SOME PEOPLE who read this column might think dat I always seem tuh be highlighting or focusing on most o’ the negative things in society rather than the positive ones but, the truth is, I like tuh look at everyday happenings wid the ordinary man and woman – as some people would say, the man in the street.
Like one o’ my favourite pastimes is just sitting back and observing people. Not dat ya maliciousing in duh business or nothing so because most o’ the time, if at all, people doan even know dat somebody watching dem.
It is just allowing ya’self tuh notice life around you and how people behave, how they dress, how they talk; how they act and interact wid duh children and families and life in general and it could be anywhere. It doesn’t even have tuh be negative at all; I just like tuh see how different people deal wid life.
I had a friend who used tuh tell me fuh years now dat I streetwise, and dat is where it come from. It is just allowing ya’self tuh stop and take note of some o’ the things dat does be happening right under ya nose every single day. A lot o’ people doan take the time tuh notice until something happens, something dat was happening right there all the time and all of a sudden dem in shock, duh surprise or amazed, depending on what it is.
Look, duh got some people who doan notice nutten ’round dem. Duh does be just gine ’long day after day and night after night. It look like duh does just eat, drink, sleep and work, if duh does work. I mean doing the same thing and the same routine evah single day. Duh got some people who doan realize or even take the time tuh notice dat the moon shining, It could be a big full moon, bright as daylight and blinding ya, duh doan see it till you show dem.
Now I born in Lightfoot Lane in The City and then we moved tuh the Bay Land. So I grow up in what we does call the housing area or the housing schemes. I ain’t gine tell ya nuh lie: we was as poor as pee like a lot o’ other people and there was a lot o’ mouts tuh feed. I ain’t know how my mother and father used tuh do it but I gine tell ya, we was happy and contented wid what we had or ain’t had.
I think dat is where it come from. I used tuh watch the different families; the ones who had a li’l something and how they used tuh get on or the ones who had a li’l more than we. Then there was the ones who was just as poor as we was and the ones who ain’t had nutten at all.
It was interesting tuh watch the ones who had a li’l something. Duh used tuh get on like duh cahn mash God’s earth. They used tuh wear the nice clothes and the latest while a lot of us used tuh wear the gi-tuh-muhs but life goes on and evahbody does grow up and every once in a while ya does run into one o’ the ne’er-do-wells from ya past who really ain’t saying nutten now and all ya could do is smile, watch dem, exchange pleasantries, shake ya head and go ’long bout ya business.
Something else I have been noticing in recent times is the amount o’ young fellas who does be walking or riding ’bout wid dem plastic bottles dat old people used sell sweeties, tamarind balls and li’l things outta. But nowadays ya doan see the old people using dem bottles anymore; it is the young boys who now riding or walking ’bout wid dem, I think duh say duh selling loose cigarettes, wrappers and God knows what else.
I ain’t know how many loose cigarettes or wrappers one o’ dem could sell tuh make any kind o’ profit or living, when actually all o’ dem pon the same block or in the same area got bottles and selling. I ain’t want tuh say what I think duh might be selling; ’cause I ain’t know but I does take the time tuh watch how duh manoeuvring. I ain’t know if anybody like me.
• Mavis Beckles was born and raised in The Orleans. She has an opinion on everything.
