Caribbean Union of Teachers/John Thompson Fellows Planning Workshop
November 24 – December 2, 2004
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Wednesday, November 24
Today I will leave for Bridgetown, Barbados via Toronto but before my flight, I spend two hours in the office on a conference call with Renee Hughes and Julie Snyder concerning our contract at the Banff Centre for the 2005 Summer Conference. A major departure this year will be our stepping away from making everyone’s reservations and letting delegates make their own. Raymond brings in a photocopy of the next Magazine and I take that away with me to read in detail, once again, on the flight.
At 1100, I leave Barnett House for the international airport and my 1300 departure for Toronto. I park in long-term parking and then check in via one of the remote check-in terminals, with a little help from an Air Canada agent. On the way to Toronto, I read the Magazine copy and note a couple of editing errors but I do not see the wrong dates for teachers’ conventions in the Calendar. I will hear about this on my return from my associate editor.
In Toronto, I collect luggage and follow the signs to the area where hotel buses come and go. The bus from Hampton Inn shows up and I board. As we leave the terminal, the driver asks if I’m the one who phoned the hotel for pickup. When I tell him I just jumped on, he realizes that he has probably left someone behind. We travel over to another terminal to check for passengers there, who do not materialize, and then return to Terminal One to see if we can find the missing passenger. We do, she climbs in and off we go. She has arrived from St John’s, Newfoundland where, she tells us, they have experienced 40 straight days of rain. I just love the dry old prairies when I hear stories like that.
Hampton Inns are the low-end hotels of the Hilton chain that cater to business travellers. I have a nice room on the seventh floor (728) and, after settling in, I go down to see what can be done about a late supper. I’m directed to a stack of restaurant menus at the end of the check-in counter and I pick out the one for The Keg, feeling as I am in need of Alberta beef. The hotel shuttle bus takes me directly there and the driver tells me to just call the hotel when I’m ready to go home. The driver works twelve-hour shifts and he has the radio tuned to a classical music station. I comment on this and he tells me that he was a classical pianist and teacher of music in his homeland. “But I had to find other work when I came to Canada,” he says.
The Keg serves me a delicious dinner, specifically an end cut of prime rib, Caesar salad, stuffed potato and a glass of red wine. My waitress is perhaps 50 years old, certainly the most senior of the servers that I see. As she comes up to my table, I comment on her nice tie. “Nice tie,” I say to which she responds “You think so?” She wonders if it isn’t too girly but I say that a man could wear it with a nice black jacket. Her mother gave it to her, she tells me, so that her father wouldn’t wear it!
On the way back to the Hampton, the driver tells me of his recent purchase of an electronic keyboard and of his desire to get back to some serious playing. In my room, I iron clothes for the morning’s travels, set the alarm clock for 0530 and turn in.
Thursday, November 25
The alarm clock and the telephone simultaneously announce the arrival of the appointed hour and I roll out of bed to begin the day. After showering and dressing, I head down to the lobby for the complimentary breakfast buffet. This is really quite a good meal and the eggs are cooked to look like little pancakes—round and fluffy—and this is what I mistake them for. After breakfast, I go back up to my room to collect luggage then return to the lobby to pay my bill and await the shuttle bus for a ride to the airport. There are two passengers on this morning and we both get off at Terminal One where I check in at yet another remote kiosk for the flight to Barbados. After dropping off luggage, I’m directed to a bus that will take me and everyone else heading for the Caribbean to the infield terminal where we will actually board the aircraft.
Clearing security is no problem but I am asked if my camera is film or digital. When I say “film” the agent seems a bit concerned about x-ray damage, the first time I have encountered this concern in a long time. I assure him that all will be well and the camera, my jacket and sundry possessions proceed through the magic looking glass.
The “in-field bus” arrives and takes a load of us to the departure terminal. I meet up with Nancy Kerr, the representative from the Manitoba Teachers’ Society (MTS) and we visit until Nicole Patenaude arrives. Nancy came from Winnipeg last night and Nicole arrived from Ottawa this morning. This is going to be a fairly long day for Nancy and me but a really long one for Nicole who started her day at 0300 this morning. Our flight is called and we proceed onto the Boeing 767.
It is wet and icy in Toronto this morning and bad traffic conditions have been heard of here and there. The effect of the weather on aircraft leaving Toronto this morning is that they all need to be sprayed with de-icing fluid. On leaving the terminal, our aircraft proceeds through a multi-lane “airplane wash” where three of four aircraft are de-iced simultaneously by a fleet of spray trucks. We then trundle off in line, eventually taking off about half an hour behind schedule.
Once in flight, I begin this journal and have my Air Canada breakfast—“eggs or fruit plate?” We are served little boxes with our meal, each of which contains a Tortuga Caribbean rum cake. I’m saving mine for arrival in Barbados. There is quite a bit of turbulence and it takes a while to get the trays cleared away. The movie is “King Arthur” and I catch bits of it while I write. Just before it ends, the movie is stopped so that the duty-free carts can be wheeled up and down the isles. Nicole comes by and vents her feelings about dehydration and stopping the movie just at the climax for the “damn carts.” The poor girl really needs a good sleep.
Observations today. The passengers are an interesting mix of Caribbean folk and North Americans. My seat partner is a Canadian girl of about twenty. Across from me is a retired European couple and behind them a woman and her mother returning to Barbados. We are all heading to the Caribbean sunshine.
After five hours aloft, a lot of the time in turbulence, we arrive at Grantly Adams International Airport. This is a busy place and lots of British and American aircraft share the ramp with our Air Canada Boeing. Luggage collection, immigration and customs go smoothly and we find our way to the terminal exit. There we are greeted by Cobin Hinds who welcomes us warmly. We leave for the hotel in his car while his colleague Pedro follows in a small truck with all of our luggage.
Our home in Barbados is to be the Caribbee Resort and we reach it after driving along the Maxwell Main Road that follows the coastline of the southern district of the Island. Barbados is divided into parishes for administrative purposes, all but one named for a saint. We will reside at Hastings, located in Christ Church Parish, just south and east of Bridgetown, the capital city. The airport is also located in this parish. As we travel, we encounter round-abouts or traffic circles, each named after a prominent Bajan (the name for people from Barbados). The Caribbee is a three story structure located immediately on the shore-front and we are given rooms on the first floor overlooking the sea. I spend some time just looking at the movement of the water and listening to the sea sounds. Directly below is the deck for the hotel’s swimming pool that is actually located under the building itself.
We meet up in the hotel dining area, open to the sea on the west side, and spend some time just unwinding and visiting after our flight. Some rum punch is sampled followed by a light supper and yet more rum beverages, all of which are delicious (and not too injurious, apparently, to my system the next morning). Throughout this time, we are all mesmerized by the sea and the sky as they both change with the setting of the sun. This is a remarkably beautiful place and, as if to emphasize the setting, three cruise ships pass by either entering or departing from the Bridgetown moorings.
