Saturday, February 28, 2015

TnT police officers are failures

The problem I have is that the illegal and disgusting actions are being condoned by the people with the power to punish the deeds. I know you cannot generalise about the whole service because there are definitely good officers.

http://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/Five-cops-transferred-from-Grande-294460581.html

http://www.tv6tnt.com/news/Morning-Edition-Interview-with-Sergeant-Alexander-23rd-March-2015-297235171.html

Thursday, February 12, 2015

Amazing photos from 2014

Always, always, have a backup

Review of Tecu Credit Union House, Mayaro

Do not rent them. 

I had the unfortunate experience of staying in one of these in January and it was a bad experience. I stayed in the largest one which accommodates 16 people. The feel of the house was unsanitary and dilapidated.

Pros: 
- Parking for at least 6 cars in the yard.
- Lots of water tanks as a backup supply.
- A/C in bedrooms
- (Mostly) working plumbing: toilets, sinks, showers.
- Mayaro cable on TV
- A large yard which leads to the beach. It is a beach front house.
- No mosquitoes, though there was a river close by, the river was so dirty it seems nothing could live in it. 
- Medium size fridge and a separate deep freeze.
- 2 rooms with a double mattress in each, and 2 rooms with 2 bunk beds and all are double size mattresses. 

Cons:
- Everything is run down, the paint is peeling on the walls, moss and mildew is all over, hinges are broken on cupboards, bedrooms locks are loose, deplorable rust on all the gates. The locks for the outer doors did not look wholesome.
- The walls had a lot of stains of oil or who knows what on it. The couches were all dirty and run down. There was a 3 piece green set by the TV that had lots of black marks all over it. There were a couple fake leather chairs that had most of the fabric peeled off so it was all threads and dirty. This was certainly not something somebody want in their house, though it did work as a chair. 
- There were rat droppings all over the house, including in the kitchen drawer with utensils. The pots and pans and them too. 
- The single upstairs toilet smelled highly of urine on our arrival. When we asked the caretaker about it, he said nobody uses it after it after the cleaner preps the house for guests. When we asked if we could get mopping or toilet liquid to take care of the toilet we were told there was none. There was also water leaking from the outlet pipe on the toilet which had the floor wet. 
- The single upstairs shower had no hook to lock it from the inside.. It stayed closed by itself but there should have been a working lock because even the wind could blow it open. The shower head also came off in my head when I tried to redirect it, the joints in it were leaking and not spraying properly.
- The water heater only worked sometimes and when it did work the water was only slightly warm. The sun heating the tanks and pipes during the day got the water hotter than the heater. The caretaker insisted that the heater was working.
- The mattresses were all disgusting. We were told to bring sheets and pillow cases which we did but we would have brought mattresses also if we knew what we were getting. They were all badly stained. A few had what could only have been blood stains. We carried our own pillows luckily. 
- A couple of the rooms smelt musty and were missing curtains.
- The oven section of the stove was completely rusted and we did not use it because it did not look safe to cook in. 
- The gate is PVC and there were holes in the fence that stray dogs came in from.
- Bulbs were missing in a few places, one downstairs toilet was black when the door was closed. 
- There was nowhere to hang wet clothes and no hangers in the cupboards. 
- All the cupboards were dusty so they had to be wiped before being used.


The neighbouring TECU houses which were smaller looked like they were in similar condition to the one I stayed in. A couple things were recently changed in our house because you could see fresh concrete which was not painted over yet. If they keep up the upgrades this would be a great place to stay. 

I strongly recommend you find somewhere else to go.



Going outside the US for meds

Another example of how messed up healthcare is in the USA. Make sure you have good health insurance if you visit!
http://www.wired.com/2015/02/us-healthcare-screwed-fly-britain-medication/

Iceland landscapes

Monday, February 9, 2015