World Oceans Day 2011...

"When anxious, uneasy and bad thoughts come, I go to the sea, and the sea drowns them out with its great wide sounds, cleanses me with its noise, and imposes a rhythm upon everything in me that is bewildered and confused." ~Rainer Maria Rilke

I went to the beach on Sunday.... Maracas Beach - which is one of the popular beaches in T&T. On the drive there I thought about how frequently (or infrequently as the case is) I actually visit the beach. One would think that living on an island would be reason enough for frequent visits to the sea but that hasn't been the case with me... Perhaps I'm not a beach baby? I remember a year or two when I didn't even visit the beach at all.

I did go this Sunday though. It was beautiful... calming in the quiet early morning. Waves crashing on the sand. Very few people about (my family isn't fond of crowds... when visiting the beach we leave home in the wee hours of the day, get to the beach before the crowds of people, and leave as the crowds start arriving). There is a peace that comes when one is able to relax on the shore... or float in the waters of the sea. Perhaps it is in the rhythm? The ebb and flow. It is simply centering... calming... beautiful.

It's World Oceans Day today... according to the website it is a day when 'people around the planet celebrate and honour the body of water which links us all, for what it provides humans and what it represents.' Take a moment to give thanks for our oceans... I don't think we have begun to understand all that it provides for us. Be inspired by these quotes from beliefnet. Check out my beach photos on Flickr.

peace,

Ren

Lunch Room Conversation...

"Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end; then stop." ~Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

This quote makes me wonder whether Lewis Carroll had any Trini blood in him. It sorta sounds just like the directions that a Trini would give... :)

So we're sitting in the lunch room today (some of us having lunch... some of us avoiding going back to work) and talk comes up about the wonder that is Google Maps... You can find Trinidad and Tobago on Google Maps... You can find lots of stuff on Google Maps... including my house. I have a friend who spends time on Google Maps correcting the labels they have for roads and spaces and I know of persons who've started taking photos to map to places in T&T...

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And while all of that is exciting and maybe you're now thinking you can go label some places on Google Maps... that's not my story. Today's post is on our lunchtime conversation and just how confusing it can be for persons to find places in Trinidad and Tobago. Apart from our vague (yet strangely accurate) direction-providing skills, today's lunchtime convos emphasised that our road names can be a bit.. confusing.

Take, for example, the old Southern Main road which runs from north to south Trinidad. This road was used before the main highways and is still used today as it links all the villages and towns together. This road turns into Main Roads when it passes through towns... What do I mean? If you're travelling south along the Southern Main road from Chaguanas to Point Lisas you drive down the Southern Main road until Isaac Junction where you turn right... then... although you're still continuing on the same road - it's called the Couva Main Road... then after you pass through Couva you turn left and - the road name changes back to the Southern Main road.

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This is one of many places in which it does this. Talk in the lunchroom is that the road we all know as the North Coast road (Maracas anyone?) becomes the Paria Main Road after Maracas Beach till Las Cuevas where it is again called the North Coast road for a little while before turning back into the Paria Main Road to get to Blanchisseuse... lol

When you consider the naming issue and the fact that we tend to have place names repeated... e.g. Palmiste in Central... Palmiste in South... it's pretty amazing that people don't get lost. As one of my workmates say though... "is ah good ting T&T small cuz if yuh get loss yuh just hadda make 2 turns before yuh find yuh way..."

Lol... I ♥ T&T...

peace,

Rtr