Nicole, fatigued by the long day she has experienced, turns in. Nancy and I walk down the beach, now exposed by the low tide, until we reach a rock barricade that prevents further travel. On return to the hotel, I sleep deeply without air conditioning, just enjoying the warm maritime air and the sound of the rolling ocean outside my window.
Friday, November 26
We meet for breakfast just after 0800. Cobin comes to collect us just before 0900, along with his 20 year old daughter Carol Anne. Cobin is the vice-principal of a secondary school that is located at the north end of the island in the city of Speightstown, St Peter Parish. We leave Hastings and drive north, bypassing Bridgetown, and dropping Carol Anne off at her college near Government House. Our inland route along highway 2A gives us an impression of the farming and plantation industries that help support the Barbados economy. Fields of sugar cane, okra and vegetables, some with “planter class” homes beside them, lay wonderful vistas before us and Cobin speaks about the settlement of the island that is his home. Finally, we turn west toward the coast and drive through the busy city of Speightstown to Cobin’s school.
Alma Parris School includes grades equivalent to Grades 4 to 12 in Alberta. The school is set in a compound of five buildings, all of which are modern and quite well equipped. Cobin takes us to the staff room first and introduces us to the teachers who are working there. We then wander the grounds, talking to some of the kids, and I begin photographing those who agree to have their picture taken. The camera makes interaction with the students easy and it seems both they and I have fun during the process.
After a tour of the classrooms, Cobin takes us out of the school proper and into the streets of Speightstown. We visit shops and vendors, getting Nicole’s glasses fixed and finding hair spray strong enough to tame Nancy’s wild red hair. It’s fun to be part of Cobin’s neighbourhood and to see the greetings he receives from former students, merchants, the police officer and others we encounter. Cobin takes us to lunch at a shorefront restaurant where we eat our meals on the open veranda. Dinner is served cafeteria-style from behind Plexiglas screens and it’s delicious, especially when accompanied by a local beer. We have pictures here, taken by a tourist at a neighbouring table, who seems quite comfortable using the F-100, and then we return through the streets to the school. I walk along the shore past the school, shooting some of the old houses that are quite common on the island. These are known as chattel houses and were either purchased or given to the slaves upon emancipation many years ago. These tiny steep-roofed houses retain a unique individual character and many have been made over several times in their histories.
A colleague of Cobin drives us back to Hastings but instead of the interior road, he takes us along the shoreline, through Bridgetown and on to the Caribbee. As we pass through the capital, he points out the enormous cruise ships that have disgorged their passengers onto the island. I would like to go back for a closer look at these behemoths but that will be for another day if I can arrange it at all.
At the hotel, we agree that a short rest is in order and decide to meet at 1500 in the patio bar. I spend some time updating this journal, take a short nap, and then go down to the lounge to wait out a heavy rain squall that has come ashore. When the rain lets up, I walk along the shoreline not far from the hotel, photographing the ruins and remains of old villas and resort buildings. I find a rather worn conch shell near the water which I take along for the collection of shells at home. Crossing the main street at the hotel, I walk to the Royal Bank building to exchange some of my shiny new Canadian twenty dollar bills for rather more Barbados dollars.
None of us want to stay at the hotel for supper tonight and so we walk to a beautiful seaside restaurant called Champers and enjoy a superb dinner and lots of engaging conversation. A long walk along the beach in the light of the full moon follows, this time with Nicole along as well. The setting is simply exquisite—the sea at low tide, a full moon above, and the embracing Caribbean air. My shoes and socks come off and the three of us wade home through the gentle surf.
Saturday, November 27
What awakens me this morning is a growing awareness that the air conditioner has shut down and the parallel awareness of the heat and humidity in my room. Looking at the darkened face of the bedside alarm radio, I realize that we are experiencing a power outage. This has had no effect on the supply of hot water, however, and a shave and shower follow my greeting to the sea.
As I step into the hallway to walk to breakfast, a familiar voice says “Good morning, Tim.” It is Avril Crawford, one of the Thompson Fellows from Guyana, and vice-president of CUT. We walk to the dining room together and sit with Victoria Albert, EI regional representative, whom I last saw in St John, Newfoundland. After breakfast, all of us start our walk up to the Pommarine Hotel where the CUT professional development conference will be held. Outside our hotel, I encounter Anthony Wolfe, another of our Fellows, and Cobin who has arrived to check up on us and to give us a lift to the Pommarine. With Cobin is his young niece Eloise, who is an eight year old charmer. We decide to walk the short distance and Cobin heads into the Caribbee to take care of some of his other hosting duties.
The Hotel Pommarine is a lovely building, set back from the shore about two blocks. It serves as a teaching hotel for people working in the Caribbean hospitality trades. As such, it is part of a community college campus and part of the college’s department of education. We are greeted on the broad front steps by Patrick Frost, general secretary of the Barbados Secondary Teachers’ Union, and invited in to join the delegates.
The opening session involves introductions of those presenting and welcoming comments from several of them. Nicole speaks on behalf of the three of us and our concomitant organizations. Then Sir Lloyd Sandiford, former teacher, minister of education and prime minister speaks, after a generous introduction by Mr Frost. The two are clearly colleagues of long standing. We take part in some plenary sessions and listen to the NEA representative and the AFT representative providing perspectives from the point of view of teaching as a profession and teachers as members of a trade union.
In the afternoon we Canadians take a cab to the Hilton Centre, a shopping complex situated inland. Our cab costs $15B and I add a $5B tip. The mall’s narrow hallways lead us around to a variety of stores and through the food floor area where Nicole points out the fascinating name of one of the food vendors—Fourplay Restaurant. We wonder what their specialty might be. Nicole buys a beautiful bracelet and Nancy an Anne Kline watch for her birthday. My advice on these is sought, rather to my surprise, but I’m not sure it’s taken too seriously. I consider some Bass shoes but decide to take a pass. We call for the same cab to come and collect us and soon the Hardcore Cab Company is winging us back to the Caribbee.
In the evening, we return to the Pommarine Hotel for a reception put on by the minister of education for folk attending the professional development conference. There is a band made up of senior high students that is playing and they are all known to the twin daughters of Phil Perry. The names of the twins are Klebere and Zuwena and they are a lot of fun to be around. We had met them earlier in the day but this evening, they insist on taking me to meet their friends the musicians. Together, we talk the band into playing a few more numbers and, indeed, the band rocks the place. These kids are a tonic and they certainly add a bright facet to an interesting day.
Dinner tonight is at the Oka Greek Restaurant located just down the beach from our hotel. We are greeted by a young Canadian woman and she seats us right at the edge of the patio, overlooking the shoreline. Dinner is okay but Nicole’s meal seems awfully basic, even for her. She has so many food allergies that she can only have rice, potatoes or vegetables, none of which can have garnishes of any kind. We return to the hotel and change for our nocturnal beach walk, after which a rum punch brings the day to an end.
