What a year it’s been! We look at BajanThings one years on.
For many years my brother encouraged me to write a record of my travels and some history of the island. I had started to write but it was confined to my hard drive. Some will stay there after I go, unless someone finds it.
When my cousin Peter and his family spent their Christmas holidays in Barbados in 2014 the seed, which was fertilised by a few rums and beers, grew. This is the result. Peter is responsible for getting BajanThings onto the web. He also writes the odd the article.
BajanThings is mostly about events that I have witnessed, or told by those who did, my travels and the life of some of the people who were born in, or had connections to, Barbados and made their mark on the world stage.
These verbal records need to be recorded for future generations, when we old folks are gone.
I hope that my travels will encourage someone to explore the world before it is lost. In my short life it is no longer possible to travel as freely as it was in the early 1970’s and 1980’s. I would like to visit Egypt, Jordan, Iran, Afghanistan etc. I do not think that this will be possible, as long as there is money to be made making bombs and bullets and buying oil at a reduced price.
Not everyone will want to put on a backpack and walk alone for weeks at time but every one should take time to live outside of their comfort zone.
From an early age I wanted to travel. My first trip was to Trinidad and Guyana when I was about 5 years old. I still remember the time I went exploring on my own into a forbidden swamp in Guyana!
Below is a table of the BajanThings posting over the last year. In the early days we only had a few followers hence the low number of viewers recorded! For instance the piece on Antarctica posted on 18 January got only 22 unique viewers whereas the piece on The Wreck of the SV Nordenskjold posted a few days ago on the 18 December has already had 287 unique viewers!
When Peter set up Bajan Things for me he posted 3 test posts to show me how wordpress, the tool that drives this blog, works. Amazingly, these three post, Bajan Seasoning, Bajan Hot Pepper Sauce and Bajan Rum Punch are always in the top post from search engines!
You can change the table sort order by clicking the arrows at the end of each of the header columns. You can sort the table alphabetically or by views or by post date. You can also filter the table based on a search term if you are looking for something specific. You can also click on any of the posts and the post will open in a new tab in your browser. Enjoy.
| Page/Post & URL Link | Date | Unique Visitors - 2015 |
|---|
| Home page / Archives | 2014/12/19 | 11,666 |
| Bajan Seasoning | 2014/12/21 | 1,743 |
| Bajan Hot Pepper Sauce | 2014/12/21 | 1,407 |
| The Seimstrand, St. Vincent & The Grenadines | 2015/05/28 | 864 |
| Blue Box Cart. The growing years 1982 to 1991 | 2015/08/31 | 791 |
| Bajan Rum Punch | 2014/12/20 | 736 |
| Torpedoing of the Cornwallis in Carlisle Bay - 11 September 1942 | 2015/05/21 | 730 |
| Welcome to BajanThings.com | 2014/12/20 | 695 |
| Keeping fish fresh before refrigeration | 2015/10/26 | 631 |
| Bajan Fried Flying Fish | 2014/12/20 | 501 |
| Subscribe to BajanThings.com | 2015/03/31 | 438 |
| Thor Heyerdahl's Ra Expeditions to Barbados - 2015 is the 45th anniversary of Ra II arriving in Barbados | 2015/08/05 | 384 |
| The Bottom-up boulder between Bottom Bay and Harry Smith Beach, Barbados | 2015/08/16 | 365 |
| The Great Outdoor (TGO) Challenge 2015 - Scotland. A walk to the Park! | 2015/05/03 | 362 |
| Contact Burts | 2014/12/20 | 353 |
| The Colin Hudson Great (Barbados) Train Hike | 2015/01/12 | 335 |
| Memorials for departed friends | 2015/06/12 | 329 |
| Chicken Rita's. Where Bajan's go for seasoned fried chicken! | 2015/07/02 | 328 |
| The Wreck of the SV Countess of Ripon | 2015/12/06 | 314 |
| The Wreck of the SV Nordenskjold | 2015/12/18 | 287 |
| Hiking with the Barbados National Trust | 2015/01/05 | 258 |
