I have two points for your readers...both of them serious and both of them about things that we seem to be in short supply of !! When I was growing up I fished off every dock and rock I could find and I caught squirrel fish by the...well, I caught a few anyway. I loved catching squirrel fish (I always threw 'em back...yeah, right!) because they had bulging eyes and they would stick you pretty good no matter where you held them. Now I have been taking my little kiddies fishing off those same docks and rocks and I haven't seen a squirrel fish in years. I heard about the disappearance of the toads and I wondered if any of your readers could help me out here ? It is, of course, possible that I caught them all... Now, how 'bout them tourists...and this is a bit more serious. First of all, with all the beds the industry has lost -- you would think we would see occupancy rates getting really high but that does not seem to be happening.

What I mean is, if you have 10,000 beds and an occupancy rate of 70 percent -- that is a lot of people, but if you only have 7,500 beds and an occupancy rate of 70 percent (and I am being kind with that rate) that's not so many people.

It's important to have a lot of people here, mainly for the businesses in Bermuda because if they are here we can sell 'em all our products and services. So, my point is we gotta get 'em here! In fact, the business sector that is least affected by numbers (to a point) is the airlines...because they can just raise their prices. There is really no competition...ever notice that when one has a seat sale, they all do and when one has a fare... funny, the others all have the same fare! The airlines care about the revenue per trip -- and that's not necessarily dependent on "numbers''...see they could care less if they take 200 people at $250 per person or 100 people at $500 per person...in fact, would you rather have 200 people traipsing through your house or 100 people -- hey, it's the same revenue per trip and less wear and tear on the plane! Problem is that all us birds are shafted because we do care about numbers...and they ain't coming, and we can't sell something to someone who isn't here! We can talk about all the reasons for the demise of our tourism business and we can hire all the consultants in the world and they can tell us all about our attitude, our lack of value for money and our lack of anything to do but what no one seems to deal with is the cost to get here...and if we don't solve that we won't have to worry about attitudes, value and lack of entertainment because they won't be anyone here! I know that the airlines are totally in control and I know that we don't have any leverage here...but we must do something -- anything -- or we can kiss the real tourist goodbye.

Look, most of our business comes from the Northeast and mid-Atlantic US...at least in the Northeast, why don't we try to attract smaller airlines out of Manchester, New Hampshire and Rhode Island? I don't have all the answers and I realise that you can put up reasons not to try something all day long. I know that there is a fear that if we let other airlines in the big boys will stop flying here. But look, would you come to Bermuda at $550 per person when you can go almost anywhere else (Tokyo, London, Cape Town, Paris etc.) for the same amount or less. If you think I'm joking -- read the Travel section of the New York Times just one (any) Sunday and you will see that we are almost the most consistently expensive place in the world to get to. Somehow we have to get the cost of getting here down to a reasonable level. Right now, a lot of us are being fooled about the tourist industry...those occupancy rates are pretty low and we have fewer beds...and those rates include business travellers and they are not tourists doing touristy things.

MONDAY MORNING Southampton People make the grade May 14, 2001 Dear Sir, I know it's been a long time since the schools have changed, but appearances have changed too. No longer do you have children wearing white school cardigans in high school while attending school in the warmer months. Blue is mostly worn at every school, even Saltus that once wore grey, Warwick Academy no longer wants students to only wear pullovers, Berkeley is going to be moved (beats me what they plan to do with the old site), CedarBridge is getting more honour students and yet problems still arise even today in schools (well basically ever since CedarBridge came into view that is).

No offence, but changing the uniforms from what it was before to how it is now doesn't make the grades, people do and if those people don't want to learn then so much for the next generation.

ANONYMOUS Pembroke Pay attention to dress May 14, 2001 Dear Sir, Two items caught my attention in your May 10 issue, Toppy Cowen's letter on how our lives flash by, in a nut shell, and I particularly liked his closing words, "Don' grow old''. Unfortunately, depending how you look at it, most of us do grow old and it is up to each of us to keep fit both mentally and physically (without the crippling abuse of drugs, booze and smokes) and to have sufficient funds put aside in order to survive and to remain independent.

