Taxing Times In Barbados

A friend mentioned to me some weeks ago that he was at his wits end. Tax filing season was coming and the Inland Revenue Department in Barbados was making the change to etax (electronic filing), but did not seem too well set up. The new website boasts, "The online service will become available on January 1, 2009. Barbados will be the first CARICOM country to implement such a comprehensive and modern tax administration system." Not everyone has a computer or access to one and the Internet, yet it seemed that paper forms were not available from the IRD. In a place like Canada or the US, e-filing is easier by having plenty of free access to computers at local libraries, or by the IRD equivalent having terminals in their offices, or by having 'tax agents' complete forms for people for a fee. In Barbados, public access to computers in less (and the 30 minutes slots at the main library wont cut it), and I am sure that the idea of a tax agent is both new and relatively untried--no HR Block here. As Iunderstand it, the IRD is not geared up to handle people visiting them to do the online filing.

I have been off the island for a week but have been hearing and reading about continuing problems with this change over. Another friend, shared with me his continuing horror story.

The e-tax site is just not working properly. Sometimes you can log on but it is very slow and when you get to the actual form certain areas will not allow you to enter information. Some personal information that I managed to update doesn't seem to get updated to the tax return form and just now when I tried to move from one page to the next it told me: An exceptional error occurred. The service has been placed in maintenance. And then even more scary...."Server Error in '/eTaxIrd' Application. User should be assigned before anything. Description: An unhandled exception occurred during the execution of the current web request. Please review the stack trace for more..." Etc. etc... Damn, I hope I didn't break it.

Anyhow, one of my wife's colleagues tried without any success, called Inland Revenue who explained that the site was very busy and it was probably good to try it around midnight. I did that last night but it didn't make any difference. Maybe my technical skills are just not up to this level – I’m going to check and see if other people had more luck using the site. Needless to say that if I had done this manually the form would have been in the IRD’s mail box since yesterday.

Someone commented at a meeting yesterday that in Barbados there is a tendency to reinvent the wheel and then claim that the expertise does not exist to deal with some change or other. Yet, other countries, bigger and smaller have implemented similar changes with no, or few, problems. Is there a mind set that says "We have to do it, or it's no good"? Or is there the annoying, self-serving of bureaucrats who are doing things on the cheap and leaving the poor public to struggle with their penny wise, pound foolish approach? Whatever, the system needed to have been tried and tested well ahead of tax filing season. Most countries run pilot programs first and make sure that teething problems and glitches are ironed out before letting the public loose onto the system. My understanding is that the local administration did not want to do that, but wanted to go live directly. Oh me, oh my.

No doubt, the website is beautiful and attractive (see link), but note that the frequently asked questions pages reports "This section is under construction and therefore its content could be incomplete. We apologize for any inconvenient this may cause." Duh. That couple featured in their cozy pad, supposedly making their easy-peasy tax submission are doing nothing more that updating Facebook, or Twitter, or playing Scrabble on line. You don't feel very inspired when you look at the tax calendar and it states "due dates for 2005".

You can't fool us IRD. You ain't ready. Go back to the drawing board and get it right first.

Where Ignorance Is Bliss.

Summary: The media here do not inform or educate well. Recent reports on deaths of Nigerian nurses is a case in point. Are we being informed by CBC's report or warned or scared? Is the intention to give us a full account of the state of medical services or are we being merely encouraged to victimize? Good press reporting continues to elude us.

I feel bad when I see people wallow in ignorance. I dislike it when I know that people are being misinformed, worse if that is being done deliberately. I occasionally take on the role of 'teacher' because I believe better education helps one make better decisions.

So, I take it to the newspapers, television, and radio in Barbados every now and again, for good reason I feel, because they do not do the job that I am accustomed to. They seem to have little sense that they are meant to be our educators. If you have a wide-based media you can tolerate misinformation up to a degree because there is a lot of good information to counter it. In the UK or USA, and even in many poor or developing countries, there is a vigorous and broad-based press that is not government controlled or controlled by certain pressure or lobby groups. We now also have those who use the Internet to report.

I feel like taking it to the formal media more when there are incidents such as that surrounding a group of Nigerian nurses, recruited to work in the main national hospital, who were shrouded in suspicion and negative stories from their arrival here nearly two years ago.

Most of us living in this region know that it is full of suspicion and superstition. We should also know that it's full of ignorance, not of the malicious kind necessarily, but mere lack of real knowledge. We have beliefs that drive what we do regardless of other evidence to the contrary. For example, 'Don't go out in the rain, you will catch cold' (I understand there is a cold virus and it's not distributed in rainfall). We have also the kind of fears and foolishness about things sexual that lead to people misapplying 'potions' to raise their virility and end up killing themselves.

