Labor Day, yet another day off

If I remember correctly, the decision reached by the Trade Union Federation (including the Teachers Union) and the government is that workers will get a 3.5% salary increase soon, and by April of next year they expect the other 4%. That's taken care of, and we don't have to worry about any more unnecessary school closings...

...Except that this North American Flu thing has everyone scared, and people are so reactionary (here and throughout the world) that I won't be surprised if they start closing schools without full evidence of a confirmed case. Especially next week and the week after, because today is the beginning of Saint Lucia Jazz Fest, which is on of the big tourist draws for the country. We'll have world famous musicians, including one from (*gasp, run for the face mask*) Mexico. I have a feeling that group won't get the crowd it deserves.

Sometimes there are things I encounter here that impress me, other times they remind me of the hassles of daily life here. I am impressed that the news media has since Tuesday been consistently called the H1N1 virus "North American Flu," as encouraged by WHO. I'm not impressed that we've banned the import of pork from North America (remember, it's spread by human-to-human contact, not from eating pork!). I am glad that the teachers at the VF Primary School yesterday had some very good and insightful questions about how to deal with it.

Tuesday I went by the bank, expecting to wait an hour in line to transfer some money to my US account to pay for my plane ticket home (I'll be in Austin August 5-19th!), but I got there a little after 2:30 and apparently the bank closes at 2pm. What? Why would they close so early? And of course there's no hours posted on the outside, so I don't know if that's just on Tuesdays, or everyday, or when I'll next be able to go to the bank. Most offices and stores close at 4 or 4:30, so I guess this is one of the reasons why people leave work at random times and don't come back for an hour or so.

Finally, today I woke up at 6:30, like most mornings, saw that the sky was a nice bright blue. Excellent, I thought. Perfect day to do the laundry. Then I turned on my sink, and only a trickle of water came out. I'm not sure why, but my water supply is on our tank now, rather than regular water service. Not a great day to use the washing machine. If I don't get the right combination tomorrow I'll probably hand wash a few things, but what I've been needing to wash are my pants, clothes that need more vigorous work to get clean than blouses. I may go another week with unwashed slacks and jeans, but what's another week after a month and a half?