Sunday, November 28
We begin the day in the large meeting room of the Caribbee Hotel, located next to the open air lounge. This is the beginning of the CUT planning workshop and Byron Farqueson starts us off with a round of introductions. Included in our little band are three Thompson Fellows who visited Canada in May—Anthony Wolfe from Barbados; Celestine John from Antigua; and Jerry Coipel from Dominica. Avril Crawford is assigned to attend the professional development program at the Pommarine Hotel and consequently we only will see her at our hotel for breakfast.
Nicole explains the mission of the Canadians, that is, to help develop a collaborative program that will focus on improving the bargaining skills and information and communications skills of teachers in the Caribbean region. Nearly all of the morning is spent determining a vision statement and a good deal of the afternoon working on a mission statement. This is hard tilling and I wonder what we will be able to accomplish if the pace doesn’t pick up fairly soon. Nancy talks about the resources MTS is prepared to put into the venture and I go over the Pan African Teachers’ Centre (PATC) website workshop program and the Palliser Dominica program as they may be applied to CUT objectives. Colin Greene gives a thorough and rather amusing presentation on the way in which bargaining is carried out in the Caribbean and Cobin Hinds, the “go-to guy,” speaks about communications opportunities and challenges his colleagues face.
We adjourn at 1700 and, after a pause for hospitality, we three walk to a little restaurant located in a small hotel to the east of the Caribbee. I have pork roast with creamed potatoes accompanied by a glass of rum punch. Wonderful! The young daughter of our waitress enters the restaurant, along with her godfather, and they sit at a table next to us. We learn this because the waitress tells us and all of us visit a bit. On leaving, the cook comes out from the kitchen to bid us goodbye. She is a woman perhaps in her sixties and she has made us wonderful meals, even for Nicole.
Returning to the hotel, we prepare for our beach walk and then head out on the sands. The tide is well on its way out but we are unable to stay completely dry. Passing two fishers, I ask about their tackle and rate of success in landing fish. Like most Bajans we have met these two young men are kind and welcoming. I enjoy talking with them.
We join a number of our colleagues in the lounge at the Caribbee and enjoy just winding down the day.
Monday, November 29
Day two of our workshop and we start planning for two future workshops, one for bargaining and one for information and communications. Most of the folk are interested in working on the collective bargaining planning and so Jerry Coipel, Cobin Hinds and I shove off to the deck lounge to scheme and plot. As we are leaving the meeting room, one of the bargaining planners says that we will likely get more done in a much shorter time than they will. And, as it turns out, we are quite productive. I learn later that the bargaining folk spent a lot of time on semantics and had some difficulty arriving at a workshop proposal.
We convene later in the morning and report on the progress of our respective groups. Cobin handles our presentation and Colin Greene speaks for the bargainers. We break for lunch and afterward meet to plan ways to implement the bargaining program that has been developed. Nicole asks me to lead this session and I do but I wonder about our progress. If nothing else, maybe I demonstrated a way of running a meeting by moving around and making sure that whoever was speaking had the complete attention of the others. We wrap up at 1700 and make plans for supper.
Nicole, Nancy and I return to the little restaurant of yesterday and I have grilled flying fish, a dish, I find, of which I’m not really fond. A Banks beer or two help get me through the meal. The beer confirms my theory about local beers being superb and Banks does not disappoint.
Our nightly walk follows, with the waning full moon following on a slightly different track, and so ends another day in the Antilles. Tomorrow it is Barbados’ birthday and a national holiday. Very little will be open here in Hastings and we will have to create our own fun after tomorrow’s morning session ends.
Tuesday, November 30
Happy Birthday, Barbados! Another beautiful day reveals itself as I give my greeting to the sea. Today is the Barbados day of independence and, while many on the island will enjoy a day off, those of us attending the CUT workshop will soldier on.
After breakfast, we gather in our meeting room and get underway. This morning, each group is to report on their semi-final plans for workshops. The bargaining group starts and they are clearly now far ahead of what my group has accomplished. Colin Greene and his group have the March, 2005 prototype workshop well scoped out and the plan is presented in its entirety.
I then give an overview of the ICT workshop that Cobin and Jerry worked on with me. I don’t go into anything like the detail that Colin included because I don’t have a copy of the IT curriculum that was developed for the PATC workshops. After outlining the general thrust of what would be accomplished I suggest that the second collective bargaining workshop should coincide with the first ITC workshop and propose July 2005 as a possibility. This gets everyone stirred up because I don’t think a date for the second bargaining workshop had been considered. Planning for the March 2005 workshop hinges on CTF surplus cash that must be used up by the end of that month. A quick discussion ensues with March in subsequent years being the month-of-choice for both of these workshops. It remains to be seen if an ICT workshop can be organized for March 2006 but that is the first available time, provided that CTF and ATA can arrange financing.
After this, we wrap up the workshop with a round of thanks from all parties followed by the requisite group photograph. We go for lunch and disperse afterward.
Nicole and Nancy want to swim off the beach and I want to explore the area around the hotel a bit more. I end up at the Accra Hotel, one of the resorts we have passed on our evening beach walks. The place is beautifully laid out and after having a beer in the open café I check out the dining room for supper tonight.
On the way back to the Caribbee, I walk through a small shore-front park that is filled with students from a local elementary school, their parents and their teachers. Lots of fun is evident based on games, visits and an abundance of food. Rather a pleasant way to celebrate the nation’s birthday.
I encounter Jerry Coipel resting on a bench at the end of the park and I see Nicole and Nancy on the beach below. We all watch as Nancy demonstrates her snorkelling technique a few yards off shore. In the hotel, I drop off some snacks purchased at the neighbourhood ESSO convenience store then head to the lounge to catch up on the journal writing. Sleep starts to overcome and I return to my room for an afternoon powernap.
Supper this evening involves something of a trek. Our plan is to have dinner at the Accra dining room and that’s where we go. Nicole’s allergies permit her only a narrow spectrum of food and it seems that the Accra cannot accommodate her Spartan tastes. This is the first time we have encountered a restaurant that wouldn’t prepare a simple meal. So we move on in search of other establishments and other nutrients for our little tribe and finally settle on Bubba’s Sports Bar. Bubba specializes in hamburgers and that’s what we order, with varying levels of condiments, according to our individual tastes. Being a sports bar, Bubba has television sets around the establishment that pump out extreme sports activities that range from soccer to bull riding. We get bull riding, which I quite enjoy watching but which seems rather lost on my colleagues. Nicole’s burger is not prepared as she wanted it and she eats little of it.
