Happy Lockdown

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Submitted by Grenville Phillips II

At the last lockdown, we advised that persons be allowed to be productive at home. It seems that this advice will not be considered during this lockdown either. So, each family must break for themselves.
1. We recommended that computer stores remain open, so that persons could get any ink cartridges, paper, and computer supplies that they may require, especially with students using up the ink and people working from home.
Since computer stores must close, go and purchase ink and paper for your printer. Also, buy additional batteries (or rechargeable batteries and a charger) if you have a wireless mouse.
2. We recommended that hardware and equipment rental stores remain open, so that people can debush, and do repairs in and around their house.
Since such stores must close, go and purchase some silicone (and the dispenser), crack-repair filler, tile grout, brushing solution/paint, brushes, sand paper, etc. Also, for any leaking pipes, purchase some faucet kits and toilet kits, etc.
3. Check all door hinges. If screws are missing, then take one out, take it to the hardware store and get similar. If they are corroding, then replace them with stainless steel. Use the right screw drivers. If you do not have pliers, get one.
4. You should install bolts on your external doors (top and bottom). So, purchase some 10 mm diameter stainless steel or brass bolts (depending on your interior decorations), and install them. You may need a drill.
5. Check all lights. If bulbs are flickering, replace them. Also, get some additional bulbs in case any stop working during the lockdown.
6. Check all light switch covers. Sometimes those screws go missing. Buy and install all missing screws.

7. Check all screws in your window frames. If any are corroding, replace all of them with stainless steel.

8. Generally, check any unfinished, or poorly finished work in your house, buy the proper tool and materials, educate yourself, and give it a try.

Please note:
a) You should not try any electrical wiring.
b) If you only have one bathroom, then perhaps you should let it leak until a plumber can fix it – you do not want to be without a bathroom during lockdown.

c) Do not do any work on or under your roof. The risk of falling is high.
d) If you do not regularly use power tools, then stick to hand tools. Generally, do not do any dangerous work.
Happy lockdown peoples.

Grenville Phillips II is a Chartered Structural Engineer. He can be reached at NextParty246@gmail.com

13 thoughts on “Happy Lockdown”


  1. THE DIRECTIVES
    Attorney General Dale Marshall last night outlined a number of directives that will take effect from Wednesday and continue until February 17.
    During a national televised press conference he said every non-essential service shall remain closed, except the following which may open only as specified:
    • Abattoirs, hatcheries and poultry processors, will be opened between 7 a.m and 6 p.m.
    • Bakeries and bread depots for the sale of bread, between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m.
    • Bakeries for the baking of bread, between 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.
    • Banks and credit unions will be closed from Wednesday to February 10 (no face to face services).
    • From February 11, banks and credit unions will resume retail banking;
    • Bill payment services such as SurePay, can operate between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m., Monday to Friday only.
    •
    Cleaning services that clean for essential services and businesses as well as any commercial properties that require cleaning for environmental purposes, will operate between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m.
    • Delivery services for groceries, fruits, vegetables and medical supplies, can operate between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m.
    • Distributive traders supplying goods to essential services and businesses will work between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m..
    •
    Farms will operate between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m.
    • Fuel manufacturers, fuel storage facilities and fuel distributors can work the entire day.
    •
    Gasoline stations will open for the sale of products relating to motor vehicles, petroleum products, including liquefied petroleum gas and for the sale of top-ups for mobile telephones and pharmaceuticals (but not for the sale of products for human consumption, including liquor), between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m.
    •
    Hotels, villas and other rental accommodation (excluding gaming rooms, spa, gyms and discotheques), restaurants will open for room service only, for the entire day.
    • Manufacturing companies for the production of goods for export, will operate from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
    •
    Pharmaceutical manufacturers, manufacturers of beverages and dairy products, food processors and food distributors, can operate between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m..
    • Pharmacies for personal shopping and the filling of prescriptions, can open between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m.
    •
    Minimarts, that are exempted from this directive, can open operate between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. Minimarts that are not exempted and those shops commonly called “corner shops”, “rum shops” and “village shops” shall remain closed. A list of the exempted minimarts shall be published in the daily newspapers circulating in Barbados.
    •
    Private veterinary services can as needed;
    •
    Sugar factories can work for the entire day;
    • Supermarkets can operate between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. for in-store shopping, Monday to Friday only.
    •
    Swimming pool services, as needed.
    • Tyre shops, wrecker services and emergency personnel for vehicle response only.
    •
    Sporting activities are prohibited.
    • A person may only visit a beach or a park for the purpose of swimming or exercise.
    • Beaches and parks will open between 6 a.m. and
    9 a.m.
    •
    Persons may exercise outdoors between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. but no more than two people shall exercise together physically distanced, unless members of the same household.
    •
    Persons who are in public places shall wear a face mask.

