While out and about in the north of the island on Saturday, photographer Reco Moore and I made a number of stops part-working, part-sightseeing. It would be tragic to journey such distances and not pause to enjoy the fresh country air and quaint sites.
From St Lucy’s Parish Church we stopped in Six Men’s and then Speightstown, which is always a special delight to me. I spent six years, or maybe it was seven – I was not that bright – at the Alexandra School. Therefore I am familiar with Speightstown of old. There is never a time I have passed through the area and not run into a former student of the beacon.
And so such was the case on that bright Saturday morning when the trays of sidewalk vendors overflowed with the colourful yields from Mother Earth and picky shoppers touched and smelled their way to purchases.
Reco, also a north student, equally appreciated the brief stopover in the historic town that once rivalled other landmarks for the attention of Barbadians. As we lapped up the delights of the quaint buildings reflecting the architecture of our earliest settlement centuries ago, and remarked about the Esplanade that was a favourite place to idle before going home, a feeling of nostalgia overtook us.
Just about that time I ran into Andrea Farmer, a former schoolmate. It was a rushed couple of minutes but we managed to get in a bit of this and a bit of that.
Of course we respectfully acknowledged the passing of former principal Glencora Titus, a dear teacher who had a way of handling precocious children. She was one of the special breed of educators, as the Facebook pages of the alumni showed.
Andrea and I also got around to catching up on the happenings with some of our other mutual acquaintances, reminisced briefly and prepared to part company. We both hoped for that long promised reunion from the 1980s but neither of us quite offered to spearhead such an event. That the school is marking its 120th year in September made it seem all the more urgent.
But as she was leaving, Andrea inquired after my column, saying that she enjoyed its soft approach that took the edge off certain issues while giving them an everyday perspective.
The credit for such really is based on one of my favourite television series, Seinfeld, a show that took pride in being about nothing.
Although cancelled for about ten years, the misadventure premise on which the show is based is still a very appealing concept. It brings international issues down to the household level and teaches accepting parasitic or insensitive friends for who they are.
Which brings me to another point.
It makes no sense befriending someone, knowing their peculiarities and then becoming upset because they behave in a particular fashion. Either you accept that friend for who they are or they are simply not your friend.
Similarly, you accept others with whatever biases they might have. You may not support them in it but you learn to understand how they are wired.
On that note, see you next Tuesday when I might consider speaking on the Donald Sterling matter or some such issue.
• Antoinette Connell is a News Editor at the NATION.