Cayman abattoir
An abattoir is a slaughterhouse or place for butchering. I blog this article because I think it nicely captures two aspects of Cayman life. One is their "soon come" spirit. It can be frustrating, but for the most part it is refreshing. It helps that Caymanians are (for the most part) kind, friendly, and extremely polite folk. The second aspect is the inexplicable. This was probably a consequnce of me being new to the island, but I am certain their is more to it than that. Daily I would hear or read local news that made absolutely no sense. It seemed intentially cryptic. Excerpt:
The Lower Valley abattoir was on the drawing board for 25 years...And it doesn't work.Why?
“A lot of things have been going wrong with the refrigeration unit which is not cooling properly,” Mr. Wakelin said.And there is controversy too:
“The parts are on order and then they have to be installed,” he said.
The abattoir was built to provide a hygienic and sanitary facility for the slaughtering of cows, pigs and goats, especially during Christmas time.Twenty-five years and it doesn't work? But rest assured, the parts are on order. Also, couldn't they have at least hinted at the relevance of xmas time? And THE almond tree, whats with the almond tree? Ah Cayman, what a beautiful place. Link
Many farmers said the facilities were unnecessary.
They thought it would take away from the Caymanian tradition of slaughtering the cow under the almond tree.
posted by david burnstein at 1:19 PM
1 Comments:
Still more mysterious is the use of "abattoir", something even the NYTimes would eschew in staight news. The Caymans are and always have been British, yes? Then my conjecture is that the jourmalist is from Haiti or perhaps Martinique, or that he's being veddy British, i.e., dryly ironic. Wait, another possibility: he's a high school intern.
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