as told to BC PIRES

MY NAME is Carl Thomas and I'm an empty PET bottle-truck driver.

I'm from Bartlett's Tenantry. I was raised in Christ Church, right below the roundabout.

I'm a churchgoing person, off and on. More "off" than "on" though. I have one brother and one sister and my parents. They're churchgoing but I don't really go with them but it doesn't cause any friction. When I ready, I will go with them.

I went to Luther Thorne Memorial Primary. And then I went one year to Alleyne and then did a transfer to Deighton Griffith.

I was looking to go to fourth year but the years in school just started to get tiring. I wouldn't say I got fed-up but it was just the same thing over and over after so many years.

You could say I was off and on about school. More "off" than "on".

I started working after the end of fourth year. At certain times I would say I regret doing that because, if I had more qualifications, I'd be in a better job. But, at the same time I would say, the time people take to study, them long years, I was trying to push myself up the ladder to a certain point.

I used to drink alcohol but I'm more into the health stuff. Protein drinks and ginseng drinks. One stout and that's it. Because sometimes the stout is essential to your body.

I have one steady girlfriend. I have other friends.

I like action movies and thrillers, movies that does left you in suspense. My girlfriend mostly likes those African movies. I ain't too much a lover of them. I watch them with her sometimes. Nuff people like them nowadays but I think it interests them because it's all soap opera. I don't even watch Days of Our Lives. She does fall asleep fast during my movies.

I do my own personal training at home. Not more "off" than "on", though; it goes in-between. I will work out for three or four months, then stop, then start back when I see my body looking kind of out of shape.

I've always liked the ladies. When I had now come out of school, I would say I might have been a player, talking to one, two girls one time; but eventually you know you gotta settle down with one person.

I think Trini soca is better than Bajan soca now. We also producing good music but the better music is coming from there now.

St Lawrence Beach is my favourite. Not because of the girls. You don't find that much girls there like one time. You have to go to Brandon's or one of those beaches to see people. St Lawrence does be calm. It don't got nuff rocks and stuff on the sand. Is be cool. I swim. Not too deep.

I'd get married in a church. The honeymoon would be on St Lawrence Beach, maybe.

I want a family. For some reason I got a way with children. I don't think they would be a problem, even if they hard-ears. Is the way you talk to and deal with them. A couple lashes will hurt but won't kill. I'm not too sure about the beating in school though. There should be some other punishment the child could understand. I used to get licks in school and I didn't like it.

All I want is to get my own home, have a family and be in a position where I'm not struggling. Live a normal and simple life.

I go daily to the different bottle return centres, fill my truck, and carry them to the bottle return depot.

I does try to do at least three centres every day. There are six or seven.

My truck holds 120 bags and each bag does carry 200 bottles. So the calculation is a lot of bottles but we count them by the bags. If we don't get a full load from one location, we go to another to try to fill the truck.

We pick up hard bottles - glass bottles - separate. We do a hard bottle trip every two weeks or so. Usually it's just me and the second guy but when we got to toss the bottles the length of the truck, a third guy is a big help.

Because we don't work on Saturdays & Sundays really, we get most of our bags on Mondays. And midweek. The other days does be kinda light.

You don't have to stack the bottles and bags in any particular way. You just fill the truck and go 'long to the depot.

The bottle depot does close off by 2 o'clock so we try to do our three trips before then. Sometimes, as it is us, they will take us 3 o'clock the latest.

The nicest thing about the job is getting around. When I stationed one place, I does get lousy and bored. The constant moving around and meeting people and keeping my body active is what I like.

Sometimes it does get frustrating because you got a lot-a lot-a lot of work to do and you's get really tired sometimes. But there ain't much bad about the job; the end of the week, that's all. If it wasn't for that, it's something I would continue to do.

Always keep out of trouble and do your best. Try to get as far in life as you can.

Some of them like to lick mout' but other than that, a Bajan is a friendly person who likes to help others, a lot of partying, to laugh a lot and to have a drink once in a while with friends.

Barbados is home. Everybody who visits Barbados likes it. I call it home.

Read a longer version of this article at www.BCraw.com <http://www.BCraw.com>