It's the Post Office's turn

September 26, 2009

Dear Sir,

Now we have done our bit to help the Post Office become more efficient, perhaps they will do their bit? Last week I received a non-dutiable package at Devonshire P.O. that took three days to get from the UK to the AMF and then eight more days to come from the airport to my box.

DEVONSHIRE BERMUDIAN

Television troubles

September 25, 2009

Dear Sir,

After a week of sporadic watching directed at ZBM TV 9 may I respectfully raise the issue of their picture and sound quality? For anyone who remembers the last time the company insisted on acquiring the rights to show the Olympics, you will understand when I say ... Fernance, please leave this to the professionals!

Absolutely nothing seems to have changed despite, I recall, promises in techie upgrades. The picture quality is absolutely inferior and the sound and the speech is way off. I mean for crying out loud fellas ... it's the 21st Century. Can't you get the movement of the mouth in sync with what's being said? Please somebody else ... anybody else ... make sure we can watch the Olympics on NBC.

CHUMMY'S GHOST

Southampton

Tie in audio and video

September 27, 2009

Dear Sir,

Is it just me or has someone at ZBM TV fallen asleep.

I have been watching programming on ZBM and am irritated by the fact that the audio and video are not synchronised. It reminds me of an old 1970s Kung Fu movie.

And while I'm at it, why can't ZBM finish the news, commercials, etc on time so we don't miss the beginning of the CBS news.

Come on ZBM, it's so amateur. They don't have these problems at VSB.

JUST SWITCHED CHANNELS

St. George's

Shops' guessing game

September 28, 2009

Dear Sir,

I had the unfortunate task of shopping for some office furniture and other items in Bermuda this past weekend. The selection was not great at the various stores I visited, but I can fully understand this. Bermuda is a small island with a relatively small population, and it would be cost prohibitive for merchants to stock large quantities of many different types of items at any given time.

But what I can't understand is how a merchant can not know what they ordered for their next shipment. A number of merchants told me that although stocks were low on computer desks for example, I should not worry as they had a shipment coming in. When I asked what they had ordered and if they could show me a picture of the different styles that were due to arrive on the next shipment, they replied that they didn't know and wouldn't know until it was on the showroom floor.

This is unbelievable to me! Have you ever ordered something and not known what you just ordered? Perhaps if they were able to show me what was coming in, I would have waited to purchase the item from them. But without this critical and simple piece of information, I did what more and more people are doing everyday – I ordered the items I wanted directly from the US At least I KNOW what will be on the next shipment!

FRUSTRATED

Paget

Time for Premier to go

September 28, 2009

Dear Sir,

I would like to thank the organisers of the Picnic for Change.

The speakers were very inspiring, and I had the great fortune to meet and talk to a wonderful lady, Mrs. Bean. Even though she's from Somerset and I'm from St. George's, I felt I had made a friend, whether we ever meet again or not.

Dr. Seaman – thank you for an inspirational speech.

Mr. Burchall – thank you as always for common sense. I agree, we all need to face Dr. Brown and say it is time to go, now.

Ms Battersbee and Erica (sorry – I've forgotten your last name – thank you for having the courage to stand up for us all.

I will not sign my name. I am not a coward, but I do fear repercussions against my business, which could affect my co-workers' livelihood.

FROM ST. GEORGE'S

Praise for bus driver

September 27, 2009

This was sent to the Public Transportation Board and copied to The Royal Gazette.

To Director and Supervisor of PTB,

I write this morning to say a huge thank you to bus operator, M.L. Burgess. I am an adult student at Bermuda College, and had the opportunity to be a passenger on Ms. Burgess' bus.

She conducted herself in the most professional manner, as she would allow every passenger to be seated before driving off, along with her care in driving on the wet road. A job well done.

RAYMOND TUCKER

Southampton

Man of many hats

September 23, 2009

Dear Sir,

Jamahl Simmons. Does this name sound familiar? Of course it does. This is the Jamahl Simmons who'd promised to serve as a candidate for the National Liberal Party as well as the PLP and, yes, then the UBP too … this character then leaves all each party to go 360 degrees, returning to the P.L.P. where he was "given a title".

I'm talking about a man of many hats, and promises to boot. He reminds me of our local lizard, the chameleon; for it has the ability to alter its colours blending in with the surface it lays upon. What next Mr. Simmons, will it be the emerging third political party?

RAYMOND RAY

St. George's

Dangerous ferry

September 24, 2009

Dear Sir,

I was sitting on the Rockaway ferry this morning with my wife minding my own business when out of the corner of my eye I saw a woman slip, and slam to the floor. The floor is usually slippery in this specific location as it is directly in front of the door and is prone to sea water exposure and humidity. Although, it was raining today and the sea was rough so anyone that has ever been on a deck of a boat that is wet knows how much it can resemble an ice skating rink.