We repair to the Caribbee for further sustenance in the form of chilled rum drinks and to swap stories of places we have been and people we have known.
Wednesday, December 1
Today will be our last full day in Barbados and it begins for me, as usual, with greeting the sea. After breakfast, we assemble in the meeting room for the opening session of the CUT executive meeting. At breakfast, I had dressed casually in short sleeved shirt and khakis but noticed that everyone else was dressed to the nines. Before the meeting, I changed to dress shirt and tie, slacks and sports jacket, hoping to show that I can clean up not too badly.
A nice opening program has been organized and it includes an address by the CUT president, comments from Nicole and a speech by Reginald Farley, the minister of education. We are entertained with performances by students from nearby schools, one of which features a little girl giving a virtuoso presentation. She delivers a morality lesson—stay focused! set to rap rhythms—to the assembled audience, including the minister. A complete charmer and very accomplished. I’m aware of tears in my eyes listening to these beautiful children.
I leave the meeting after the opening session and walk to the nearby laundry to drop off clothes. The woman in charge promises to wash, dry and fold everything and have it ready by 1500. Afterward, I catch a public transit bus for a ride into Bridgetown.
The capital is overwhelming in an odd sort of way. The press of crowds and traffic is quite incredible, much of it originating, I guess, from the gigantic cruise ships that sit at the jetties. Quite a bit of my time is spent photographing old buildings and structures, including the Regent Theatre building. It is in an advanced state of ruin, with the roof partially caved in and most of the windows smashed and boarded. As I photograph this coral block structure, a man on a bicycle approaches. “Do you know what this building was?” he asks and I make my guess—a movie theatre, I reply. He is very interested in the history of this city, it turns out, and we talk about the likely fate of the old theatre. He tells me he noticed me earlier as I was photographing ruins closer to the docks. “Thought you might like to know more about this place,” he says and then bids me good day as he pedals away.
I tire of the city life rather quickly. The stores seem set up to cater to the tourists who must stream off the gigantic cruise ships that fill the harbour berths. I visit a few shops but decide I don’t want (and can’t afford) much of what they have to offer. I also don’t want to be surrounded by folk in Tilley hats, shorts and flip-flops.
Returning to the bus terminal, I ask for the gate for the bus to Hastings and find myself in a line of passengers at gate 12. An older gentleman motions for me to come into the line ahead of him. I thank him for his consideration but go instead to the end of the line where two other fairly senior passengers await the boarding of the Hastings bus. They too offer to let me go before them but I tell them I’m fine with my place in the order of things. Such treatment of strangers is typical, I find, of Bajans who are wonderfully hospitable and considerate people.
Once on the road, I start to watch for the Caribbee to heave in sight as the bus makes rapid progress on its southern run. The buildings soon start to look familiar and I leave the bus a stop or two past the hotel. My mission now is to visit the dress shops we had discovered earlier, make some purchases for my ladies at home and then have lunch at the Opa Greek restaurant nearby. I wander through three little shops and then return to the second where I am greeted by the proprietor, a French gentleman who has lived in Barbados for several years. I’m struck by the designs he has, particularly a blouse that I know Kalie will like. I hum and haw for a bit and suggest that I will bring a colleague back with me for her opinion. “She’s French,” I tell him, suggesting that I will rely on her good taste. Part way across the parking lot, I turn back, having decided to just go with what I liked. Kalie gets a green version of the blouse and Rebecca gets a jewelled flower bracelet which really strikes my fancy.
Afterward, I walk to the Opa restaurant for a late lunch of fish chowder with spinach and cheese fila, accompanied by a rum and coke. The staff members come mainly from Canada and we renew acquaintances from my earlier visit.
On leaving the restaurant, I spot a tiny dress shop in another corner of the restaurant building. I’m greeted by a lovely young woman who helps me find a wrap and top for Galien. She and Galien are very similar in stature and I ask, “Which one do you like?” Sunflowers on a black background is the item selected. Back toward the Caribbee with a stop at the laundry. My clothes are all finished and folded neatly inside plastic bags. I visit with the owner, pay for his services and return to the hotel.
My next mission is to find bottles of Doorly’s rum packed in the special tins. I had found one sample in the grocery store next to the laundry but with hopes of finding at least four had left it behind. I walk south again, checking in the few liquor stores that I encounter. This version of Doorly’s is either “so popular that we can’t keep it in stock” or so rare that “I’ve never heard of it.” I return from my unsuccessful quest for the elusive Doorly’s along a stretch of the shore I have not visited before. This beach has its share of modest resorts as well but I’m taken by the number of little cottages squeezed in between that have their own ocean frontage and that have obviously been in place for many years.
I meet my colleagues further along, enjoying the shore near our hotel. Nicole suns while Nancy snorkels. I chat with Jerry Coipel for a few minutes and then return to my room.
Dinner tonight has been arranged as a return visit to Champers, the sea-front restaurant we enjoyed so much on our first visit there. First, however, we are to stop in at the reception for CUT delegates being hosted by the minister of education. Everyone gathers in the hotel foyer and then we board minibuses for the ride to the reception which is being held adjacent to the Opa restaurant. I manage a series of photographs here, including one of the Canadians with the minister, and after a nice visit we Canadians depart for our dinners. The second evening at Champers turns out to be just as memorable as the first and we are looked after by the same waitress who remembers us well.
Having had a full and active day, I opt out of the beach walk and Nicole and Nancy carry on by themselves.
Thursday, December 2
My last day in Barbados for this trip begins with a view to the beautiful sea and then a breakfast buffet. My mission for the morning is to buy rum and get packed. I return to the neighbourhood grocery store and buy three small bottles of Mount Gay rum and the one remaining special blend of Doorly’s in the commemorative tin tube. Passing the laundry on the way back to the hotel, laden with rum, I stop for a moment to visit the woman who did such a great job on my shirts and to thank her for her efforts.
Nicole and Nancy spend the time on the shore, just soaking up the Barbadian ambiance. We then drop in on the CUT executive meeting to say our farewells after which Cobin and Pedro deliver us and our luggage to the airport. As we near the terminal, I spot the Barbados Concorde supersonic jet that has been donated to the island as a permanent exhibit. The London-Barbados route was a favourite run for the Concorde and the island received one of 14 that were given away after the aircraft were withdrawn from service.
Check-in is straightforward but we have some time before our flight departs. I spend this watching the arrival and departure of lots of regional Dash 8’s and heavy twins from the US. Our Air Canada 767 arrives, gets fuelled and groomed for its return flight to Toronto, and all of us get on board.
I sit with Nicole going North, with Nancy just behind us and we recap a lot of what transpired during our time in Barbados. In Toronto I declare my excess rum but I just get waved through. Three separate flights then return us to our respective homes in Ottawa, Winnipeg and Edmonton. The silver Mercury sees me home to St Albert and travel for another adventure with CTF and distant colleagues comes to an end.
