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15 September, 2016

Did Something Cool This Morning

Walkies with the girls is normally uneventful, unless we spy the odd squirrel or something. This morning was different.

We usually leave Casa Winjama about 5:30 AM most mornings for our walk into town to the Post Office, the Market, making sure to stop at one or more of several places open at roughly 6:00 AM, when we pass through. Some of those places are, Paisano's Fruiteria for veggies and fruit, the little kitchen at the north end of the market, in the same row as Paisano's, that sells really nice fry jacks and johnny cakes, or the kitchen just south of Paisano's that sells nice burritos, or the little bakery annex across from Satellite Hardware, just off the square by Family Market, that sells a whole variety of baked goods, or Vivi's Meat Pies, near Caribbean Chicken, or the little taco stand at Gomez Cement on 7th Avenue, further south. No dearth of selection for breakfast eats and at oh-dark-thirty in the morning too.

But, that isn't what was cool this morning. I normally walk through Central Park so that I enter the Market from the south end, but since we wanted to get fry jacks, the girls and I walked diagonally through the park and entered the Market from the north, so we could hit that little kitchen just as we entered the market.

Well, as we were coming up on the Corozal Police Station, I noticed a guy, kind of non-descript, standing almost in the middle of the street. Then, I noticed that it seemed like he was standing at attention, as you do in the military or similar. Then, I noticed a whole line of police officers and guys in civvies standing at attention in front of the police station. And then, I noticed a uniformed police sergeant, in front of the flag pole, getting ready to attend to morning colors. That is, in civilian-speak, getting ready to raise the Belize flag.

Aha, that's why everyone is at attention, I thought. So, I came up beside the guy in the street, and popped tall, in a passable attempt to stand at attention. As I did that, the girls, Secret and Deeohgee, both sat by my side like they were at attention as well.

We stayed that way till the sergeant raised the flag and smartly about faced, took two steps, and about faced again. At that stage, he snapped a smart salute to the flag, and when his hand returned to his side. the morning salute to the colors was done and everyone dispersed. We did the same, proceeding on to the kitchen to get our fry jacks.

It was really cool to have participated in that little ceremony, even though for us, it was ad-hoc. I had no idea that they did this sort of thing here in Belize. As a relatively new Belize citizen, it was heart-warming. I was glad we had the opportunity to participate, and I was likewise really proud of the girls for their professional bearing during the ceremony.

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