Ian on Sunday

The great unabridged Oxford English Dictionary contains half a million words.

Who can doubt that the West Indian nation in relation to its tiny population and insignificant economic and military weight has been disproportionately blessed by the fruits of our extraordinary range of creative men and women.

When I worked in the sugar industry I remember once discussing a problem with a young and junior colleague.

Some years ago I was invited by the Queens Park Cricket Club in Trinidad to their Annual Dinner and made a speech during which I described what I thought would make any sports Club great.

I once read a long article about two remarkable books: “The Poetical Works of Gerard Manley Hopkins,” published by the Clarendon Press in Oxford, and “The Early Poetic Manuscripts and Note-Books of Gerard Manley Hopkins in Facsimile,” published by Garland in New York.

Karl Popper (1902-94), one of the greatest thinkers of his, or any age, was modest in expressing his philosophical findings.

One of the things I used to enjoy the most was to browse in good book stores and buy a stock of books to read and add to my library.

When I was young I often used to sit in the evening with an old aunt while she told her rosary beads.

Having worked 52 years in the sugar industry, including working closely with Governments and regional institutions along the way, if there is one thing I have learned it is the extreme frailty of all grand plans.

The best words for Christmas are from T.S. Eliot’s marvelous poem, “The journey of the Magi.”

I last worked in the Guyana Sugar Industry in 1999 – though I continued in sugar as CEO of the Sugar Association of the Caribbean until 2007 – so I do not pretend to understand Guysuco’s current challenges and have no intention of second-guessing the executives now tackling its challenges.

There are times my wife and I go up the great Essequibo to stay at the beautiful river-home of my brother-in-law and his wife.

The love of games is woven into the fabric of my life.

Two impulses contend in me – one is to allow chaos to take hold and the other is to keep everything tidy and in good order.

Our lives of such infinite value come and go in a whirl of busyness. 

I make visits up the great Essequibo to rest the body, refresh the mind and remind the soul of the beauty in this world.

I do not think the intelligent and opened-minded Minister of Education minds me delivering little, well-meant lectures to her from time to time.

It is necessary to repeat again and again that in the background of all our lives there exists a fundamental and dominating lie.

In my home, a step down off the dining room, overlooking the beautiful garden my wife has created, I have my studiolo. 

I thank whatever Gods that be that even at the age of 89 my mind remains restless and eager to absorb new facts, new theories, new ways of looking at life and the world, new stories of mankind’s continual search for perfected knowledge, new illuminations of the spirit.