Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Hug your lawn mower

Can you see what is happening in this picture? This is a Grenadian using a weed whacker to "mow" an entire back yard. This picture is taken out my kitchen window.


This has been going on for over an hour now. As you can imagine, using a weed whacker to mow is not as fast or as efficient as using a lawn mower. However, the weed whacker is the tool of choice for lawn maintenance on the island.

When we lived on campus the university grounds crew used weed whackers too. It was annoying to have this going on right outside your window for hours every Tuesday morning.

Well here we are again, although thankfully we live on the second floor so the sound is filtered a bit. I didn't realize this was standard thing around the island. I thought it was just the university cutting corners. But no, now I see, everyone uses the weed whacker. I've never even seen a lawn mower here.

My neighbor Karen pointed out that this is because labor is cheap but tools are expensive on the island. And it is easy to carry the weed whacker on the bus or on a long walk which is how most people get around. So, weed whack it is.

I'm trying to be patient and ignore the annoying sound out the kitchen window. Hopefully he'll be done soon.






5 comments:

Zane and Lexi said...

I know - it takes ONLY 4 hours!! Just turn on your A/C and it kinda drowns out the sound :)

Anna & Greg said...

I have traded the weed whacking sound to the sound of people scrapping the side walks and their cars with shovels cleaning the snow, it doesn't last so long but still not fun... feel for ya!

Karen Ford said...

Hahaha! You are too funny Julie. You always post the best blogs about island idiosyncracies (i know i spelled that wrong), and I only ever post blogs about my boring day.

Unknown said...

Hi Julie!!

I've thought about you and C.J. a million times over. I was so happy to see that Aunt Sally left your blog address in the Wrublik Family Newsletter! Congratulations on your little boy. Daniel's first child is due 5 days before yours (they are expecting a boy also). I also have a blog - check it out when you have a chance - www.xanga.com/adventureswithmykids

Unknown said...

It cut off part of the address. The last part is adventureswithmykids