Dear Nesta,
How yuh goin’, dear-heart? I hope an’ pray all is well wid you an’ yours. Chile, jes’ play de “up-an’-down” game each mornin’ yuh wake up – look up to de Lord while yuh down ’pon yuh knees seekin’ He help. Dah is one way to help yuh overcome de problems o’ life.
De new school term jes’ start an’ de roads gone back to normal – traffic an’ mo’ traffic, mornin’ an’ afternoon. You live ’way from dis li’l islan’ so long dat you won’ know, but school trildrun enuff drivin’ to school nowadays. You should see all de vehicles park up in de school yards when de days come – an’ all dem extra cars mus’ help swell de numbers ’pon de roads.
You remember how you, me, Philomena an’ Lou used to “slap tar” down Constitution Road evuh mornin’ to get to school – ef we miss de bus – or else we mighta never reach?
Well, my dear, t’ings very diff’rent dese days. Buhbayduss is now sech a affluent society dat in nuff homes, a lot o’ trildrun got duh own vehicle. All dese extra cars ’pon de roads mus’ add to de daily pollution we got to deal wid. ’Specially when de law we been hearin’ ’bout fuh years don’ seem to be yet in force to stop people from drivin’ a vehicle belchin’ mo’ black smoke dan de law allow, ’pon any an’ evuhbody dat got de bad luck to be in duh paff.
Asmatics in dis country got my sympa’ty, faif.
I was tellin’ my nighber dat de way dis islan’ been progressin’ over de years mek you feel proud. Why you t’ink we Trini nighbers tryin’ to get hol’ o’ wuhevuh we own?
But, in some cases, we payin’ a heavy price fuh dis progress. We becomin’ so materialistic dat sometimes it hard to recognize people you grow up wid. Li’l money turn dem into some o’ de mos’ foolish poppets yuh could evuh hope to fin’.
Why it so hard to simply jes’ t’ank God (an’ don’ fuhget Mr Errol Barrow) fuh de free eddication yuh was able to get, dat now got yuh in de type of job whey you could earn enuff money to be able to enjoy life?
Tek it easy, don’ get so excited ’cause yuh now able to get yuh han’s ’pon a “big ride” or a “big house” wid a pool – mos’ times, dem belongks to de bank anyway – so dat yuh cyahn remember whey yuh ole mudduh live. It en good to fuhget whey yuh come from; how else yuh would know whey yuh gine?
Ness, chile, it is sech a race to get hol’ o’ “t’ings” dese days dat it en difficult to see why stress mekkin’ a lot o’ people drop wid heart attacks. We still cyahn realize dat we hey today an’ even gone de same day nowadays; an’ all de “stuff” dat we been strugglin’ an’ strivin’ to get – sometimes not by de mos’ hones’ o’ means, neiduh – gone fuh nought.
Bran’name articles rulin’ t’ings. I onderstan’ trildrun backpacks costin’ upwards to $350 an’ school shoes costin’ $250 went like hot cakes at de beginnin’ o’ dis school term jes’ ’cause duh had bran’names.
When I hear ’bout de knock-offs dat was sellin’ in Amurica fuh onder US$20, I had to tell Philomena I was sorry enuff I din know ’bout it befo’ or else I coulda bring in a barrel full to sell an’ mek a killin’.
Dis race fuh material stuff runnin’ all t’rough de society, reachin’ right down to de young ones. Not even de recession mekkin’ a diff’rence. We jes’ got to get it to keep up. Mebbee we should tek stock o’ de situation an’ say, “No mo’ stuff, enuff is enuff”.
Tek care o’ yuhselfYuh frien’ Babsie
