BajanThings seven years on…

We hope you had a Happy Christmas even if you or family members had to self-isolate away from the festivities.

Last Christmas we were in lock-down and it was pretty miserable. This year we have various Covid-19 vaccinations and the medical profession have learnt by trial and error and by massive sharing of learnings, new protocols on how to manage patients with Covid-19. There is hope on the horizon as we head into 2022.

This Christmas we had a small family gathering – but were missing some family members who had to self-isolate even after having had two vaccinations and booster jab. The good news is, as a result of being vaccinated they only had mild Covid-19 symptoms with a fever for a few days and by day ten they had clear lateral flow results and were allowed out of isolation.

Day 5 to Day 10 Lateral Flow test results having tested positive for Covid-19
Day 5 to Day 10 Lateral Flow test results after testing positive (C & T) for Covid-19 prior to Christmas 2021.

The wonders of the Covid-19 vaccinations mean if we do get Covid-19, we are unlikely to end up in hospital / die. Anecdotal evidence from friends who are front-line NHS ICU workers here in the UK, suggest that the majority of Covid-19 patients in ICU are not vaccinated!

The evidence is pretty clear – vaccinations work. They don’t stop us getting Covid-19 but they do stop us ending up in hospital / dying – which allows some normality to be re-introduced. A recent report by the UK Office for National Statistics using data from 1st January to 31st October 2021 suggests unvaccinated people are 32 times more likely to die from coronavirus than those who have been doubled-jabbed. Here in the UK with Omicron the now dominant variation there has been a huge push to get the population triple jabbed.

In the UK:
– 51 million people – 90% of over-12s have had a first vaccine dose
– 47 million people – 82% of over-12s have had both doses
32 million people have now had boosters or third doses. The seven day average being 886,797 booster jabs being given per day. The focus has now shifted to boosters, which show promising signs of protecting against illness and death from Omicron.

BBC News – 23rd December 2021

William and I are both blessed and happy to be double jabbed and boosted. We encourage you, if you are not vaccinated, to get vaccinated. The aim now, is to get the WORLD vaccinated – especially Africa. It’s very likely we will all end up having annual Covid booster vaccinations like the flu jabs!

As 2021 draws to a close it’s time to reflect on BajanThings seven years on since launch. Seven years on the BajanThings vision remains the same, to:

  • preserve handed down Bajan history – recording events that we have witnessed, or were told by those who did 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
  • promote hiking in Barbados
  • promote overseas travel – generally to remote places off-the-beaten-track.  Not everyone will want to put on a backpack and travel off-the-beaten-track but everyone should take time to live outside of their comfort zone and explore the world before it is lost.

BajanThings remains a hobby-site.  To date we have now published nearly 150 posts – some of which have become reference documents.  That’s quite a feat for a hobby-site started by two cousin’s after a family island tour back in 2014!

The Covid-19 pandemic put a spanner in the works. William who is Barbados based retired in February 2020, after working for 50 years, with plans to travel. This was not to be.  In early July 2021 Barbados moved onto the “green” list of countries that would have a short quarantine on arrival in the UK. He immediately booked a trip and left Barbados within 5 days. No one knew when the light would change and he headed for another coast-to-coast walk.

Peter who is UK based has been busy too: launching a new online tool SOLV to help find missing people and children which has been developed for Law Enforcement Agencies, Emergency Response Agencies and Missing Persons Charities/NGOs. In September with the relaxation of Covid rules he had three weeks in Barbados to attend his father’s funeral who passed away peacefully in his sleep aged 98.

In previous years we have ranked all the post – this year with 150 posts under our belt we are opting for a slightly different approach.

If you want to see a listing of all the posts to date, please click here or on the Post Index link on the top task bar.

