About Me

Living in the Caribbean is probably like living anywhere else, with the same ups and downs. But it does have its own vibe and flavour and gives me a unique perspective on most things. I'm often sarcastic, mostly funny, always looking for a new adventure. I have not boxed myself into any one category of life. I love a lot of things and dislike a lot more. I write about them all.

Mind The Gap

So last night, it seems as though everyone was up waiting for snow. I was up idling on social media and so happened to catch the many cries for snow from weird people in London. Don't believe me?



I called it the Great Snow Watch 2010. At a little after midnight, I put on the floodlights and sure enough, objects looking like specks of dust were floating past my window. Twenty minutes after that, the specks were gone and the snow watch was over?

Lie. I woke up to snowfall and cars covered in this white shit. Oh, was my first snow experience supposed to be romantic? I assure you - IT WAS NOT. Snow is a helluva nasty thing - it turns to brown slush, it floats down on you and melts, making you a soggy, cold mess. It's cold. Snow is not fun.

And yes...all the silly people who were wishing for it last night and so upset that places like Kent were under pressure while London was so pathetic for not having snow - I hope all of you were stranded at the train stations like I was because the "pathetic London snow" caused delays of up to 2 hours. The train to Sandwich lived up to its name today. I was clearly the burger pattie in a British sandwich on the train to Sandwich which I had to wait over 45 minutes for, while the little notice board ticker said "Due in 2 mins" for 45 minutes.

From the perspective of someone coming from the developing world aka Third World, into a developed country aka First World country, this was abysmal. It cannot be safe to have half of London packed like sardines onto these trains. I mean, people were hanging on for dear life out of doors while the conductors pleaded for them to move down into the train so the doors could close. And then when you get to your stop, noone wants to get off to let you off because there are another million people on the platform waiting to take that spot. It was a nightmare. And it was not even a blizzard. Okay, it got a bit heavier as the day wore on but I have seen images on tv worse than this. London worse than POS, man. A little bit of rain and we flood. A little bit of snow and the whole city shut down. Really?

And I ask again, how is this city going to host the Olympics in 2012 when it can hardly transport the people in the city now? Add hundreds of thousands of tourists and this has to be a recipe for disaster. I would love for someone to tell me how this is going to work.

This was the worst day of my life and I have at least 3 more months of this? Oh God. Winter wonderland, my ass. I foresee a few days of missing school. No lie.

But the good news is, I have a flask to top up with rum to keep the soul and bones warm during the nightmare called winter! And I just got some really sexy potatoes from the Afro Caribbean shop (run by Pakistanis) to make a vegetable and ham soup tomorrow morning. Cheers!

The Tale of Two Earmuffs

I came home with the expectation of doing some work. I have already said these next two weeks will be used wisely to put me in a good position to enjoy my birthday next weekend. Yet I came home and did nothing. LIE. I did laundry. But this is how my body and my brain work. I have been going non-stop for the past 4-5 weeks so with this downtime, it is a challenge to get going again. But go, I must. I will open up the books after I finish this. But it was my lovely lass who had me googling Ugg earmuffs. Aren't they beautiful?
OMG. (sob sob)


I have actually been looking for some nice earmuffs on a student salary, aka my allowance (lol) and the best I have seen are the M&S muffs, but then I have not looked really hard. I just pull my hat over my ears and recite a Novena (I am also at the doubling up gloves stage of sufferation). The Primark muffs were horrid. I chuckle at myself cause I always go into this store and always complain about the shit they sell and yet I keep going. The fact of the matter is I may be a Selfridges personality but I am on a Primark budget. Mind you, I got some long sleeved tees for bedtime and a scarf but that was it. I did like their warm and comfy bedtime robes as well though, so okay...they do serve a purpose. Bed wear for the winter. Nothing I would wear at home in 35 degree weather. That calls for silky niceness. But I digress.

I would love some Ugg earmuffs but they cost about 73 quid. That's a bit much for earmuffs, even if I was making a real salary. I stood on the platform today, waiting for my train to Sandwich (again, the train goes to a place named SANDWICH...I laugh every single time) and all the women were coming down the ramp with stylish shopping bags packed with Christmas goodies. I had a shopping bag on Saturday - from Poundland. lol. I got myself a new soup mug and some fake tupperware to store my soup in the fridge. I miss employment. God, I never thought I would say the words. Maybe I should be more specific and not mislead you wonderful people. I miss a hefty allowance. I chose those words carefully because it may not necessarily be a salary but maybe an allowance from a benefactor aka a husband. In any event, window shopping is zero fun when you cannot afford to actually buy anything. It's merely torture. I used to walk into stores, swinging my backside with confidence as I pulled out my Visa and swiped it. Now I pull out my Visa with dread and ogle the receipt, while doing the math in my mind. They say it's a small sacrifice for a Masters degree but it seems like a Herculean demand on my senses to live like this. lol. I am not like an obsessive diva or anything but I do love shopping and cute things. Sigh.