If we don't, we leave ourselves at the mercy of others who think of us as a liability more than anything else. Don't expect any help from the people who are temporarily running the Country, they do not know the meaning of Senior Citizen. It is interesting to note that soon after the budget was passed they gave themselves a raise which probably amounts to $1,000 plus, per annum for those at the bottom rung of the ladder, but again, no mention of the seniors.

The second article was about the group calling themselves the Senior Five who appear to be doing what the authorities watching the chaos on our roads should have been doing for the past number of years. Whoever you are, "Three cheers'' and it might be a good idea for all of us who want to see more civility on our roads to keep a Polaroid camera in the car and take pictures of all those who break the law and send it to the newspapers, and maybe Mr.

Editor you will print them? Laws must be made, but most importantly, they must be carried out. All we have heard so far is, "Please drive carefully, you might save a life'' or "Please don't commit crimes, our tourists will not come here'' Obviously this approach is falling on deaf ears. You break the law, you must pay. Most of us are tired of the way this Country is being run, where people are literally getting away with murder. It seems to me that for a small Island there is a tremendous number of law breakers living here, and a lot are cowards as shown by those who attack defenceless women, some elderly, and those that attack the unsuspecting male. How many does it take to do that? Two? Four or ten? Very brave.

On another note, the other evening I watched the programme called `Code of Conduct' which was about the best I have seen on this kind of debate, and there were many good ideas put forth on how to change things. But, where to begin? One thought came to mind and that was the "dress code''. When one is dressed smartly in a suit and tie that person commands respect right away. The same applies to the ladies, a suit or a tailored dress, and people know right away that you are someone in authority. It has been conspicuous in recent years that a lot of men working in offices in and around Hamilton are walking around in shorts without a jacket or tie and no socks. What happened to the Bermuda symbol of the properly dressed businessman?? Yes, many do dress properly, but many do not. If you dress sloppily you will be treated as such, and I am surprised that the companies allow it. The same goes for waiting staff, in some restaurants the staff look positively scruffy, and these people are serving you your food. What happened to the waiters' short jacket, bow ties and cummerbunds, or the smart pressed waitresses uniforms and aprons? And don't tell me it's because it's more comfortable in the heat. A number of years ago there was no air-conditioning anywhere and yet a waiter or waitress was always properly dressed, heat or no heat. I think that dressing smartly would be a good start to Code of Conduct.

SEEING IT AS IT IS Pembroke Life ain't fair May 17, 2001 Dear Sir, I refer to your front-page article today (May 17, 2001) titled `Builder fears ulterior motive in awarding of Berkeley contract'.

I am not affiliated with any of the political parties, so my opinion, unlike Mr. Baxter's is not biased in anyway.

I am appalled that Mr. Baxter would have the audacity to suggest that his company should be awarded this contract because they have the experience. In private corporations this may be the normal expectation, but I firmly believe that Governments have a responsibility to share the wealth and opportunities amongst all, and therefore, by default, Mr. Baxter's company should be eliminated from the bidding. After all, does he not forget that at some point his company was a start up and inexperienced! Once he was awarded a large Government contract, he then advertised and hired experienced personnel (that is normal good business practice).

With good project management and workers -- all of which who ever gets the contract will need to hire -- (even Mr. Baxter's company will require additional manpower and talent) I have no doubt that the Berkeley contract will be successful. How dare he believe that he is `entitled' to this job? If his company is continually awarded these contracts on the basis of experience, how will other companies gain the experience in order to compete against him? Like I said, in private industry, I agree this is accepted practice -- but when using the people's money (you did remember that didn't you Mr. Baxter -- it is the people's money -- not yours) Government has a "responsibility'' to ensure that they are not seen as favouring one company over another on an ongoing basis.

So in that regard I applaud their decision not to give the contract to Mr.

Baxter and if they have selected to give the contract to a party supporter -- how does this differ from how all Government contracts in Bermuda were awarded over the past three decades? Wake up Mr. Baxter -- you are about to find out what the rest of us already know -- life ain't fair! Welcome to reality! A CITIZEN IN FAVOUR OF DIVERSIFICATION Hamilton