Steve McCabe: from island to island

Overheard near a street vendor in Roseau: "You think I don't know a Morne Prosper carrot when I see one?". I would have loved to have heard the entire conversation!

I'm after a good wall map of the Caribbean, so I head to the island's leading stationery shop. I look for maps but fear I'm out of luck, until the big Caribbean map on the wall screams at me "This is just what you want!" I find an assistant, three in fact, because multiple assistants flock together. "I'd like the map, how much is it?" A debate ensues amongst them. It's more like an reverse-auction, because the price comes down from $60 to $30 but stabilises at $35. "Great, I'll take one please". "We don't have any".

Why is it that (at least here) people like to write the number, then put the numeral in brackets after. For instance, I might write in this post that "It took just two (2) hours to get my car fixed today". But I wouldn't, because what would be the point? I understand the rule that small numbers are spelled out, while large numbers should be expressed in figures. But why on earth do both? Hedging one's grammatical bets? I heard once it was about catering for those unfortunate not to be able to read - at least they'd be able to see the numbers. Great, that's really helpful for the illiterate. To know how exactly many, but not of what. So if you see posters around town, defaced, with the numeral scratched out but the number word left intact, you might know who's responsible...

I was watching Dr Who recently; the episode was set 2,000 years in the future. So imagine my surprise to see the aliens hiding out in bog-standard 20th century shipping containers. Perhaps it was a statement on the near perfect design of a container, but I don't think so. Another pet peeve: how every film that involves a sword fight or indeed any kind of blade uses the same sound effect - that long metallic 'shhhhhck' of deadly steel being drawn out of a sheath. A special mention must be given to the otherwise good film 'Jumpers', in which Samuel L Jackson gently unfolds a cloth to reveal a knife - accompanied of course by the inevitable long metallic 'shhhhhck' of deadly steel... Update: Great video on the topic here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzbfuI0PMdA

(...or should that be inaction?) I thought maybe the government website might have information on what's needed to register a birth, so I searched their website. All I found was How do I register Small Vessels? Well, he is small and he does have a Call Sign, but I'm not sure if this is how I want him to start off in life... UPDATE: it actually takes nothing more than filling in a form, showing ID, and paying $5!

Following the recent launch of Digicel's EDGE service, I've been looking forward to trying out the service. Originally a PC card was how EDGE would be used on say a laptop, but they now supply the elegant Sony Ericsson Mobile Broadband modem. Installation is really simple. The device is USB, and requires a SIM card (with of course a data subscription). The software does allow you to set up a forwarding phone number, otherwise a caller gets a busy tone if your using the SIM in your modem. Note that the software defaults to ask for your card's PIN number, which is a good security feature (but can be turned off). Connecting is quick; you do of course have to specify connection details. Performance is dependent on coverage - if signal is poor you'll get dial-up type connectivity, but overall I had a good experience with it. It also supports various networks: HSDPA, EDGE, UMTS, GPRS. What's great about the concept is that it offers you an extra level of connectivity on t...

Liam Originally uploaded by Steve_Mc I'm happy to announce the arrival of baby Liam at 9:57am on Boxing Day (St Stephen's Day!), a healthy 7lbs.Both he and Mum are doing fine. Check out his photos on Flickr .

Happy Christmas to all!

If an e-mail to Customer Care at LIME (cuscare@cwdom.dm) bounces back as 'account is full (quota exceeded)', what does this tell us???

Dominica beach Originally uploaded by Steve_Mc I was thrilled to find that the beautiful black-sand beach at Bout Sab near La Plaine is back. The last time I was there it was all pebbles and rocks. I guess we have Hurricane Omar to thank for this!

Later this month, I'm going to want to broadcast a simple message to friends via all my social networking websites, and it's going to have to be from my phone to boot. So this is how it'll be done. I'll MMS an e-mail from my phone to my account at HelloTxt.com . This site allows me to update multiple social network sites by sending just one message. I can either enter it on the site, or via an SMS or MMS message sent to the site. So from one simple text message I can update my status on my Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Tumblr, Plurk pages (and to many others such as MySpace, Bebo, Hi5 if I used them too).

I was talking with a friend about being scared as a child - hiding-behind-the-sofa or under-the-bed scared. What did it for me was Dr Who - Daleks especially freaked me out (until someone pointed out you could easily escape them by going up stairs). For my friend here in Dominica it was Mas costumes, and the way scary Sensey-costumed men would just appear in the village around Carnival time. The best - and even I agree it's is a bizarre and spine-chilling image - was 'The Man Who Wore a Termite Nest on his Head While Playing an Accordion'. Apparently, villagers would hear his eerie dirge long before they saw him, which only added to the fear factor.

No, not for luggage, but for them to reduce their fuel surcharge. Their Oct 15th announcement at http://www.liatairline.com/news/fuel_surcharge.html announces a $2.50 reduction, since fuel prices 'have stabilised at around US$100 a barrel'... Funny how slow people can be to change their price to the consumer in a downward direction (and I'm thinking of DOMLEC too).

At 3:03PM on November 18 it's Sunny, 28.4°C, 40% humidity, and we've had 0mm of rain in the last 24h

'We asked you what you wanted...' said the press release from LIME, aka Cable & Wireless; I'm not sure how many people said 'spend $400 million rebranding'. Nevertheless, that's what we got, and the new company was launched here with a bizarre stage-show at Creole in the Park which many will remember simply for being badly lit. Oh, and for the free maracas given out (note to self, write a post soon about modern Cargo Cults). Thing is, several years ago they rebranded to Telecommunications of Dominica (ToD), then had to un-rebranded after admitting none knew ToD and that C&W was a globally recognised brand. Well at least lots of people know what a lime is. Already there are alternate meanings for LIME - Lousy Internet, Mediocre Everythingelse is one. But maybe LIMP is better:: Landline, Internet, Mobile, Profits

Cultural Gala Originally uploaded by Steve_Mc Held in the Botanical Gardens again. More photos

"Newham Council commemorated the national day of Dominica on Monday (November 3) by flying the countrys national flag. Mayor Sir Robin Wales and Deputy Mayor Councillor Christine Bowden joined Agnes Adonis, the Dominica Acting High Commissioner, fellow councillors and residents on the steps of the Town Hall in East Ham to mark the 30th anniversary of the nations independence. It is the fifth year that Newham Council has raised the flag of Dominica alongside the Union Flag and the borough flag. It was the first local authority to do so. Sir Robin said: We are proud that in Newham we have so many communities that live, work and play together. Our Dominican residents are proud of their nation and their flag and we are proud of them and their contribution to life in the borough. During the celebration Dominica flags were waved by children from St Antonys School in Forest Gate and the national anthem was played. There were refreshments served in the Town Hall." Full articl...

As his time comes (too slowly) to an end, we are pleased to reveal the new George W Bush Presidential Library building. He said "it's great, it'll hold all my comics"...

Getting back to normal Originally uploaded by Steve_Mc It's been only a weekend since Hurricane Omar side-swiped us, but some of the most badly affected places are already bouncing back. The road from Soufriere to Scott's head was so damaged it was impassable, but by yesterday it was open again. Better still for the people of Scott's Head, electricity was also restored!