I tortured myself some more this morning by going on to the Macy's website to check out their Cyber Monday deals and there was a great little sweater dress, and a nice turquoise sweater, on ridiculous sale, that would have looked nice on my brown frame come Christmas morning and evening, but boo to Macy's for not shipping to the UK. Boo to my US contacts for not being online so I could beg them to receive said items for me and just forward it. No love for the poor, helpless student. This is the first birthday in eons where I will not be taking a shopping trip to Miami and it's a strange and not so wonderful feeling. But I will survive. I must.

I know my parents will not be expecting presents for Christmas but I would still love to get my cousin something nice, for putting me up and putting up with me. Just not sure what that will be yet. I just reminded him about my birthday so at least the suckage would not extend into that day. I know he would at least get me a card and maybe some nice white wine cause he knows I love my pinot grigio and my sauv blanc. And maybe some chocolates. I may be poor, but I drink well. Very well. I can drink away my sorrows in style. Not to mention the cold. They say snow tonight. I wait to see. God!


No-Assignment Weekend

I dubbed it my No Assignment weekend. Sure I still have an assignment due, and an exam looming but really...I had gotten to the point where my brain was over-subscribed and my body over-taxed and with a 2 week lead until said assignment is due, I dubbed the weekend No Assignment weekend. It was an added bonus that my regular group was not to be the group for the last assignment due, so we actually finished before the weekend, which really was the primary contributing factor to having a weekend at all. But I digress.

I just woke up from a 4 hour nap, after waking up at 1pm to start with; after getting home at 4.30am from a night out at Guanabara; after spending the day out with a friend having coffee and laughs; after spending Friday evening like a normal human being at the movies, checking out the new Harry Potter movie. It was a lovely school-free weekend, spent with good friends, good drinks and having good times. Well, with the exception of being doused with beer at the club, first when 2 chicks decided to have a go at it using drinks instead of fists; then when some clown decided to fist pump with the beer bottle in his hand; and finally, even after purposely staying out of the line of fire, or in this case, the line of beer, I still managed to have a bottle of beer tip over all over my boots. I was probably not the person anyone wanted to sit next to on the bus home.  A free review for Guanabara though - great nightspot if you love samba and if you love urban music. I was a happy Trini when the riddim section came on, so reminiscient of the Laventille Rhythm Section. The drums, the Carnival girls - I felt like I was back home. Pig in mud feeling, lemme tell ya.


It was also a cold one. The weather is terrible. Getting off the bus this morning, I almost did a Usain Bolt type sprint down the street to my house. I am wondering if I will even survive the winter. I am not good with cold. Hell, I could barely function in my office with the hostile air conditioning back home. This is a million times worse and if I could hibernate like bears and foxes for the winter and resurface in the spring, that would be okay with me. Sadly, with school, that seems improbable. Two fellow post-grads of the Trini persuasion will be heading home in 2 weeks and my jealousy knows no bounds. The sun, the heat, the food, the private transportation. Oh my God, waiting in the sub zero temps this morning for the bus that took its bloody time to get there was torture. How do people have a social life under these conditions? I had a good chuckle as I watched the female hamsters in their micro mini dresses and not much else, battling with the cold. I mean, is vanity so powerful that you prefer to leave home looking sexy, risking sure death from the cold? Really? It really is something else.

Watching State of Play and snacking on Cadbury dark chocolate fingers. I will be back to student life tomorrow but enjoying the last of human life today.

How I Have Managed to Survive Grad School

My status on Facebook today read:

If UK food chains like Sainsbury's and Marks and Sparks did not have ready-to-go meals, I think I would be dead.

I told you on Saturday that I went to the store and got some veggies and seasonings, including a great piece of pumpkin and some mushrooms. I managed to find time to finish seasoning the cuts of chicken and shove it all in a pan and into the oven. That's easy. As for the rest...no time allotted. I ended up hitting my neighbourhood Sainsbury's and getting some 2-minute meals to once again, fill the pasta drawer. I also bought stuff like bread and ham for breakfast-on-the-run.
 
The bread never made it into the real world this morning. In my morning "dash for the bus that comes whenever it damn well feels like coming" moment, the most effort I could put into breakfast was shoving a packet of Nescafe mocha mix into my bag. Thank God for Marks and Spencer's at Waterloo, and their cheese sandwiches. I also grabbed a bottle of water and I was reassured that I would not pass out from hunger at school.
 
