The Bajan Connection

$.29, well, really only $.04, but I’ll get to that…

Okay, now this is bordering on the ridiculous.

I found twenty-nine cents today. I know, it sounds too good to be true. And, technically, it is.

You see, I was in the changing room at the gym in my building, taking off my work clothes and donning my running clothes, when I bent down to pick up my running shoes. At my feet – literally in between them – was a shiny quarter. Now, I know that most of you are thinking, “Bryan, that quarter is not yours. You should have left it.” And I say to you, “If it’s on the floor and no one has claimed it, it’s mine!”

Okay, okay, I feel badly about it, but not terrible.

Then on my run, I found four pennies – all in different places. Now, even four pennies is unbelievably rare. But then again, I believe I found them for a reason. So I’ll hold onto them until I figure out what that reason is.

So, my wife and I recently returned from attending a wedding in Barbados. Our friends are older and decided to throw caution to the wind and have a destination wedding. They had about 12 people there, and it was absolutely beautiful and serene.

While we were there, an island guide told me something interesting about Bajan property owners. On an excursion into town, I noticed nearly all homes have an entry porch of sorts, large enough to accommodate a couple of chairs or a loveseat. These porches were typically painted cheerful island colors – orange, turquoise, yellow. However, the rest of these houses were left completely unpainted, their coral and cement walls turning from white to gray in the constant exposure to the salt water and wind that surrounds them.

I asked our guide why residents don’t just paint everything, and what I learned surprised me. Apparently, if you paint your entire residence, the Bajan government officially recognizes your property’s worth and charges you a hefty sum in taxes. Go figure!

Today, this notion came to my mind while running in Truxton Circle. The area is full of multi-level brownstone homes mainly built around the turn of the century. Some have seen facelifts to varying degrees (and I plan to address who’s making them in the near future), but most are in some state of disrepair, running the gamut from peeling paint to shifting foundations. I began to associate the Bajan theory of taxation to Truxton Circle.

It’s probably wishful thinking, but I sort of like the idea that the reason the residents of Truxton Circle decide not to address the exterior of their homes is because they do not want the city to tax them at a higher rate. More likely, it’s because the residents are either too old, too infirm, or simply don’t have enough money to make necessary repairs.

I just think it’s somehow easier to think of it in these terms rather than any other reality that might get in the way.

Bryan