In this newsletter:
€ Election time.... The day of reckoning
€ Antigua on-line update
€ PUMKIN wins again.... single handed!
Election time... the day of reckoning is here.
Today's update will be short. I just didn't want the day to pass without a few words.
We've had posters the size of billboards, we've had small blue ones, we've had bright red ones, we've watched them go up, we've watched them blow down, we've watched them go up again, we've watched them ripped down.... we've got ALP and UPP and AFP and NRM and independents too...... we've had free ham, and free turkey, free shirts and free hats..... we've had talk of free shoes and talk of duty free cars, talk of the old days, talk about new days, talk of blue chicken, talk about other people's talk.... we've had manifestos and constituency proposals, fliers and leaflets, banners and flags, bunting and blimps..... we've had speeches and concerts, rallies, editorials, TV discussions, TV ads, loud hailers in the morning, loud hailers in the evening, motorcades, supercades and MEGAcades! Whoever wins has to declare a holiday.... so we can recover from all this.
March 9th has arrived. The polling stations are open. The day of reckoning so to speak for the most hotly contested election for 20 years.
Cable & Wireless has thoughtfully set up a web site to chart the results of elections. This is an excellent way for interested Antiguans & Barbudans overseas to get the results as they are announced from the Elections Office. you'll find it at http://www.antiguaelections99.com . If you don't want to keep nipping back for the news you can also sign up to have the final results emailed directly to you at no cost.
Cable & Wireless proudly boasts that it is one of the world's leading providers of international telecommunications services. It's businesses provide 17 million customers in 70 countries with a complete range of international, domestic and mobile communications. Cable & Wireless is the world's fourth largest carrier of international traffic, provides mobile communications in more than 30 countries and operates the world's largest, most advanced cableship fleet. Having checked my phone bill I think Gloria and I paid for it.
For further information contact Kimberley Bowers, Corporate Communications Executive on 268 480 4213.
Antigua-on-line
There appears to be some activity at http://www.antol.ag again, or more accurately at http://www.antol.net
Apparently cut backs at the Antigua Sun resulted in Antigua On-line (or is it just the equipment?) being sold. The domain was down for a couple of months and now appears to transfer surfers to the new URL. ALL LINKS TO THE SITE HAVE BEEN BROKEN so we've had to revamp our links pages all over again. The Antigua Sun on-line has gone... but a new INDEPENDENT news outlet (which has dubbed itself to be "the source") is emerging produced in part (or perhaps whole) by photographer, writer, TV comentator and black activist Mali Olitungi (hope I spelled the name right! The page is down right now so I can't check). Rather pointedly they have renamed themselves "the Antiguan on-line community". I've worked with Mali on several projects and I'm hoping that the reporting will be as unbiased as he has promised and that we will be able to refer surfers to "the source" as a new "news" authority.
PUMKIN wins again!
Finally a quick word about my favorite subject.... PUMKIN. After some deliberation I plucked up the courage to sail Pumkin off (that was easy) and back on (not so easy) to the concrete dock where she resides at Jolly Harbour..... single handed. It was Saturday last and although I didn't have a crew I really wanted to get out on the water and to take part in the local club race. There were very few sailors around since many had gone to St. Martin for the Heineken regatta but one of my arch rivals... WANDERLUST came out to race and sportingly waited as I sailed around in circles trying to raise the sails while steering with my backside. After a shakey start I settled into single handing her quite easily. She is a perfect size for it at 27 feet. I suspect that the guys on Wanderlust were going easy on me but it soon became clear that despite her extra 5 feet in length we were going to contest the race as closely as the election. After an hour or so racing I crossed the line 50 seconds behind Wanderlust, beating them by about 40 seconds on corrected (handicap) time.
I love this boat.
That's all for today. See you in Antigua...............
regards
Nick
