Dear Nesta,
WELL, EASTER COME AN’ GONE an’ I hope it was a happy an’ holy time fuh you an’ yours. It went off quite nice fuh muhself an’ de fambly, aldoh I cyhan say de same fuh Philomena.
She twis’ she ankle few weeks ago rushin’ to get ahead o’ de res’ o’ we at de buffet table – we went to a church supper – an’ c’n even get out to she beloved “T’ree-hour Service” ’pon Good Friduh. But dat’s life, yuh got to tek de bitter wid de sweet, an’ in Philomena case . . . limp on. Serve she right!
Chile, you could never imagine how glad I was to see Fathuh Paul from de Roman
Cath’lic Church ’pon TV las’ week – Holy Week – voicin’ ’e concerns ’bout de way we Bajans now fettin an’ “doin’ dixie” durin’ dah time. It look as ef de two o’ we ’pon de same page, yuh, as you know I always talkin’ ’bout de way de majority – apart from de “sober minded” Christun few – got li’l or no regard fuh de Lenten Season nowadays, an’ de actual Holy Week en no exception.
Fathuh Paul appeal in de name of God to “give our Lord and Saviour one out of the 52 weeks in the year”. Show li’l respeck. I only hope dese words comin’ from sech a well-respected person in de community gine mek, at leas’ some people, see de error in we ways, an’ t’ink ’bout gettin’ back to treatin’ Lent in de way it deserve – solemn!
I cyhan onderstan’ how we get so, doh. Yuh only got to hear two tin cans start to knock an’ de “jumpin’ an’ wavin” gine begin. No wonder we get call de “fete capital o’ de Caribbean”.
Jes’ fancy, aldoh we gine t’rough some real rough times, when it come to fettin’, it is “bizness as nusual”. Philomena an’ muhself keep wonderin’ whey de money comin’ from.
De god o’ merrymakin’ an’ feastin’ got a firm grip ’pon we. Now I hope I wrong, but it seem to me as ef de bariffle o’ churches all over de islan’ losin’ duh touch.
Chile, dis li’l rock lackin’ fuh neffin when it come to entertainment. Wuhevah wunna people offerin’ up dey, we en far behin’ – private shows, escort services, datin’ club parties, diff’rent types o’ exotic massages, masked parties . . . you name it, we offerin’ it. De excitement is en’less, ’specially when de lights go down. So it en hard to see why a solemn time like Lent now gettin’ put ’pon de back burner.
Philomena tell muh she feel dis is all a effort fuh we to get in a happy mood an’ put all de gloom an’ doom one side – at leas’ ’til de pos’man deliver de bills – or mebbee it is anethuh way to “push” tourism, who knows? Yuh mighta been hearin’ how de san’s o’ time like duh runnin’ out fuh ole “King Sugar”. Dah monarch subjecks en got de high regard duh once had fuh he, an’ slowly but surely he loosin’ ’e sweetness. Nobody won’ be too surprise ef duh hear he get e’ “las’ rites” one day. As you know, we en got no ethuh “big” industry to tek over, an’ ef tourism don’ come to we rescue, “dog eat yuh dinner”!
Well, none o’ we got we life put down, but ef mos’ o’ we en pushin’ up daisies nex’ year, it gine be interestin’ to see ef de party promoters tek Fathuh Paul words to heart an’ cool down wid de fetes durin’ Lent an’ stop dem altogedduh durin’ Holy Week.
Tek care o’ yuhself, yuh frien’ Babsie