Based on the 2021 web stats, listed below, in ranked order are the 30 most read posts:

RankPost linkDate
1How they came to Barbados and found no men therein...2021-01-12
2Barbados Oceanographic Research Facility 1957 - 1979: a top secret US cold war submarine listening post2021-03-02
3Andromeda Gardens - the location of a covert US Navy cold-war submarine tracking station in Barbados from 1954 to 1985/872021-10-05
4Millie gone to Brazil, Oh Lawd, poor Millie2019-08-06
5Richard Goddard - 1935 to 20212021-02-23
6The Printed Maps of Barbados 1500 - 19002020-02-18
7Anti Submarine & Torpedo Net - Carlisle Bay, Barbados 19422019-06-19
8Black Bajan footballers who were English Football League Club pioneers2021-04-06
9Plantation Life in Barbados in the 1950s2021-02-10
10F/O Errol Barrow RAF Navigator World War II & Prime Minister of Barbados2019-03-12
11Ronnie Hughes: Barbadian Sugar Plantations Index 1640 - 18462020-06-18
12The New Joe’s River Pedestrian Bridge2021-01-27
13Handbook of Barbados: Plantations & Sugar-Works 1912 - 19242020-05-20
14Hiking in Barbados | Run246 | The Barbados Hiking Association2017-12-27
15Kai Tak airport, Hong Kong - the Bajan connection2021-07-07
16The Man Who Carved a Lion. The story of Henry John Wilkinson 1829 - 19112021-12-26
17Lord Nelson's statue - Bridgetown, Barbados2015-05-13
18Thor Heyerdahl's Ra Expeditions to Barbados: RA-I 1969, RA-II 19702015-08-05
19How "badjohn became a word"2020-01-21
20Do You Want The Truth Or Something Beautiful? The Empire Windrush story.2021-06-01
21Cooking on a cast iron coal pot stove2021-05-05
22Torpedoing of the Cornwallis in Carlisle Bay, Barbados, 11th September 1942: 75th Anniversary2015-05-21
23High Altitude Research Project (HARP) 1962 - 19672015-03-27
24Football (soccer) in Barbados in the 1950s & 1960s2018-04-10
25Barbados transitions to a Republic - the Republic of Barbados2021-11-23
26A Fisherman’s Tale2020-04-06
27Hurricane Janet - 22 September 19552017-09-20
28Banja in Barbados and its influence on calypso throughout the West Indies2020-11-24
29Barbados Almanacs: Plantations & Sugar-Works 1848 - 18712020-07-07
30St. Philip, Barbados in the 1950s & 1960s. A very brief recollection of the people and events2017-05-12

We wish to thank all those who continue to encouraged BajanThings, those who gave us information, those who have shared old photographs with us, our guest contributors that have provided additional content, our growing list of subscribers and those who write to us when we miss a comma or make a spelling error.  Thank you to all of you.  Keep the suggestions coming in.

In 2022 BajanThings looks forward to continuing to provide more posts that educate, enlighten and inform.

Thank you for subscribing to BajanThings.

We wish you a Happy and a Healthy Covid free 2022.

The BajanThings crew – Peter Burton and William Burton
BajanThings – All things Barbadian. Bajan history. Bajan folklore. Interesting Bajan people. Hiking in Barbados and overseas…

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7 thoughts on “BajanThings seven years on…”

  1. Thanks Peter and William for sharing your vast knowledge and experience on Bajan Things 2021. Thanks also for the insights on the Covid-19 vaccine. I too have had both shots (jabs) and I’m looking forward to my booster in February.
    Wishing you a happy and Prosperous New Year.
    Regards,
    Sandra.

  2. A prosperous Happy New Year to both you two ‘boosted cousins’, Peter and William!
    Who – with a glance in the rear-view mirror, have extended BajanThings as an essence of ‘Hobby’ with no less than a third boosted dimension.
    Thanks for a well thought, well composed and varied entertainment of Bajan Things.

    With best regards,
    Lotte Starck

  3. I love this post and your encouragement for everyone to be vaccinated. Neil and I are both double jabbed and boosted also.

  4. Many thanks Peter and William for helping bring Barbados alive for us. I visit the island, like many others, for 3 or so months each year. You have given me some understanding of the lives that have been lived here and the places I have visited not only as they are now but how they were in the past.
    I really appreciate you helping me deepen my understanding of the culture. My favourite post, “Millie gone to Brazil, Oh Lawd, poor Millie”!
    Many thanks

  5. Thank you for writing about Barbados. In a year filled with challenges from COVID and other life events, to publish 150 posts is remarkable.
    Happy New Year!

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