I love ice cream. It is one of my favourites. However, when I eat too much of it, minutes apart, I quickly have had enough.

I like watching Game Shows, along with my wife, Joan. However, even when they are mixed up a bit, with Wheel of Fortune, followed by Jeopardy, then Family Feud. I have had enough. I want to watch something completely different.

I also love watching carnivals and during my life I have watched them all here, and travelled to UK, Seattle, New Orleans, Tampa, Port Arthur, and even Spain and Canada to watch them. As I’ve got older I find I hate the travelling, and with all the securities and very unfriendly overseas immigration and customs personnel, especially in the US, I won’t leave this country anymore unless I have to. Like, recently for an eye operation in Miami.

In New Orleans, during the weeks leading up to the main parade of Mardi Gras on the Tuesday before Lent, there are many smaller parades. After watching one or two and three, I have left the others to themselves as I knew it would spoil my excitement for the real biggie.

In Grand Cayman, I felt we had it absolutely right. Two. Pirates Week with its street parade around George Town at the end of the year and Batabano nearer the beginning. They were months apart and different.

Then came the horrible Mardi Gras that started in North Side and then moved immediately outside Elmslie Church on one of the holies days of the year Ash Wednesday. The people behind that one obviously didn’t even know the meaning of Mardi Gras!

Praises be, the Mardi Gras one has stopped.

Batabano changed its name slightly to Cayman Carnival Batabano and then came along the Junior Carnival (that once was held on the same day just before the adult version) and now we have Bracchanal. That, too, was once part or affiliated with Batabano. Later, the Junior version was held the week before the Adult one.

I haven’t even mentioned the Cayman Brac carnival and Pirates Week one until now.

I can only ask myself, why? Why do we need all these carnivals? What is the point of it?

The organisation that goes into staging these events is enormous. I know, because I was involve with Pirates Week for many years.

At last government got involved, because of complaints from the general public, who like me were fed up with them all, not only because of the repetitiveness of them, but the tying up of our road transport system.

Government called all the stakeholders together and had discussions with them for some time. In a recent PR they said the reasons “was to make better decisions about how Cayman Carnival could best model from the successes of regional partners in hosting a unified carnival and creating an outstanding experience.”

Their first proposal did not find any unity at all so we are back almost to square one.

“This was not an easy task and required many proposals and counter-proposals with stakeholders and vested parties. At this time we believe we have gained the majority buy-in and have made final decisions to accommodate the start of 2020 bookings,” says Honorable Dwayne Seymour, JP – Minister of Health, Environment, Culture and Housing.

“The dates will be as originally announced: 1st weekend of May Junior Carnival, 2nd weekend of May Cayman Carnival and 3rd weekend (Discovery Day) Bracchanal.”

I am now going to eat some ice cream. Just one bowl (small) that may contain more than one scoop.