For me, one of the roles of the media is to seek to educate. So I remain blinking as I read of accusations that some of these Nigerian nurses died of AIDS. I hear loud protests by those who represent the nurses and read that some 40 nurses 'walked off the job', denying that this happened and asking their national nursing federation and the local union to deal with the issue on their behalf (see report). I hear accusations against the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) that the story that they 'broke' on January 12 was 'damaging and false'. I read that a Nigerian government minister came to Barbados to investigate the story and found it to be groundless, and could have far reaching consequences for Nigerian nurses and other professionals working in Barbados, the wider Caribbean, or elsewhere in the world, if the Nigerian government does not take on headlong the position of CBC. What the government official has found is that one nurse died of breast cancer, another remains alive, and a third has a cause of death not yet disclosed to the them. All of that is informative but it really does little to illuminate anything other than confusion.

I have not seen a story with a government or hospital statement to say what were the facts--leaving aside any person's details. And so the pot bubbles and people get concerned and hot air rises and 'fires' are fanned.

Since the group of Nigerian nurses came to Barbados, there have been a slew of stories concerned about their being here, questioning their qualifications, questioning whether they had been screened for communicable diseases, and more. Remember, for whatever reason, this is a country that has some concerns about any influx of certain foreign workers (who funnily enough look mostly like the majority of Bajans)--Chinese, Guyanese, Jamaicans, Vincentians, etc.--though the voices are mute with regard to others (who oddly look like only a large minority of Bajans)--Britions, Canadians, Americans, etc.

I repeat that I have not seen any good information from the government or the hospital officials to deflect these stories, and I apologize if it was published and I missed it.

On top of the balls of news confusion we have some very interesting politics and policies. I have heard that the Barbadian government does not scan prospective foreign employees in the health services for communicable diseases. To me that is scandalous, given the sensitivity of that area of work; given that this small island has been free of certain such diseases for a long time, and given the risks that a spread of certain such diseases on a key part of the economy, its tourism. This small island has very limited medical resources, and it is irresponsible in my mind to play loose and free with the general health of the population. I admit that such scans would could also compromise the island's tourism industry because the natural extension would be to check the medical status of all incoming persons. But you know what? A lot of countries do this. In the developed world, the best know instance is Australia--another island, though a tad bigger than Barbados: if you are travelling from certain places known to have certain communicable diseases, and your medical certification and vaccines are not in order when checked at the airport, you are held in quarantine and may have to go back from where you came. It is also very common in African countries, especially for diseases like yellow fever, in part to protect those who arrive (you need a vaccine) and to avoid the spread or recurrence of a disease that the authorities are trying to control. I read today that Barbados' Health Minister has declared that the government has 'no intention of screening' health facilities workers. That worries me. Funny, we check on the health of imported foods but not on persons entering the island. 

For me, one issue is whether the media has done much to clear the waters. If a medical worker dies of AIDS, what is the relevance? Is the health of patients or fellow workers at risk? If so, how? What I heard of the CBC broadcast leaves the implication that something risky might have happened, but nothing is really ever mentioned, nor was there even a mention that if anyone had been in contact with these persons they needed to go to be tested and where that should be. CBC's concerns are what? 

The nature of the HIV/AIDS disease and its spread are known (exchange of bodily fluids and blood from contact between persons, tainted blood getting into a person, pre-existing condition with someone having HIV from genetic connection), but often confused with things that are believed not to apply (toilet seats, sharing food, living together, breathing the same air, etc.) I have heard people who host radio programs, discuss medical issues and completely misinform about the origins of HIV and AIDS, and laugh about the misinformation, and pander to some stereotypes about it (such as it being just a problem for gay people)! Irresponsible.

I have not heard discussions on the radio on the Nigerian nurses matter in part because I have travelled a good part of the time since CBC made their broadcast concerning the nurses. But I have read a mixture of rebuttals and opinions about whether CBC was acting properly, if the remaining Nigerian nurses who later went on strike were acting properly, and so on. But there has been little about the real facts and about what the country's real concerns should be. That's the fault of the media, the hospital authorities and the government.

But from the time that the nurses arrived in April 2007 there has been a schizophrenic attitude, even a reported smearing by the former Health Minister (see Nation report of April 7, 2008). If that story is true one has to wonder how government works in Barbados. The former PM recently used 'poor rakey' to describe Parliamentary activity. Looks like it was rampant already.