November 24 – December 2, 2004
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Wednesday, November 24
Today I will leave for Bridgetown, Barbados via Toronto but before my flight, I spend two hours in the office on a conference call with Renee Hughes and Julie Snyder concerning our contract at the Banff Centre for the 2005 Summer Conference. A major departure this year will be our stepping away from making everyone’s reservations and letting delegates make their own. Raymond brings in a photocopy of the next Magazine and I take that away with me to read in detail, once again, on the flight.
At 1100, I leave Barnett House for the international airport and my 1300 departure for Toronto. I park in long-term parking and then check in via one of the remote check-in terminals, with a little help from an Air Canada agent. On the way to Toronto, I read the Magazine copy and note a couple of editing errors but I do not see the wrong dates for teachers’ conventions in the Calendar. I will hear about this on my return from my associate editor.
In Toronto, I collect luggage and follow the signs to the area where hotel buses come and go. The bus from Hampton Inn shows up and I board. As we leave the terminal, the driver asks if I’m the one who phoned the hotel for pickup. When I tell him I just jumped on, he realizes that he has probably left someone behind. We travel over to another terminal to check for passengers there, who do not materialize, and then return to Terminal One to see if we can find the missing passenger. We do, she climbs in and off we go. She has arrived from St John’s, Newfoundland where, she tells us, they have experienced 40 straight days of rain. I just love the dry old prairies when I hear stories like that.
Hampton Inns are the low-end hotels of the Hilton chain that cater to business travellers. I have a nice room on the seventh floor (728) and, after settling in, I go down to see what can be done about a late supper. I’m directed to a stack of restaurant menus at the end of the check-in counter and I pick out the one for The Keg, feeling as I am in need of Alberta beef. The hotel shuttle bus takes me directly there and the driver tells me to just call the hotel when I’m ready to go home. The driver works twelve-hour shifts and he has the radio tuned to a classical music station. I comment on this and he tells me that he was a classical pianist and teacher of music in his homeland. “But I had to find other work when I came to Canada,” he says.
The Keg serves me a delicious dinner, specifically an end cut of prime rib, Caesar salad, stuffed potato and a glass of red wine. My waitress is perhaps 50 years old, certainly the most senior of the servers that I see. As she comes up to my table, I comment on her nice tie. “Nice tie,” I say to which she responds “You think so?” She wonders if it isn’t too girly but I say that a man could wear it with a nice black jacket. Her mother gave it to her, she tells me, so that her father wouldn’t wear it!
On the way back to the Hampton, the driver tells me of his recent purchase of an electronic keyboard and of his desire to get back to some serious playing. In my room, I iron clothes for the morning’s travels, set the alarm clock for 0530 and turn in.
Thursday, November 25
The alarm clock and the telephone simultaneously announce the arrival of the appointed hour and I roll out of bed to begin the day. After showering and dressing, I head down to the lobby for the complimentary breakfast buffet. This is really quite a good meal and the eggs are cooked to look like little pancakes—round and fluffy—and this is what I mistake them for. After breakfast, I go back up to my room to collect luggage then return to the lobby to pay my bill and await the shuttle bus for a ride to the airport. There are two passengers on this morning and we both get off at Terminal One where I check in at yet another remote kiosk for the flight to Barbados. After dropping off luggage, I’m directed to a bus that will take me and everyone else heading for the Caribbean to the infield terminal where we will actually board the aircraft.
Clearing security is no problem but I am asked if my camera is film or digital. When I say “film” the agent seems a bit concerned about x-ray damage, the first time I have encountered this concern in a long time. I assure him that all will be well and the camera, my jacket and sundry possessions proceed through the magic looking glass.
The “in-field bus” arrives and takes a load of us to the departure terminal. I meet up with Nancy Kerr, the representative from the Manitoba Teachers’ Society (MTS) and we visit until Nicole Patenaude arrives. Nancy came from Winnipeg last night and Nicole arrived from Ottawa this morning. This is going to be a fairly long day for Nancy and me but a really long one for Nicole who started her day at 0300 this morning. Our flight is called and we proceed onto the Boeing 767.
It is wet and icy in Toronto this morning and bad traffic conditions have been heard of here and there. The effect of the weather on aircraft leaving Toronto this morning is that they all need to be sprayed with de-icing fluid. On leaving the terminal, our aircraft proceeds through a multi-lane “airplane wash” where three of four aircraft are de-iced simultaneously by a fleet of spray trucks. We then trundle off in line, eventually taking off about half an hour behind schedule.
Once in flight, I begin this journal and have my Air Canada breakfast—“eggs or fruit plate?” We are served little boxes with our meal, each of which contains a Tortuga Caribbean rum cake. I’m saving mine for arrival in Barbados. There is quite a bit of turbulence and it takes a while to get the trays cleared away. The movie is “King Arthur” and I catch bits of it while I write. Just before it ends, the movie is stopped so that the duty-free carts can be wheeled up and down the isles. Nicole comes by and vents her feelings about dehydration and stopping the movie just at the climax for the “damn carts.” The poor girl really needs a good sleep.
Observations today. The passengers are an interesting mix of Caribbean folk and North Americans. My seat partner is a Canadian girl of about twenty. Across from me is a retired European couple and behind them a woman and her mother returning to Barbados. We are all heading to the Caribbean sunshine.
After five hours aloft, a lot of the time in turbulence, we arrive at Grantly Adams International Airport. This is a busy place and lots of British and American aircraft share the ramp with our Air Canada Boeing. Luggage collection, immigration and customs go smoothly and we find our way to the terminal exit. There we are greeted by Cobin Hinds who welcomes us warmly. We leave for the hotel in his car while his colleague Pedro follows in a small truck with all of our luggage.
Our home in Barbados is to be the Caribbee Resort and we reach it after driving along the Maxwell Main Road that follows the coastline of the southern district of the Island. Barbados is divided into parishes for administrative purposes, all but one named for a saint. We will reside at Hastings, located in Christ Church Parish, just south and east of Bridgetown, the capital city. The airport is also located in this parish. As we travel, we encounter round-abouts or traffic circles, each named after a prominent Bajan (the name for people from Barbados). The Caribbee is a three story structure located immediately on the shore-front and we are given rooms on the first floor overlooking the sea. I spend some time just looking at the movement of the water and listening to the sea sounds. Directly below is the deck for the hotel’s swimming pool that is actually located under the building itself.
We meet up in the hotel dining area, open to the sea on the west side, and spend some time just unwinding and visiting after our flight. Some rum punch is sampled followed by a light supper and yet more rum beverages, all of which are delicious (and not too injurious, apparently, to my system the next morning). Throughout this time, we are all mesmerized by the sea and the sky as they both change with the setting of the sun. This is a remarkably beautiful place and, as if to emphasize the setting, three cruise ships pass by either entering or departing from the Bridgetown moorings.
