ROUEN ROAD, ST MICHAEL, is another typically peaceful Barbadian locale.
This week Street Beat seeks to take a look at the difference between the Rouen Road of the past and the present day version.
Keith, as he wished to be identified, said he was “born and bred” in Rouen Road, although he had moved away and come back.
“We used to ‘borrow’ donkey carts and ride ’boutbut we always returned them safely,” he said.
Keith also remembered that years ago his house was one of the few with a television, which brought almost the entire village to his father’s door.
“We had people peeping through the door, but back then my father’s door was always open. The area has changed but not for the worse. I feel proud to have come back here and [reacquainted] myself withthe populace,” he said.
However, despite being “generally satisfied”with the Rouen Road of today, he said he noted the camaraderie was not at the level it once was and the youth lacked motivation.
Key role
“They need a figurehead to give them guidance and leadership. In my time camaraderie played a key role, but now there are too many entities among the community which need to focus more on positive things. In the past, we had no rifts; everybody got along. But now certain people only hang with certain people,” he said.
Sophia, as she identified herself, said she remembered when the area only had a few houses, but the land had been sold and many people had moved in.
“To be honest, this area still not bad. We don’t get a lot of crime; only some of the youth on the block may smoke [marijuana],” she said.
Greg Franklin said he recalled when Darcy Ras Iley Small, who lives in the area, started athletic training.
“When I was growing up a man named Orlando Greene came here from New York on vacation and took us running. It was not a competitive thing, more of a community event, but I think that was what got Ras Iley into running,” he said.
Franklin said it was so quiet in Rouen Road when he was growing up that he considered it part of the country instead of town. This, he said, has changed.
“Now, it is not as quiet as before. There’s activities, traffic and [more] people,” he said.
Nearby, a spirited game of dominoes was going on. Among the people “slamming a dom” was Hazel Scott, the lone female.
“When we were younger we had better times; you could walk ’bout any time but not now,” she said.
Even so, she said the young people in the area were not so bad.
“The youth ’bout here don’t really get in trouble but they don’t mingle with us older folk. Some do wicked things but not that much as most of them are schoolchildren,” she said.
Those “older folk” regularly gather to play, drink, eat and enjoy themselves. They said they knew the value of hard work as they had to do so in their youth but too many youth today were content to roast a breadfruit and lime on the block all day.
Samuel Johnson owns the shop where the men – and woman – play dominoes. He said the people of Rouen Road were okay but had some angry words about how, in his view, small shopkeepers were being treated.
“I have never seen so many small shops shutting down. They raised the rum tax and run people out of business. Me, even if I don’t make money, I can still open because I [live] at me but people who have to pay rent . . . it rough,” he said.