I do see a letter in yesterday's paper from someone who also questions CBC's motives and showing the need for more public discussion on health issues (see Nation report, January 27, 2009). Was the motivation all about sensationalism and victimization, rather than information? What has been done subsequently to straighten the record and allay fears?

What is clear is that Bajans, like any nation, have legitimate concerns, and these are going to be high when they feel that their health may be compromised. So, if there is a salmonella outbreak and shelves of food need to be cleared the important facts need to be known and the origins of the tainted goods discovered, and the cause of the contamination understand and hopefully corrected. 'What would happen if one read or heard a headline such as 'Chinese food tainted with salmonella', with very little additional information? Even if it only related to baby milk, people would start panicking as they tried to spit out the mouthful of chicken lo-mein they had just bought from the local Chinese take away. They would want to scour the labels of food they had bought to see if they were of Chinese origin. The Chinese diplomats in the country would be down on the news organs and the government like a ton of bricks seeking at least a clarification and perhaps correction. Nigerian nurses?

The media like 'hot button' issues. HIV/AIDS is one of these. Fears about foreigners is another. Compromised health care is a third. And so on. Mix them together carelessly and you have a nice little toxic cocktail. If it were me in charge of CBC I would not be sitting with a smile on my face, but would be wondering when my butt was going to be kicked and what my next assignment was going to be.

CBC seem stuck, standing by the 'truth' of what they reported. The point is not necessarily the truth but what are we expected to do with the information. Let me ask CBC a few questions. Do we hound the other nurses? Do we insist that all nursing/medical staff be screened for communicable diseases? Do we insist that no medical workers enter without such tests? Do we need to identify people who might have had 'at risk' contact with those who died? Will CBC tell us about cases of salmonella, chicken pox, small pox, TB, MRSA disease, air borne fungal infections, staff with erratic behaviour, incidents of stolen medication, staff with drug records, staff with dubious qualifications, botched procedures, legal cases pending against the hospital or doctors or nurses for forms of malpractice, etc.? If we are to be warned and informed, then let's be thorough.

Just this weekend, the PM called on the media and others to do more, some, any investigative journalism into government activities. His call needs to be generalized. But again, as I say often, you get to live with what you tolerate. I hope that the sword that he wields smites as far as is needed.

Wake Up And Smell The Coffee!

I am not a journalist by training, but I guess that by writing on almost a daily basis, I have become a journalist by practice. I am not an investigator by profession, but I do like to probe and my professional work has always been about finding answers or at least trying to ask the right questions. So, if I put those elements together then I suppose I could be called an 'investigative journalist'. In a few lines I have created my new employment category, at least for today.

With my new mantle, I feel ready to tackle the charge being levelled by Barbados' prime minister. I have to first thank a real journalist, Ricky Jordan, for reporting the story, and having spent time at Holders Hill listening to the PM give an account of his government's first year in office. I thank Mr. Jordan mainly because I was spending the time following world financial affairs and the Australian Open tennis, which due to the large time difference means that I should sleep by day and be up at night. Owls can do, so why can't I? But I'm actually up much of the time and will try to catch sleep next week.

The PM was reported (see Nation report January 27) to have said, 'Barbadian professionals, especially journalists and lawyers, must break the silence regarding several scandals left behind by the former Government.' To be fair, the gauntlet thrown down against professional journalists had in fact been thrown down already by fellow untrained journalists on some of the local blogs such as Barbados Free Press and Barbados Underground. They had in their way tried to show how the task should be done.When in today's paper, Mr. Jordan reports further on the meeting my heart skipped several beats. Why? He reports the PM as saying:

'Pointing to "a conspiracy of silence and indifference" across Barbados, he urged the mass media to take a look at itself in light of administrative scandals that remained un-investigated', and that, the PM also said,

"No editorial writer or columnist has to date commented on the squeaky clean Government we have run. No person doing business with this Government can accuse us of unfair practices," noting by contrast the "wastage" of $3 million in Hardwood Housing Inc., the Rural and Urban Development Commissions; contracts awarded without tender; houses built but not accounted for; as well as rampant cost over-runs to the tune of "hundreds of millions of dollars".

I know that these points have been taken up by some blogs, and yes NOT much by the editorial writers or columnists in the local papers. I am not claiming any special reward or prize, but before going on I will say that recognition is due to that group. Their style may not be pretty or polite--and I have my sparring with some of them when it comes to the tone of commentary that they tolerate, but they control their forums, but their approach is not a buried head in sand or gaze away in indifference approach.