Nicole, fatigued by the long day she has experienced, turns in. Nancy and I walk down the beach, now exposed by the low tide, until we reach a rock barricade that prevents further travel. On return to the hotel, I sleep deeply without air conditioning, just enjoying the warm maritime air and the sound of the rolling ocean outside my window.
Friday, November 26
We meet for breakfast just after 0800. Cobin comes to collect us just before 0900, along with his 20 year old daughter Carol Anne. Cobin is the vice-principal of a secondary school that is located at the north end of the island in the city of Speightstown, St Peter Parish. We leave Hastings and drive north, bypassing Bridgetown, and dropping Carol Anne off at her college near Government House. Our inland route along highway 2A gives us an impression of the farming and plantation industries that help support the Barbados economy. Fields of sugar cane, okra and vegetables, some with “planter class” homes beside them, lay wonderful vistas before us and Cobin speaks about the settlement of the island that is his home. Finally, we turn west toward the coast and drive through the busy city of Speightstown to Cobin’s school.
Alma Parris School includes grades equivalent to Grades 4 to 12 in Alberta. The school is set in a compound of five buildings, all of which are modern and quite well equipped. Cobin takes us to the staff room first and introduces us to the teachers who are working there. We then wander the grounds, talking to some of the kids, and I begin photographing those who agree to have their picture taken. The camera makes interaction with the students easy and it seems both they and I have fun during the process.
After a tour of the classrooms, Cobin takes us out of the school proper and into the streets of Speightstown. We visit shops and vendors, getting Nicole’s glasses fixed and finding hair spray strong enough to tame Nancy’s wild red hair. It’s fun to be part of Cobin’s neighbourhood and to see the greetings he receives from former students, merchants, the police officer and others we encounter. Cobin takes us to lunch at a shorefront restaurant where we eat our meals on the open veranda. Dinner is served cafeteria-style from behind Plexiglas screens and it’s delicious, especially when accompanied by a local beer. We have pictures here, taken by a tourist at a neighbouring table, who seems quite comfortable using the F-100, and then we return through the streets to the school. I walk along the shore past the school, shooting some of the old houses that are quite common on the island. These are known as chattel houses and were either purchased or given to the slaves upon emancipation many years ago. These tiny steep-roofed houses retain a unique individual character and many have been made over several times in their histories.
A colleague of Cobin drives us back to Hastings but instead of the interior road, he takes us along the shoreline, through Bridgetown and on to the Caribbee. As we pass through the capital, he points out the enormous cruise ships that have disgorged their passengers onto the island. I would like to go back for a closer look at these behemoths but that will be for another day if I can arrange it at all.
At the hotel, we agree that a short rest is in order and decide to meet at 1500 in the patio bar. I spend some time updating this journal, take a short nap, and then go down to the lounge to wait out a heavy rain squall that has come ashore. When the rain lets up, I walk along the shoreline not far from the hotel, photographing the ruins and remains of old villas and resort buildings. I find a rather worn conch shell near the water which I take along for the collection of shells at home. Crossing the main street at the hotel, I walk to the Royal Bank building to exchange some of my shiny new Canadian twenty dollar bills for rather more Barbados dollars.
None of us want to stay at the hotel for supper tonight and so we walk to a beautiful seaside restaurant called Champers and enjoy a superb dinner and lots of engaging conversation. A long walk along the beach in the light of the full moon follows, this time with Nicole along as well. The setting is simply exquisite—the sea at low tide, a full moon above, and the embracing Caribbean air. My shoes and socks come off and the three of us wade home through the gentle surf.
Saturday, November 27
What awakens me this morning is a growing awareness that the air conditioner has shut down and the parallel awareness of the heat and humidity in my room. Looking at the darkened face of the bedside alarm radio, I realize that we are experiencing a power outage. This has had no effect on the supply of hot water, however, and a shave and shower follow my greeting to the sea.
As I step into the hallway to walk to breakfast, a familiar voice says “Good morning, Tim.” It is Avril Crawford, one of the Thompson Fellows from Guyana, and vice-president of CUT. We walk to the dining room together and sit with Victoria Albert, EI regional representative, whom I last saw in St John, Newfoundland. After breakfast, all of us start our walk up to the Pommarine Hotel where the CUT professional development conference will be held. Outside our hotel, I encounter Anthony Wolfe, another of our Fellows, and Cobin who has arrived to check up on us and to give us a lift to the Pommarine. With Cobin is his young niece Eloise, who is an eight year old charmer. We decide to walk the short distance and Cobin heads into the Caribbee to take care of some of his other hosting duties.
The Hotel Pommarine is a lovely building, set back from the shore about two blocks. It serves as a teaching hotel for people working in the Caribbean hospitality trades. As such, it is part of a community college campus and part of the college’s department of education. We are greeted on the broad front steps by Patrick Frost, general secretary of the Barbados Secondary Teachers’ Union, and invited in to join the delegates.
The opening session involves introductions of those presenting and welcoming comments from several of them. Nicole speaks on behalf of the three of us and our concomitant organizations. Then Sir Lloyd Sandiford, former teacher, minister of education and prime minister speaks, after a generous introduction by Mr Frost. The two are clearly colleagues of long standing. We take part in some plenary sessions and listen to the NEA representative and the AFT representative providing perspectives from the point of view of teaching as a profession and teachers as members of a trade union.
In the afternoon we Canadians take a cab to the Hilton Centre, a shopping complex situated inland. Our cab costs $15B and I add a $5B tip. The mall’s narrow hallways lead us around to a variety of stores and through the food floor area where Nicole points out the fascinating name of one of the food vendors—Fourplay Restaurant. We wonder what their specialty might be. Nicole buys a beautiful bracelet and Nancy an Anne Kline watch for her birthday. My advice on these is sought, rather to my surprise, but I’m not sure it’s taken too seriously. I consider some Bass shoes but decide to take a pass. We call for the same cab to come and collect us and soon the Hardcore Cab Company is winging us back to the Caribbee.
In the evening, we return to the Pommarine Hotel for a reception put on by the minister of education for folk attending the professional development conference. There is a band made up of senior high students that is playing and they are all known to the twin daughters of Phil Perry. The names of the twins are Klebere and Zuwena and they are a lot of fun to be around. We had met them earlier in the day but this evening, they insist on taking me to meet their friends the musicians. Together, we talk the band into playing a few more numbers and, indeed, the band rocks the place. These kids are a tonic and they certainly add a bright facet to an interesting day.
Dinner tonight is at the Oka Greek Restaurant located just down the beach from our hotel. We are greeted by a young Canadian woman and she seats us right at the edge of the patio, overlooking the shoreline. Dinner is okay but Nicole’s meal seems awfully basic, even for her. She has so many food allergies that she can only have rice, potatoes or vegetables, none of which can have garnishes of any kind. We return to the hotel and change for our nocturnal beach walk, after which a rum punch brings the day to an end.