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  2. Time for some novel ideas
    A friend uh mine tell me how he know coronavirus ain’t real is because it name de “novel” coronavirus and a novel is a book full uh fairy tales and t’ings dat get mek up. Doan laugh. He half-right.
    It name de novel coronavirus because it novel. Dat mean it new. Dat mean it different from all de rest uh coronaviruses dat dey evuh see. Dat mean yuh might cyan do wuh yuh does nusually do wid uh familiar coronavirus.
    De tactics tuh fight it gotta be new too. De book on COVID-19 ain’t done write yet. We actually mekkin it up as we go along.
    When it done write, some of what we did and thought, we will see was wrong, ’cause it’s a novel situation. We gotta understand dat.
    Whether or not de authorities will admit to having been wrong or making mistakes is a next nudda story. Bajans doan admit tuh being wrong suh easy. One time I wrongly wrote in dis column that Dr Henry Fraser was the producer of the CBC series Silent Sentinels. It was actually produced by Sherwood McCaskie.
    One time I miss an write dat Columbus sailed de ocean blue in 1692. It was 1492. Anybody dat does read Richard Hoad cuh tell me if he ever admit tuh being wrong fuh praising Donald Trump?
    Being wrong ’bout Trump or COVID-19 is serious doh. Lives at stake. But it is understandable.
    Both Trump and COVID offered something novel. Some believed in Trump ’cause he was the new kid on de political block, a novelty in American politics. De t’ing is, even when a novelty item becomes a nuisance some is doan want to admit that they made a bad choice and send it back, so dey stick wid it. And de situation gets worse. Sometimes is best tuh pause and come again.
    But den again, sometimes de medicine is be worse dan de cure. I cuh understand if a man dat see three hundred and somebody positive cases in de prison an’ scarcely a boy sick, or even a sniffle, start wondering if dis ting really serious fuh trute. I could see why a parent dat ain’t know how dey gun feed dey children when work shut down would feel like a pause is a punishment.
    12 too many
    And then I is remember that an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure and that there are so many questions about what we are dealing with and we ain’t so sure.
    And 12 dead is 12 too many. So many novel choices and no guarantees.
    When my friend expresses his doubts, I doan laugh because, when he asks me if yuh does say a person got de flu even if dem ain’t feel bad and don’t got nuh symptoms, I have tuh answer no. All I cuh tell he is, “Well dis one novel and not like de rest. Yuh cuh still pass it on if yuh asymptomatic.” When I tell him I know people personally who had it, it doan change his mind. He also believes the Earth is flat. I can’t convince him otherwise ’bout dat neiduh. In all fairness to him, it really does feel flat.
    Feelings does lie sometimes though. And being wrong feels just like being right. Finding out you were wrong when you thought you were right can feel even worse. We cuh handle novelty when is just a novelty mug or toy. When de stakes raise we prefer to stick with the familiar. Maybe that is why we holding on to the old tourism model so tight.
    Dis novel situation doesn’t seem to give us the option to keep to the same ole same ole, though. Time for some novel ideas and approaches.
    New ideas often sound crazy like my friend does sometimes. But sticking wid wuh ain working nuh mo is crazy too.
    Adrian Green is a communications specialist. Email: Adriangreen14 @gmail.com

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  3. Seeing the woods from the trees.
    Data Analysis by countries is meaningless as it only tells us who is ahead or behind the curve of a new virus spreading over the world for 12+ months and is just a snapshot of the extent of the damage.