Apparently--thanks again, Ricky--in a speech charged with accusations, the PM called for an end to hypocrisy ("Let's hear an Amen!"), stating "we have reached the sad, sorry stage in Barbados where people, in order to curry favour with a displaced political oligarchy or to position themselves for future handouts and benefits, would compromise all standards, ethics and principles on issues of transparency, accountability and morality".

In another article (see Nation report, January 27), the PM reportedly:

'also blasted lifestyles that were unseemly for people in high office, stating this had "everything to do with ability when the person or persons personifying Barbados are discredited and disreputable". Ho-ho! Those who listen to the radio call-in programs will remember that famous Sunday in 2007 when a certain minister decided that he did not want what he felt was public lynching and ran from the studio rather than deal with a question about 'millionaire lifestyles' on a government minister's pay.

Mr. Jordan adds, 'The Prime Minister also urged Barbadians not to be indifferent to the issue of rampant wastage, where rundown hotels were ill-advisedly purchased, renovated and supported at a cost of over $400 million, but which currently have a market value of only $40 million,' and that,

'Thompson boasted that a significant achievement of his Government had been the stamping out of corruption, the pursuit of transparency and the practice of accountability.'

Now, I do not know Mr. Jordan or the PM personally. The tone of the articles are friendly and I suspect that before long I may hear that Mr. Jordan is some DLP lackey or know BLP hater, which is why he has given all of this paper space to the PM's hammering on the drum of anti-corruption and responsible journalism. If that is so, it does not necessarily detract from the essence of what is being said and being called for.

My working life has been all about accountability. I was not necessarily in the public eye much of the time, but I was doing my public service and knew that the money was not mine or my friends and family's and that there was a certain duty of care and honesty that had to be preserved. Had I become a lawyer or politician--they do live in the same skin, often--I might have seen that my black-and-white view on honesty in public service needed to be shaded. I tried to do a good job and give good service. These are not concepts well accepted in Barbados.

Taking the word of our latest Superman, President Obama, which was already one of my own, "Look!". It's simple. You get what you deserve if as a people, public, society, or community, you put up with shoddiness and do not put feet to the fire for poor service, administration, governing, hygiene and more. More so if you say you run a service economy.

A letter I wrote a few weeks ago about the absurd activities of LIME/C&W, was published in the Sunday papers, and it elicited a call last night from an acquaintance at the company who having read the letter was incensed that the newspapers had dragged up a story from over a year ago to embarrass the company. When the first instance had occurred in early 2008, this acquaintance had resolved the problem I cited with painstaking patience with those in the organization and a sense of customer care that is virtually unknown here. So, over a long conversation, I had to explain that this was indeed a fresh instance. She gasped and was appalled that colleagues could not think through "how to serve the customer" as she put it. Much of the time she was in silence, and I imagine shaking her head.

Those of us who have decided to rail against bad or poor quality anything in Barbados--which is setting itself up as a place of excellence--know of what we speak. The PM's call may ring hollow because the general approach here is not to probe and dig and fight to correct, but to dissemble and shuffle and mutter and say "It's a mistake".

A friend called me twice within the past two days and began by asking me, "Dennis, tell me if I am over-reacting." She told me of a visit to the cinema during the weekend, with a group of children. Everything indicated the film would start at 3pm: the newspaper, the recorded message on the cinema phone line, the printed time on the tickets that she bought. But after sitting in the theatre for some 30 minutes she wondered what was happening. Cutting a long story short, she was told, "De flim goin' start at 3.30". When asking why this was so, she was told that the change had been made nearly a week ago and all of the films due at 3pm were now at 3.30pm. "Is a mistake. We neva change de recording or correct de newspaper ads or reprint de tikit." No one had said anything either when the tickets were bought, and no signs indicated this change. So, company policy? Let the poor paying suckers pay and waste nearly an hour because we are too lazy or uncaring to even put up a simple chicken scratch notice or say boo. Next.

Her second call was about UWI, where she enrolled for a course. SHe had heard nothing about her application. The response: "We have not heard from the dean of admissions". So, one day after the course was due to start my friend does not know if she should be studying in classes! As we say in Jamaica, "Is wha kin' a foolishness dis?" This is the foolishness that takes time to develop and you nurture it by being indifferent.

So, as I told my friend, write a letter to the cinema and UWI. Also send a copy to the newspapers, who may or may not publish it. Also, write about it on the Internet: that is free airspace and its contents are known and picked up; if you put in the key word 'Barbados' it may also get picked up by international interests and before you know it you are on Google's first page.