Sunday, November 28
We begin the day in the large meeting room of the Caribbee Hotel, located next to the open air lounge. This is the beginning of the CUT planning workshop and Byron Farqueson starts us off with a round of introductions. Included in our little band are three Thompson Fellows who visited Canada in May—Anthony Wolfe from Barbados; Celestine John from Antigua; and Jerry Coipel from Dominica. Avril Crawford is assigned to attend the professional development program at the Pommarine Hotel and consequently we only will see her at our hotel for breakfast.
Nicole explains the mission of the Canadians, that is, to help develop a collaborative program that will focus on improving the bargaining skills and information and communications skills of teachers in the Caribbean region. Nearly all of the morning is spent determining a vision statement and a good deal of the afternoon working on a mission statement. This is hard tilling and I wonder what we will be able to accomplish if the pace doesn’t pick up fairly soon. Nancy talks about the resources MTS is prepared to put into the venture and I go over the Pan African Teachers’ Centre (PATC) website workshop program and the Palliser Dominica program as they may be applied to CUT objectives. Colin Greene gives a thorough and rather amusing presentation on the way in which bargaining is carried out in the Caribbean and Cobin Hinds, the “go-to guy,” speaks about communications opportunities and challenges his colleagues face.
We adjourn at 1700 and, after a pause for hospitality, we three walk to a little restaurant located in a small hotel to the east of the Caribbee. I have pork roast with creamed potatoes accompanied by a glass of rum punch. Wonderful! The young daughter of our waitress enters the restaurant, along with her godfather, and they sit at a table next to us. We learn this because the waitress tells us and all of us visit a bit. On leaving, the cook comes out from the kitchen to bid us goodbye. She is a woman perhaps in her sixties and she has made us wonderful meals, even for Nicole.
Returning to the hotel, we prepare for our beach walk and then head out on the sands. The tide is well on its way out but we are unable to stay completely dry. Passing two fishers, I ask about their tackle and rate of success in landing fish. Like most Bajans we have met these two young men are kind and welcoming. I enjoy talking with them.
We join a number of our colleagues in the lounge at the Caribbee and enjoy just winding down the day.
Monday, November 29
Day two of our workshop and we start planning for two future workshops, one for bargaining and one for information and communications. Most of the folk are interested in working on the collective bargaining planning and so Jerry Coipel, Cobin Hinds and I shove off to the deck lounge to scheme and plot. As we are leaving the meeting room, one of the bargaining planners says that we will likely get more done in a much shorter time than they will. And, as it turns out, we are quite productive. I learn later that the bargaining folk spent a lot of time on semantics and had some difficulty arriving at a workshop proposal.
We convene later in the morning and report on the progress of our respective groups. Cobin handles our presentation and Colin Greene speaks for the bargainers. We break for lunch and afterward meet to plan ways to implement the bargaining program that has been developed. Nicole asks me to lead this session and I do but I wonder about our progress. If nothing else, maybe I demonstrated a way of running a meeting by moving around and making sure that whoever was speaking had the complete attention of the others. We wrap up at 1700 and make plans for supper.
Nicole, Nancy and I return to the little restaurant of yesterday and I have grilled flying fish, a dish, I find, of which I’m not really fond. A Banks beer or two help get me through the meal. The beer confirms my theory about local beers being superb and Banks does not disappoint.
Our nightly walk follows, with the waning full moon following on a slightly different track, and so ends another day in the Antilles. Tomorrow it is Barbados’ birthday and a national holiday. Very little will be open here in Hastings and we will have to create our own fun after tomorrow’s morning session ends.
Tuesday, November 30
Happy Birthday, Barbados! Another beautiful day reveals itself as I give my greeting to the sea. Today is the Barbados day of independence and, while many on the island will enjoy a day off, those of us attending the CUT workshop will soldier on.
After breakfast, we gather in our meeting room and get underway. This morning, each group is to report on their semi-final plans for workshops. The bargaining group starts and they are clearly now far ahead of what my group has accomplished. Colin Greene and his group have the March, 2005 prototype workshop well scoped out and the plan is presented in its entirety.
I then give an overview of the ICT workshop that Cobin and Jerry worked on with me. I don’t go into anything like the detail that Colin included because I don’t have a copy of the IT curriculum that was developed for the PATC workshops. After outlining the general thrust of what would be accomplished I suggest that the second collective bargaining workshop should coincide with the first ITC workshop and propose July 2005 as a possibility. This gets everyone stirred up because I don’t think a date for the second bargaining workshop had been considered. Planning for the March 2005 workshop hinges on CTF surplus cash that must be used up by the end of that month. A quick discussion ensues with March in subsequent years being the month-of-choice for both of these workshops. It remains to be seen if an ICT workshop can be organized for March 2006 but that is the first available time, provided that CTF and ATA can arrange financing.
After this, we wrap up the workshop with a round of thanks from all parties followed by the requisite group photograph. We go for lunch and disperse afterward.
Nicole and Nancy want to swim off the beach and I want to explore the area around the hotel a bit more. I end up at the Accra Hotel, one of the resorts we have passed on our evening beach walks. The place is beautifully laid out and after having a beer in the open café I check out the dining room for supper tonight.
On the way back to the Caribbee, I walk through a small shore-front park that is filled with students from a local elementary school, their parents and their teachers. Lots of fun is evident based on games, visits and an abundance of food. Rather a pleasant way to celebrate the nation’s birthday.
I encounter Jerry Coipel resting on a bench at the end of the park and I see Nicole and Nancy on the beach below. We all watch as Nancy demonstrates her snorkelling technique a few yards off shore. In the hotel, I drop off some snacks purchased at the neighbourhood ESSO convenience store then head to the lounge to catch up on the journal writing. Sleep starts to overcome and I return to my room for an afternoon powernap.
Supper this evening involves something of a trek. Our plan is to have dinner at the Accra dining room and that’s where we go. Nicole’s allergies permit her only a narrow spectrum of food and it seems that the Accra cannot accommodate her Spartan tastes. This is the first time we have encountered a restaurant that wouldn’t prepare a simple meal. So we move on in search of other establishments and other nutrients for our little tribe and finally settle on Bubba’s Sports Bar. Bubba specializes in hamburgers and that’s what we order, with varying levels of condiments, according to our individual tastes. Being a sports bar, Bubba has television sets around the establishment that pump out extreme sports activities that range from soccer to bull riding. We get bull riding, which I quite enjoy watching but which seems rather lost on my colleagues. Nicole’s burger is not prepared as she wanted it and she eats little of it.
We repair to the Caribbee for further sustenance in the form of chilled rum drinks and to swap stories of places we have been and people we have known.