| Circuit of Cordillera Huayhuash - Peru | 2014/12/31 | 237 |
| About BajanThings.com website | 2014/12/20 | 235 |
| Run Barbados Marathon - Fri 4 Dec to Sun 6 Dec 2015Fun Mile, 5km, 10km, Half Marathon & Full Marathon | 2015/07/25 | 232 |
| The old Kensington Oval, Barbados - RIP | 2015/03/18 | 230 |
| Nelson's column - Bridgetown, Barbados | 2015/05/13 | 217 |
| Ben's Spring | 2015/04/02 | 201 |
| Dr. Benjamin Bynoe (1803 - 1865) | 2015/01/16 | 197 |
| Joe Fortes (1863 - 1922) | 2015/01/20 | 192 |
| High Altitude Research Project (HARP) 1962 - 1967 | 2015/03/27 | 186 |
| The Great Outdoor (TGO) Challenge 2015 - Scotland | 2015/06/17 | 186 |
| Sid Graham. A forgotten Bajan WWII hero (1920 - 2014) | 2015/09/06 | 162 |
| Scientific Studies of Coral Rock in Barbados | 2015/09/23 | 162 |
| Mount Roraima – Venezuela | 2014/12/21 | 160 |
| 2nd Lt Walter Tull - first black infantry officer in British Army (1888 – 1918) | 2015/09/13 | 156 |
| A day trip to Mustique - St. Vincent & The Grenadines | 2015/06/03 | 146 |
| The Great Outdoor (TGO) Challenge 2012 & 2013. A 14 day hike across Scotland | 2015/01/11 | 142 |
| Dr. Alain Bombard (1924 – 2005) | 2015/02/04 | 137 |
| Barbados Hiking Association: Sagicor Hill Challenge - 2015 | 2015/04/26 | 131 |
| Mobile & Marine Systems - Barbados | 2015/03/24 | 115 |
| Barbados Hiking Association Hill Challenge | 2015/01/23 | 110 |
| Oistins Fish Fry - Barbados. Annies BBQ where locals go for lunch, dinner and a drink | 2015/11/11 | 98 |
| Vice Admiral Henry C. Bovell (1893 - 1963) | 2015/02/02 | 95 |
| El Calafate & El Chalten - Argentina | 2015/01/30 | 91 |
| Boer Camp Pasture - St. Philip | 2015/06/29 | 80 |
| Three Man Well - Woodbourne Valley | 2015/03/11 | 78 |
| Hurricane Ivan 2004 - Emergency radio service in Grenada | 2015/04/14 | 77 |
| Bajan Things one year on... | 2015/12/21 | 72 |
| Dr. Colin Hudson (1938 - 2004) | 2015/01/12 | 70 |
| Colin Hudson Great Train Hike 2015 | 2015/02/20 | 69 |
| Boiling Lake hike - Dominica | 2015/03/03 | 66 |
| Crop Over 1988 - Mac Fingall | 2015/04/06 | 63 |
| Baby Burts trialling for the Windies cricket team! | 2015/06/10 | 58 |
| Samuel Weatherhead (1756 - 1816) | 2015/01/26 | 57 |
| Efficient or Effective customer service? Process gone wrong | 2015/10/12 | 55 |
| Mount Kilimanjaro - Tanzania | 2015/02/13 | 50 |
| Capt. William T. Shorey (1859 - 1919) | 2015/01/19 | 50 |
| William Michael Herbert Greaves (1897 - 1955) | 2015/01/28 | 45 |
| Ushuaia - Argentina | 2015/04/20 | 45 |
| Bajan & Trini sports ambassadors - HK Sevens, March 2014 | 2015/04/09 | 35 |
| BOMEX | 2015/01/25 | 34 |
| Coming soon... | 2014/12/19 | 30 |
| Antarctica | 2015/01/18 | 25 |
| TOTAL | | 28,744 |
|---|
To follow BajanThings.com please fill in your email address at the top right of this page and press Subscribe or click on this Subscribe link. If you have a story that you’d like to share then please send me a message by clicking on Contact Burts.
I wish to thank all those who have given me encouragement to continue writing, those who gave me information and those who show me where I missed a comma or made a spelling error.
Life is good. Happy Christmas.
William Burton
BajanThings – All things Barbadian. Bajan history. Bajan folklore. Interesting Bajan people. Hiking in Barbados. Bajan’s hiking overseas…
Congrats on your 1st anniversary. The posts I’ve read so far been enjoyable, well written and informative. I plan to read some of the older posts and look forward to the new in 2016.
Thanks for your Xmas greetings etc, and special thanks for that summary list which I shall enjoy as time permits. Simply lovely!
Sedrick Haynes.
William, I posted the link to some of your articles on facebook and in particular the ‘Old Time Barbados Group’. Judging by comments people love the articles. Perhaps ‘Bajan Things’ could start a facebook page in 2016.
A good idea William!
The list was Peter’s idea. I would not have a clue how to do it! Happy Xmas and all the best for 2016.