To my horror, and I'm sure everyone around me, the woman tried to stand up only to find that her heel had taken the place of her toes and hung limply on the floor. She then let out a shrill scream that I will not soon forget as she exclaimed, "my leg is broken! My leg is broken!"

The few patrons that were around her rushed to her aid but it was no use. She was inconsolable and the mere sight of her leg made me nauseous. Without turning this letter into some sort of horror story, this is the light that I would like to shine on this situation:

• The floor was extremely slippery

• There was no signage anywhere saying "caution – wet floor"

• There were no preventative measures in place to stop people from falling i.e. anti-slip mats or the crew assisting elderly citizens or women with heels from falling,

• The crew did not have sufficient rain gear and were not about to stand outside in the rain.

• The crew (aside from the captain) stood around scratching their heads as they had no basic medical training or medical apparatus to splint the woman's leg/foot.

By chance, I happened to be sitting next to another woman who said to me after the situation had calmed down: "I'm not surprised, that happened to me last week!"

She then lifted up her pant leg to reveal a severely rolled ankle that was still swollen!

I then looked around the ferry to gauge people's reactions to the incident only to find that some people were just annoyed that they might be late for work. This poor lady is lying on the ground, her leg in pieces, might not be able to normally walk ever again, and people are fussy? As if this is some normal occurrence? Oh some lady just fell and broke her leg again? If I were a lawyer, I would go visit that women in the hospital and gather all the people that have ever fallen on the ferry and compile quite the lawsuit including punitive damages for the downright negligence of the people that operate the ferry service.

If the woman that fell is someone that has to walk around all day like a construction worker or a waitress, her entire livelihood could be taken away from her.

If this is the case, the Bermuda Government should take complete and full responsibility for their negligence and it will be the tax payers paying for the government's laziness in not installing proper measures to stop these sorts of occurrences from happening.

MAX CONSTANTINE

Southampton

Slow boat to nowhere

September 24, 2009

Dear Sir,

So let me get this right!

The Bermuda Police have spent 1.5 million on a boat that can do little more than tow other boats, only goes out in certain wind and sea conditions, gets slipped on the approach of a Hurricane (because they only have one storm mooring and if the wind is out of a certain direction they can't use it) and then has to wait to be returned to the water, and the Deputy Commissioner has the gall in stating that we the Public have unrealistic expectations?

Have I missed something here because I thought that the Police were a "Service" to the public?

My expectations, Deputy Commissioner, would be that before this boat was purchased that an assessment of what its role and functions and expected abilities would have been conducted. Instead of several high ranking officers travelling on British Airways Business class to Australia (and one Sergeant travelling several times), that money could have been better spent identifying a boat that can actually go out in storms, and actually rescue people (Just Google Self righting Search and Rescue Boat) and send officers on the necessary training to be able to perform those functions.

My other expectation would be that if you spend that amount of money on a boat (that is little more than a tug), then you would have the necessary crew to staff it.

To claim that staff have been re-directed to other functions shows how ineffective this Police "Service" really is! This Island has one of the highest per capita ratios of Police in the world – 400-plus on a 21-mile-long island and they still can't staff a tug boat.

INQUIRING MIND

Southampton

Still time to bury hatchet

September 25, 2009

Dear Sir,

Having read two well written letters (from Clean Slate and L.L.) I would appreciate it if you will print my added views. As Clean Slate advocates, a change is needed, but why could it not have come from within the make up of a party that is already organised?

How do six breakaways who have until this moment had very little recorded in reports from the House as to their genuine interest in being an opposition, form a new party?

I can't think of any great suggestion they may have made to implant some concern in the minds of the members, front or back bench, of the ruling party. Members such as Dunkley, Jackson and Gibbons come to my mind as spokespeople for the conservative masses. Let us not forget that the popular vote had a great number who were leaning more to conservatism.

So we form a new party in name only, made up of the bones of the old. Say some of the old, change over and vote new unknown, along comes an election, where do all the other voters vote? Those who do vote will only swell the ranks of the new party, so you have the same imagined descriptions of that group.

This new party would be far better off, to bury the hatchet and try to work out their concerns. If the leader must shift courses and the majority feel so, make it work with the same devotion you have decided to split.

Remember a rose or a thorn by any other name is but a rose or a thorn.

WILLIAM OUTERBRIDGE

St. George's

Man of many hats

September 23, 2009

Dear Sir,

Jamahl Simmons. Does this name sound familiar? Of course it does. This is the Jamahl Simmons who'd promised to serve as a candidate for the National Liberal Party as well as the PLP and, yes, then the UBP too … this character then leaves all each party to go 360 degrees, returning to the P.L.P. where he eas "given a title".

I'm talking about a man of many hats, and promises to boot. He reminds me of our local lizard, the chameleon; for it has the ability to alter its colours blending in with the surface it lays upon. What next Mr. Simmons, will it be the emerging third political party?

RAYMOND RAY

St. George's