Wednesday, December 1
Today will be our last full day in Barbados and it begins for me, as usual, with greeting the sea. After breakfast, we assemble in the meeting room for the opening session of the CUT executive meeting. At breakfast, I had dressed casually in short sleeved shirt and khakis but noticed that everyone else was dressed to the nines. Before the meeting, I changed to dress shirt and tie, slacks and sports jacket, hoping to show that I can clean up not too badly.
A nice opening program has been organized and it includes an address by the CUT president, comments from Nicole and a speech by Reginald Farley, the minister of education. We are entertained with performances by students from nearby schools, one of which features a little girl giving a virtuoso presentation. She delivers a morality lesson—stay focused! set to rap rhythms—to the assembled audience, including the minister. A complete charmer and very accomplished. I’m aware of tears in my eyes listening to these beautiful children.
I leave the meeting after the opening session and walk to the nearby laundry to drop off clothes. The woman in charge promises to wash, dry and fold everything and have it ready by 1500. Afterward, I catch a public transit bus for a ride into Bridgetown.
The capital is overwhelming in an odd sort of way. The press of crowds and traffic is quite incredible, much of it originating, I guess, from the gigantic cruise ships that sit at the jetties. Quite a bit of my time is spent photographing old buildings and structures, including the Regent Theatre building. It is in an advanced state of ruin, with the roof partially caved in and most of the windows smashed and boarded. As I photograph this coral block structure, a man on a bicycle approaches. “Do you know what this building was?” he asks and I make my guess—a movie theatre, I reply. He is very interested in the history of this city, it turns out, and we talk about the likely fate of the old theatre. He tells me he noticed me earlier as I was photographing ruins closer to the docks. “Thought you might like to know more about this place,” he says and then bids me good day as he pedals away.
I tire of the city life rather quickly. The stores seem set up to cater to the tourists who must stream off the gigantic cruise ships that fill the harbour berths. I visit a few shops but decide I don’t want (and can’t afford) much of what they have to offer. I also don’t want to be surrounded by folk in Tilley hats, shorts and flip-flops.
Returning to the bus terminal, I ask for the gate for the bus to Hastings and find myself in a line of passengers at gate 12. An older gentleman motions for me to come into the line ahead of him. I thank him for his consideration but go instead to the end of the line where two other fairly senior passengers await the boarding of the Hastings bus. They too offer to let me go before them but I tell them I’m fine with my place in the order of things. Such treatment of strangers is typical, I find, of Bajans who are wonderfully hospitable and considerate people.
Once on the road, I start to watch for the Caribbee to heave in sight as the bus makes rapid progress on its southern run. The buildings soon start to look familiar and I leave the bus a stop or two past the hotel. My mission now is to visit the dress shops we had discovered earlier, make some purchases for my ladies at home and then have lunch at the Opa Greek restaurant nearby. I wander through three little shops and then return to the second where I am greeted by the proprietor, a French gentleman who has lived in Barbados for several years. I’m struck by the designs he has, particularly a blouse that I know Kalie will like. I hum and haw for a bit and suggest that I will bring a colleague back with me for her opinion. “She’s French,” I tell him, suggesting that I will rely on her good taste. Part way across the parking lot, I turn back, having decided to just go with what I liked. Kalie gets a green version of the blouse and Rebecca gets a jewelled flower bracelet which really strikes my fancy.
Afterward, I walk to the Opa restaurant for a late lunch of fish chowder with spinach and cheese fila, accompanied by a rum and coke. The staff members come mainly from Canada and we renew acquaintances from my earlier visit.
On leaving the restaurant, I spot a tiny dress shop in another corner of the restaurant building. I’m greeted by a lovely young woman who helps me find a wrap and top for Galien. She and Galien are very similar in stature and I ask, “Which one do you like?” Sunflowers on a black background is the item selected. Back toward the Caribbee with a stop at the laundry. My clothes are all finished and folded neatly inside plastic bags. I visit with the owner, pay for his services and return to the hotel.
My next mission is to find bottles of Doorly’s rum packed in the special tins. I had found one sample in the grocery store next to the laundry but with hopes of finding at least four had left it behind. I walk south again, checking in the few liquor stores that I encounter. This version of Doorly’s is either “so popular that we can’t keep it in stock” or so rare that “I’ve never heard of it.” I return from my unsuccessful quest for the elusive Doorly’s along a stretch of the shore I have not visited before. This beach has its share of modest resorts as well but I’m taken by the number of little cottages squeezed in between that have their own ocean frontage and that have obviously been in place for many years.
I meet my colleagues further along, enjoying the shore near our hotel. Nicole suns while Nancy snorkels. I chat with Jerry Coipel for a few minutes and then return to my room.
Dinner tonight has been arranged as a return visit to Champers, the sea-front restaurant we enjoyed so much on our first visit there. First, however, we are to stop in at the reception for CUT delegates being hosted by the minister of education. Everyone gathers in the hotel foyer and then we board minibuses for the ride to the reception which is being held adjacent to the Opa restaurant. I manage a series of photographs here, including one of the Canadians with the minister, and after a nice visit we Canadians depart for our dinners. The second evening at Champers turns out to be just as memorable as the first and we are looked after by the same waitress who remembers us well.
Having had a full and active day, I opt out of the beach walk and Nicole and Nancy carry on by themselves.
Thursday, December 2
My last day in Barbados for this trip begins with a view to the beautiful sea and then a breakfast buffet. My mission for the morning is to buy rum and get packed. I return to the neighbourhood grocery store and buy three small bottles of Mount Gay rum and the one remaining special blend of Doorly’s in the commemorative tin tube. Passing the laundry on the way back to the hotel, laden with rum, I stop for a moment to visit the woman who did such a great job on my shirts and to thank her for her efforts.
Nicole and Nancy spend the time on the shore, just soaking up the Barbadian ambiance. We then drop in on the CUT executive meeting to say our farewells after which Cobin and Pedro deliver us and our luggage to the airport. As we near the terminal, I spot the Barbados Concorde supersonic jet that has been donated to the island as a permanent exhibit. The London-Barbados route was a favourite run for the Concorde and the island received one of 14 that were given away after the aircraft were withdrawn from service.
Check-in is straightforward but we have some time before our flight departs. I spend this watching the arrival and departure of lots of regional Dash 8’s and heavy twins from the US. Our Air Canada 767 arrives, gets fuelled and groomed for its return flight to Toronto, and all of us get on board.
I sit with Nicole going North, with Nancy just behind us and we recap a lot of what transpired during our time in Barbados. In Toronto I declare my excess rum but I just get waved through. Three separate flights then return us to our respective homes in Ottawa, Winnipeg and Edmonton. The silver Mercury sees me home to St Albert and travel for another adventure with CTF and distant colleagues comes to an end.