I came home tonight and had an awesome salad with my chicken and some pasta - the salad being out of a ready-to-go box from Sainsbury's as was the pasta. I have 2 sets of research to do tonight, one for assessment and cooking is not really an option. So you see, despite my best efforts to "turn a pot", I always fall back on M&S, and Sainsbury's and now with the new Tesco's having opened near my final bus stop, well...I am surely the perfect choice for ready meals spokesperson/spokesblogger. Anyone out there willing to pay me to review these meals? 
 
This is probably why I have been unable to effect the same kind of weight loss I managed during my undergrad because with the exception of fast food, ready meals in supermarkets in Jamaica were nasty and few. It was either eat the nasty Grace ready meals, face the microwave and the ramen noodles cupboard or face the stove. In my first semester, I had every flavour of ramen noodles ever made. My mother did not recognise me when I got home that Christmas and her mission was to fatten me up, which she did. Here, I just go to frickin' Sainsbury's and have a decent meal, and worse if they are on special. They are in fact very good and I am really picky and finicky about food so that is saying plenty. I will though make some time for my pumpkin and mushrooms this week before they go bad. The life of a struggling student!!!
 
And speaking of my cheese sandwich, the Brits have some really odd names for towns here. It has now become a pasttime of mine to listen out for new place names while waiting for trains, and have a laugh. Today I got on a train heading to Sandwich. I kid you not...the place is called SANDWICH. Can you imagine sending a letter to someone living in Sandwich, United Kingdom? Hilarious. I also sometimes get on a train heading to Battle. That one is worse...
 
Oh where are you going?
I'm off to Battle.
 
Gotta love the Brits. Gotta love 'em.

Sexual Heeling...

I needed a sanity break today. I have spent 90% of my weekend on this bed, with these books and after a gnarly morning with the assignment, I decided to take a walk. My walk took me to the bus stop, and onto the bus and to the mall. I did not buy anything terribly exciting - needed some lotion desperately so went into Boots where they had a reduction on my body butter so I was able to buy 2. Also got some baby oil...never know when you will need it. You neverrrrrr know. I browsed through some eyeshadows but unless it's M.A.C., it's whack. lol. Actually that's not true. Revlon and L'Oreal are awesome as well. I then browsed the shops. I always shudder when I enter a Primark. The clothes are ghastly - cheap but ghastly. And not only that, but for my Trinis, it's like buying a blouse in Catwalk or Micles. Everyone else has it. And worse, everyone knows where you bought it. The stylista in me saw a very cute sweater, but I remembered seeing 3 women on the train in the same distinctive sweater. If it were a plain sweater that you could personalise with accessories, then great. But this one was very out there and screamed "assembly line"!!!

I wanted to get my eyebrows threaded but there were about 12 women in a queue waiting to do the same thing and I did not feel I wanted to stand in the middle of a mall floor with a bunch of bushy browed women, so I instead, walked into the closest shoe store. Oh God. The  lust. The longing. The depression. Heels. I tried a few pairs and saw myself floating around in 'em and then remembered the funny scene last week in Waterloo station:

Lovely young woman, with a dashing not so young man. She was dressed to the nines, and in some pretty funky heels. But she could barely walk and it seemed like they had been walking quite a while because she was in obvious agony and was being propped up by the gentleman. I was in my flat, comfy boots and I knew, right at that moment, as I stood there in my un-glam jeans and un-glam boots, that she hated my flat shoe wearing guts and oh so wanted to be me.

That's when I put the people dem shoes back on the shelf and walked out the store. As nice as it would be to be able to glam myself up one of these days in a pair of heels, the reality is, I used to slip my heels off to walk from the carpark to my office, and that was maybe a 5minute walk, if so much. Can you imagine me walking and running to the bus stop, the train station and the Underground in heels??? It's the reason I left them all at home. But, when my dad called tonight I asked him if he could arrange for his friend to bring me a care package. I have already alerted my mum as to what has to go in it

- Proper cereal
- A couple pairs of pants I would really like to have here with me
- Muffy...a must-have with the temperature dropping rapidly*
- And a pair of heels...

...if only to look at. Especially since I understand I am to potentially going to see and experience my first snow next week. Snow and slush + Heels = Bedlam. By the way, I am not one of those people who dreams of a white Christmas. I am not excited about the snow thing but I am mentally trying to prepare myself for it.

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*Or I can just get one of the microwaveable stuffed dogs in the shops. Putting a dog, albeit a toy dog, in a microwave is just barbaric by the way. lol.

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