But, will any of this pushing against mediocrity make for change? The mantra of President Obama needs to be sung loudly in Barbados. This country must change and make that change seriously and soon.

Shocking News: Barbadians Living In The Dark Ages.

No, walking the plank is not going to be brought in to deal with those errant PSV owners and drivers. Bajans are just enjoying walking by moonlight along the new Hastings boardwalk.

But, God's own island and the land that time has not forgotten was brought to its knees yesterday morning by another island-wide power outage. No! Barbados getting too Caribbean, you hear. Dis is not Jamayka! This is not Guyana, but see how the Guyanese are destroying the island.

I was out having my customary breakfast in the overcast sunlight of St. George's and I saw the line for cappuccinos lengthening. Hmm. Then I heard, "Power gone, man" So, for an uncomfortable half hour or so the late comers and second cuppers had to weather this non-electrical storm. The lines were long because the lines were down.

So, I zipped off to tackle my friendly telephone company, LIME, at their Sheraton hideaway. On the way my radio crackled and I heard a man impersonating a monkey, "It wasn't me. Not this time." Monkeying about on the lines was a famous previous reason. These crazy hip hoppers. Wait a minute. I listened again. Island-wide power outage? Oh, dear. I made a quick call to my dear one and explained that my business might be delayed. I guess that a lot of people did not know what was going on except that they had no power. We have gas stoves at home so cooking is not an issue, but you soon start to worry about the fridge and freezer.

I get to the mall. Everyone was wandering around the car park. LIME's doors were locked and the store was pitch black. I looked inside the food court and saw a few people licking ice creams. Food servers were sitting in front of their stores with no one to serve and nothing else to do. I could almost see the GDP numbers falling. I asked at LIME what was the deal: "We open 30 minutes after the power comes back," was the reply I got after three times of asking. I struck up a conversation with a woman talking to herself--she did not need me--and a Jamaican-Bajan couple, whose children were touting for money. We made a lot of sport about how Jamaicans would have been beating down the place or worse by now. Bajans just stood calmly, waiting for Godot.

Twenty minutes later, about 10.15, power came back. Pizza ovens flamed. LIME lights were on again and we grumpy customers started to pull our tickets and wait our turn; I was first in line.

This is the third island-wide outage in two years (two prior in June and August 2008; before that none before 2006). I have lived here for two years. DLP have been in power (oops) since early 2008. Is there a connection? Sorry, again. Clearly no electrical connection. Geddit? Shocking. We need to know the truth.

BL&P tell us that two steam turbines tripped at the Spring Garden generating station. Their chief marketing officer, Stephen Worme (where do they get these names?) in effect said no need to worry, "over the past few years overall reliability of our system has ... improved. Reducing the number of outages and the length of outages has improved over the last couple of years." I kid you not, that's what he is reported to have said. Will someone please check these people for substance abuse.

Bredda Jackass Gon' on Holiday

A polite version of this story has just been submitted to the local newspapers so let's see how they deal with it. Meanwhile, I can vent in my own way here.

I have my mobile phone and depend on it just like every one else, so I am not shocked to read this morning that Cable and Wireless (who operate our regional star, LIME) made profits of over US$500 million/B$1 billion during the past year. The Caribbean operations were glittering, pulling in the best revenues of the whole pack and cutting operating costs. Pity the poor 1200 souls who will be laid off in the Caribbean region, then.

But pity done. Jackass running wild with LIME on his tongue.

The past day has heard me screaming loudly and boiling internally at the ostrich called "LIME". I am reading books on arson as I write. The story in brief, and it's not the first time.

"Catch 22" has nothing on this:

1. Each postpaid mobile phone customer has a credit limit; but the company rarely communicates this unless it is exceeded. Bong!
   
2. Occasionally such a customer will get a text message saying that he/she has exceeded the credit limit and that the bill should be settled to avoid disconnection; note that this message comes ahead of the date that a bill is due (in my case the bill is due to be paid January 22). Bi-bong!
   
3. The customer pays promptly but the service is still disconnected. Tinkle that bell.
   
4. The customer calls 'customer service' repeatedly to find out why the service has been disconnected. 'Customer service' confirms that the bill has been paid and the balance is zero, and that service will be reinstated. But it is not. This can go on for a while, in my case, 24 hours. Banggarang bang!
   
