Now look, you would think that people would be talking more about the fuel prices, the gas, diesel, light, water, things like these that ya really don't think ya could live without in this day and age; but no, boh, there aint nutten Bajans like more than duh guts.

The talk wherever ya go is the chicken, pork, and beef that gone up and now duh start rationing rice like duh did doing recently wid the sugar; talking bout one bag per customer.

I really ain't know wha' some supermarkets doing that for at all, 'cause all o' dah is bare foolishness; all people got to do is send a different member of duh family everyday to buy a bag o' rice and dem wont be nuh more wiser, I tell ya!

Anyway, leh me finish what I was talking'bout, do.

Rough time

I doan know why the powers that be doan stop frightening the daylights outta people. Yes, eva'body know that the entire world is going through a rough time, but some people like duh want to speed up the hard times here; it like it giving them some kinda excitement to see people squirm, cringe and panic.

Ya hearing a lot o' talk bout recession and all of a sudden some people start talking bout hoarding things 'til it over, rationing this 'til it pass, stashing this 'til there is more 'pon the shelves, and look and see the amount o' cars, trucks and vans still 'pon the roads, wha' I aint see nuhbody yet decide to put down duh big rides and get in the bus. Look, it takes much less to ride pon the bus.

But something 'bout this hoarding thing ain't making nuh kinda sense to me at all ya know. Now, say people decide that them gine hold back them moneys and wait 'til things get better; suppose everybody do that sorta thing so, I ain't see how things could get nuh better. I think that it would only make things worse, 'cause the money got to circulate for the economy to function and flow.

I ain't nuh Barbados Scholar, but I got a li'l common sense, and my common sense tell me that if I ain't got nutten coming in, there ain't gine got nutten to turn over and that is what would make the situation even worse – a recession as duh call it.

But ya know we Bajans, we like to follow pattern; we like to be in the do wid everybody else, we ain't want to get leff out o' nutten. So from the time we barely hear people talking bout recession and how bad things gine be, that it gine get worse before it get better, we does start to get on like mad people 'cause we expect that anything could happen.

But we forget how very blessed we are. We forget that we could plant up a li'l kitchen garden round the house; we forget that we could raise a few yard fowls, or build up a small chicken pen or fowl "cub" or wha'ever you choose to call it and raise a few broilers and some layers. Ya ain't got to have nuh big lotta space; ya only doing it fuh the family.

If we like we belly suh much, we could buy some fishing tackling and go out there by the Harbour gate or even up Speightstown pon the jetty and do some fishing. Now that ain't gine cost ya a cent. As a matter o' fact, it would more bring ya some peace and relaxation. On the other hand, we fish markets always got in one type o' fish or the other, so ya would get fish.

All I would like to tell people is: try and control the lotta unnecessary spending 'pon things that they really doan need right now, and keep the money circulating in the island; that way we would all get through these rough patches duh talking 'bout.

* Mavis Beckles was born and raised in The Orleans. She has an pinion on everything.