Thoughts of a minibus traveller

Milkshake "Yes we have milkshake" the woman says with a smile. I had asked quietly, like back in the day going to buy condoms or sanitary pads, because well , it was 9am.  Call comes in as I am on my way to town for the 9am meeting and say meeting is now 10am. It make no sense to go home and come back , place hot, and traffic and so. I say 'no problems, I will go and sit in Demico' - one of Guyana's national treasures near the minibus hub and with AC.  I walk over the soapy water on the pavement with an apologetic look at the man in long boots and no shirt washing down.  Go in and try to ignore  signs saying 'No Loitering' and I realise heck but is loiter I want to loiter and there is this thing about the thin line between customer and loiterer.  Go and stand up and look long long long at the piles of pastries. Demico.  I see a single swiss roll, and my heart jumps, but then I say wait wait.. is a single one, I am suspicious, and realise that swiss roll

NO photography allowed so blog graphic generated by AI The Moving Circle of Artists  The young guard stood in the doorway of the hut and said 'the gate open'. His hands in his pocket and leaning on the post. I asked him if the gun too heavy (I see it on the desk in the hut) and he laughs. I don't ask him if he has seen the exhibition. Castellani House grounds are cooler than the minibus which was stuck in traffic and which had two women with their children trying to sit away from the sun. Nice benches, but benabs which don't have seats in them. Not sure if the benabs without seats and the benches in the sun are some kind of art installation too. The booklet on the desk inside presents the Moving Circle of Artists. A mix of all genders and ages, experiences, and of people who produce art in different forms.  There is a nice mix of painted wood, sculpture, paintings on the wall. The paintings of hinterland landscapes, animals, and some human figures. There is an installat

Image from Guyana Chronicle 5 Sept, 2023 The picture of 4 women and 22 men and the Government of Guyana Image has nice mix of black , coolie and others. Guyana and I keep looking at crowds and images, how many coolie, how many black people, how many others.  And then to count the women and men in the photo (and using gender binaries based on appearance as there might be other genders which are not expressed).  The Government of Guyana co-sponsoring a conference with the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation about the History& Legacies of Muslims in the Caribbean.   The Government of Guyana did not think it was appropriate to show that Guyana must show gender equality in all of its activities especially, and to insist that Muslim women have an equally important and visible role as Muslim men in the legacy of Muslims in the Caribbean. The all male opening ceremony I nervously open the message from Dr Aliyah Khan. An invitation to the conference, which 'should be open to the publi

  Burying our children How many of our children have we buried since the beginning of 2023? Friends my age have children and grandchildren and I think of children as anybody who must be 23 sometimes 25 years and younger because they far away in age from me.  And 'our children' because all of us adults have  responsibility for all of Guyana's children. Yeah, we know.. death is inevitable, we can only choose how we live and not how we die, and the soul is eternal. These work when people my age and older die.  And we know that no And that No parent should have to bury their child. But something is wrong in Guyana.  More and more children dying in ways which are 'preventable'. I am not counting, not all are in the newspapers.  Guyana 2023 But ..  The 9 children since Saturday 26th August, 2023  in the road accident who died , including a 10 month old baby  and the child who visited a function I attended and was cheerful and hopeful about the future; The two boy child

  Heat...   Place hot and the fan is a companion which doesn't dry the sweat on the skin which comes from just sitting and doing nothing. Moving and sweating in the heat is probably better than sitting and sweating.  Things to be done all over, but nothing urgent.  The drying out tree cutting which needs attention still has the 'falla me' insects on them but no rush to sort them out just yet.  I try chopping one morning to move out but a bite on my elbow will remind me to leave it until I figure out what to do. But "falla me" is not the only animal in the yard. New activity in the day as I move around the yard to look to see if the cat is here,  I don't understand what the cat is doing in the hot sun under the fragile shade of a kush grass bush when she could be under the house taking breeze.  Maybe I should crawl under the bush of grass and find out.  And remembering the man managing two tawa in an enclosed space as he cut the dough, fill with dhal , put to

  Main Street Hot afternoon with gray clouds in the South. Main Street Avenue has some stalls selling items related to Emancipation. Some people are working on the Main and Quamina Street part, big speakers going up. They are using winches and chains to put the speakers on the racks. It will be a big event. Watching the hoist and the chains and speakers , and thinking of Quamina, in 1823. The white men murdered him, and hung his body in chains to silence other rebels. They would have had to raise the body with the technology.  Lay out some of the books on the nice bench. Two men watch from over the avenue, nice Shade still. I start with the 'free books' and the older man comes over. Picks up a book. I tell him the price, to answer the question 'What do you know about the 1823 rebellion?" The man said he doesn't know anything. He from Kwakwani (the road side) and knows , like most of us, about the 1763 rebellion. He tells the other man to come over and pick up a boo