5. The customer visits a LIME shop, this time at Sheraton Mall. A LIME representative confirms the bill has been paid but that there still remains a balance outstanding. The customer has no way of seeing this and therefore settling it! This is what must be paid to have the account reinstated. Abangarang bang!
   
6. But, LIME at Sheraton cannot accept payments for these bills! One has to go to a Sure Pay outlet. Fortunately, there is one in the mall. One pays, and hopefully one will get reinstated service.
7. Sure Pay do not take electronic card payments such as from my Scotiabank debit card, but only take cash or check. I have to find an ATM. Clang the bang can!

I have gone through this wringer with LIME/CW and their credit limits at least three times in the past 12 months, and cannot get them to understand that if you see a bill and settle it, one normally takes it that there is nothing more to pay. "Pending charges' are not available for the customer to see until they are billed, yet it is these that block the account! Which part of "stooopid" don't they hear? Imagine going to a restaurant and eating a meal, then paying the bill only to find the door barred when you try to leave, with the owner saying that there are some charges still pending, due to the shippers of the key lime pie. When you ask to see them you're told they are not available for you to see, but in the meantime take a seat. They impound your car and tell you to have a nice day. Would you be fuming?

I am really tired of getting the bureaucratic ostrich in the sand reaction each time I make this point to LIME/CW. If the 'customer service' available by phone or the customer checking his/her account online cannot see these charges then there is something really wrong with how this company does its accounting. Which part of hard ears they don't understand?

My anger and frustration were at their peak today because in amongst all of this havoc created by a bureaucrat, the island was gripped by a total power outage. So, in addition I had to deal with:

LIME being closed initially and an operative saying, "We open the doors 30 minutes after the power come back". OK, I wait and meet a mad Bajan woman talking to herself outside, saying that she's not going to wait for the power to come back, and she's trying to tell me how Bajans are normal people. I let her speak to my friend, Thesephone.

Sure Pay's operative in Courts told me, "De systim down; we get powa cut." I ask when it may be back up. "Don' know." Back she went to looking at nails.

I find another Sure Pay outlet in the Mall but they send me to have to get cash out of the ATM, hoping that the power outage has not affected the cash machine. Thankfully, money flowed out like rain.

I do not need to go onto Facebook to vent as suggested by some in a recent post on Barbados Free Press.

But, this place is just one hair wringing experience after another and people seem to just laugh it off. Here ye. We are on the cusp of development. Laugh your head off, then, and kick it into the gutter for good measure.

Jamaicans have the right expression for this. Dem bad to rahtid!

Is This Island Full of Crazies?

I have determined, after a mere two days back in Barbados, that living here is truly living in the land of the surreal. Why? I will share two stories.

One in today’s Nation: The Urban Development Corporation is looking for "missing houses". How does a development agency of any sector lose its developments? Have aliens sneaked in and whisked them away like the thieves in Jamaica who stole sand from the beach? A special housing officer has been mandated to seek then out and determine their condition. Go, Rover! In the same edition, we read about the continued development boom on the island’s west coast. Presumably, these buildings will not disappear and need to be found. What the….!These are not the paper and balsa wood houses built by children, but concrete and steel structures we're talking about; you can't tuck them into your pocket and walk off the island. But, wait, with all the financial sector bubbles being burst, don't tell me that we have some real assets that are now not real. Not sure if the picture I took some weeks ago is of one of the lost houses.

The second, told to me by a friend, sounds like a joke but she swore that it really happened. She called the Licensing Authority (LA) and explained to the man who answered that she was an expatriate, living in the island for a year now, whose visitor’s driving permit was due to expire and wanted to know how to get a permanent driving permit. She knew that in the last budget, the visitors’ permits now cost B$100 instead of the previous B$10, and that instead of a year’s duration now had only a two month validity. “You need to get a learner’s permit”, came the reply. “What?” asked my friend, “I know how to drive and I have been doing it for 30 years in my own country and for a year since I came to Barbados. Why do I need to learn to drive again?” Of course, the pause. “You need to get the learner’s permit and only drive with an instructor by your side.” My friend was last heard banging her head loudly on her kitchen counter, mumbling “One, two, three…” I mentioned this to a policemen I know, who told me that he would help transport the person in the Licensing Authority to the mental home in his squad car. Of course, trying to get a clear answer from the LA Law proved impossible, and the 'up to date' information provided by government websites are all out of date, still referring to the pre-budget arrangements. Hello! Is anyone running the country? In case you want to check the blank pages on the Barbados Government Integrated Portal [BGIP] (see the website); be gypped. Disgrace to see a big fat blank page under "Licensing Authority Highlights"!