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  4. Barbados lags far behind the rest of the region, due to misguided policies. International ratings agencies projected that tourism would decline by about 70% in 2020; however the government still used a $300 million USD loan to bail out the sector.
    See article (s) below:

    “Global renewable electricity installation will hit a record level in 2020, according to the International Energy Agency, in sharp contrast with the declines caused by the coronavirus pandemic in the fossil fuel sectors.”

    Renewables defies COVID to set new records in 2020, will accelerate further in 2021
    ” Renewables will be responsible for nearly 90% of new power capacity this year as the sector shrugs off COVID-19, with an even greater 2021 on the horizon.

    New analysis released today by the International Energy Agency (IEA) shows that the renewables sector is to shrug off any impact from the COVID-19 pandemic and report growth of around 7% this year…”

    Costa Rica Has Run on 100% Renewable Energy for 299 Days
    By
    Miles Rote
    October 1, 2019

    “Costa Rica is pioneering the future of running on renewable energy and may be the model for future countries to follow suit.

    In the last four years, Costa Rica has generated 98.53% of its electricity from renewable sources…”

    In 2014, Prominent German university Professor Olav Hohmeyer said,
    ” a 100 per cent renewable energy system is the answer to Barbados’ energy problems.”

    Hohmeyer said Barbados had what it took to supply all of its energy needs from renewable sources within the next ten years, saying such a venture would need $1.8 billion investment and involve the installation of photovoltaic, and wind energy systems, and storage facilities.

    The professor & chair of energy economics at the University of Flensburg, Germany, said: “I propose it is possible to supply Barbados a hundred per cent with energy and lower the electricity bill by about $150 [million] to $200 million every year at present technology prices. At the same time, going a hundred per cent renewables on electricity, on power supply, you can save about $300 million in diesel imports every year, which translates into US$150 million hard currency which I think the Central Bank of Barbados would be very happy not to have flow [out of Barbados],” he said.

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  5. As the world’s most tourism-dependent region, the Caribbean has been battered by the coronavirus shock to international travel.

    In the worst case scenario, visitor numbers to the region in 2020 could fall by as much as 71% compared with 2019, leading to the loss of 2 million jobs and $44bn of regional gross domestic product (GDP), according to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC).

    Reply ↓

    • The government allocated 300 million however it is incorrect to suggest that all of it was utilized. In fact the drawdown was not significant.


  6. TOURISM OF BARBADOS AWAITS A 300 MILLION DOLLAR INVESTMENT
    “Lisa Cummins, Minister of Tourism of Barbados, a country with a population of 280,000, said that the 300 million dollars, which she considers underinvestment, will be used to reactivate an industry heavily punished by the coronavirus pandemic that already claimed 40,000 jobs at its peak, and most were from tourism.”

    Vanderlei J. Pollack – Oct 12, 2020, Tourism Review News.

    The minister actually wanted more than 300 millions USD for the tourism sector.

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  7. Tourism slumps worldwide

    “Just how disastrous the 2020 travel year was is made clear in the latest survey by the UN tourism organization UNWTO: 74% decline in global tourism worldwide, with over a hundred million jobs tied to it. Forecasts for 2021 also remain cautious in the face of travel restrictions.”
    Deutsche Welle (DW).

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  9. David

    That is precisely the point!

    Should the industry not be allocating 300 million to the government given 70 years of public support?

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    • @Pacha

      So many examples we can find of the tail wagging the dog. The whole country needs a reset or reboot.


  11. The government and a government of any small economy, should operate ‘as if’ the next variant of Covid19 will shut travel totally for months to a year.

    This will lead to the decision process that will show the way out and hopefully, in the process rebuild the society as a people. With all that entails.

    We lost that in chasing the dollar. Do you disagree?

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