By Joan Wilson

I am 100 percent behind the initiative to Buy Caymanian since the ravages of the coronaviris that has changed our lifestyle all over the world.

I have always been for buying Caymanian and in 2012 iNews Cayman published my poem about this very subject.

It therefore seemed appropriate to republish it again and add my support to it.

God Bless all of you everywhere and may God keep you safe and well and the storms all around us here in the Cayman Islands away from our shores.

BUY CAYMANIAN (BY A CAYMANIAN)

By Joan Evangeline (Watler) Wilson

“Buy Caymanian” is what they say
But let me tell you what happened the other day
When I was mowing my lawn you see
The wheel broke off and nearly killed me.

I jumped in my car and to the shop I did drive
Going very carefully, I was glad to be alive
For that lawnmower was going so fast
When the wheel fell off I fell in the grass.

There’s no speed limit on these mowers so we
Just open the throttle and let it run free.
Well, I got to the shop where the mower was bought
Got a man to serve me and the wheel was sought.

The wheel he produced was all he had.
I took one look at it and said this is sad
For the wheel I needed was made of plastic
And this one is of steel and probably won’t fit it.

“But if it fits your mower madam
You won’t need a plastic wheel.
You can have it on approval. I trust we have a deal?
So take it home and try it madam.”

“It’s all we have in stock
You’ll find no better value than what’s here in this shop”.
I took the wheel home as the man suggested
But it didn’t fit so I angrily insisted…

That what my mower needed was just a plastic wheel
And not one weighing a ton and made of heavy steel.
It was only then I heard the shopkeeper say
“Perhaps, just perhaps we can get one from the USA.”

Now I ask you folks to take a stand
Is this really good enough for us in Cayman?
Shopping local will save us a trip to start
But please, oh please shopkeeper try and stock the part!