebrations began last Sunday in grand style at Paradise Beach Hotel. Pan Maestro, Rodney Small rendered de national Anthem on de arrival of Sir Fred who stayed and enjoyed himself wid some rootsie people. Hear nah, Sir Fred is no Hi-Tea Ti-Tea, is only de ugly GG mouth-stash dat got him looking like ah Co-loan-yell, but HE is ah very humble fellar eh! Pastor Daniel did ah fitting exhortation foh ah lady who is one of his faithful parishioner. And Wilfred one ah de sons, who is quite ah public speaker, delivered himself well as MC.

De itinerary foh de week continued wid ah trip to Bequia on Monday; an excursion to de Tobago Cays on Tuesday, Wednesday was Open House dat included ah surprise visit by de GG’s Rep to deliver de Queen’s 100 birthday greetings; Yesterday, Thursday was ah Goat cook up de River and today Friday is ah Fun and Games day when de men will beat some Dominoes.

We were reminded by de MC dat life foh Mother Dickson and Ernest, her deceased husband was no bed-ah-roses finding food and clothes foh ten growing children. But Mother Dickson committed her life to Christ very early, and remained ah model Christian up to today. Keeping eight boys in check is no esay task, but she did ah one-dah-full job wid dem, ah know dem all as lickle kids, my peers and school-mates, dey all live abroad but have not lost dey humility, manners and respect. In short dey ain’t forget dey roots.

Ah was telling Lie-Za dat dey’s something we eating in Murray Village dat meking dem ladies live to ah hundred. Ah have to watch carefully what ah eat me-self, or ah might just mek ah hundred too. Wid her out-ah-place self, she tell me not to raise me hopes, dis 100 deal is open to women only!

JUST LOWER DE

FEW-ILL PRICE

May I ask, way kind ah “do what I say and not what I do” master stroke de Pry Minister trying. He inviting de business houses to pay employees ah tax free bone-us foh Christmas, but his Go-venom-ment not paying ah Red Cent bone-us. Clearly this man refuses to accept de fact dat if fish head is bad, de whole body stinks; and if de Go-venom-mint brokes den de whole country scrambling!

Lie-Za is correct, she says dat wid Oil Prices on de market down to $58.00 ah barrel, we in SVG should be paying $4.00 less per gallon foh gas and diesel like Anguilla, den every vehicle owner would ah mek ah meaningful savings. Foh example, ah Mini Van using fifteen gallons ah gas daily would ah save $60.00 ah day, equivalent to $360.00 ah week. And de Vinlec few-ill-surcharge on electricity bill would ah bin lower still, if only Go-venom-ment would drop de diesel price. But Ole people say: “Way yuh buy, yuh ha-foh wear!

DISCO-NEX-SHUN

What ah shame! CWSA disconnected Lie-Za water because hard times made in difficult foh her to pay her water bill of $90. 00 she owed foh three months. She is lodging ah come-plain to Manager Garth Saunders to reduce de reconnect-shun fine of $100.00 which is more dan de Bill. Yes Garth, put sum-thing to de board on dis!

VIVA CUBA

De best piece ah news foh de week, is dat President Obama’s United States Government has announced plans to normalies diplomatic and economic ties with Cuba. Dis is good polly-ticks foh de US De-mock-rats who not doing well. Ah remember when Obama took office, ah commented dat he will deal wid dat embargo dat US got pon Cuba. Ah must look up my ole articles to see how ah did put it. And look when it’s happening, just when de Venezuelan few-ill life line to Cuba looks heavily overcast. Dey’s so much truth in de statement dat when one window closes de Lord opens many windows and doors. Hear me though, while dis is good prospects foh Cubans at home and de US, we got to get smart and beef-up our Tour-is-him. Dis new development, is very likely to have serious financial implications foh de southern Caribbean’s tour-is-him product. One thing foh sure, Fidel can now rest peacefully! Viva Fidel! Viva Cuba! And wid dat is gone ah gone again.

One Love Bassy.

Bassy Alexander is a land surveyor, folklorist and social commentator.