THERE IS NO AREA of my life that has made me cry more, laugh more, get angry more. There are strange things I have witnessed that I probably would never have encountered, had it not been for a career in journalism.
Two Sundays ago I happened upon a most interesting story and I just had to reserve it for my column.
I recently spent some time in St George exploring one of the most horrible roads in the country – Drax Hall Woods. I met two women waiting for the bus, who helped to point me toward the village I sought.
On my return journey, after spending a considerable time in Drax Hall Woods, the two women were still at the corner waiting for the bus. I stopped and they enquired whether I had found the place. I said yes.
They asked if I had also found the person for whom I had been looking and I told them I had not been in search of anyone, just the bad road. It was then I identified myself.
Instantly, one of the women exclaimed: “Well, go through there and write ’bout how bad the road is. That is Drax Hall Tenantry.”
After they were so polite and helpful, how could I not oblige? So off I went through Drax Hall Tenantry, until a well-paved road turned into a badly-rutted surface, but with decent concrete curbs on both sides. I continued on and realised that the last 15 metres of the road was freshly paved.
Interesting tale
With my curiosity now running high, I got out and started to take some photographs when up came a man who declared: “Don’t move from there, man! You want to know the story about this road? Well, I will tell you de whole thing!”
It was the voice of resident Stephen Brereton.
He explained that about six months ago, a crew from the Ministry of Transport and Works (MTW) turned up in the area and started tearing up the road surface, after telling residents that the road was being rebuilt. He said residents wondered why, since it was not the worst road in the area – not by a mile.
After ripping up an estimated 200 metres of road, Brereton explained, the crew packed up their equipment to leave. He said he again enquired why they were pulling out and was told: “This is the wrong road. It is not this road we were to fix.”
So the residents of Drax Hall Tenantry lost their good road, not as a result of years of neglect, heavy traffic, too much traffic or even heavy rainfall – all the standard explanations. They lost their road to an MTW crew that dug up the wrong road.
But a question remained: Why was the last 15 metres alone repaved? According to Brereton, that was a hill leading to his home and no matter how he tried, he could not get his car to climb it. He complained over and over again to the supervisor who, when the MTW crew had finished paving the “right” road, returned with the left-over asphalt and covered the little hill.
If you don’t believe me, go to Drax Hall Tenantry yourself and talk to Brereton.
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LAST WEEK I HAD a very interesting conversation with a Bajan, now resident in England, who had returned to the island to spend time with his family for Independence. He called to complain about a foul-smelling garbage skip near his mother’s home in Silver Hill, Christ Church, that was making life uncomfortable for the household.
He said that after some complaining it had been shifted, but the smell was still strong enough to be a nuisance to the family. He questioned the need for the skips in the first place, the type of skip being used there compared with the covered type he had seen along the West Coast, and the frequency of collections.
I told him that while we had garbage collection challenges, the problem that caused the Sanitation Service Authority (SSA) to deploy skips was created by householders.
My position is simple: Too many people refuse to put garbage outside their homes on collection days and instead dump it in a central location in their district whenever they like, causing huge, smelly and unsightly piles that can remain for at least a week when collections occur as they should, or for weeks when the SSA is short of equipment. When this occurs, fingers are pointed at the SSA.
Too many of us are just simply nasty. We think it’s an offence to keep the garbage we generate in our homes until collection day. It’s the same mentality we adopt with bottles, cups, disposable food containers, snack wrappers and the like. The moment we take the last mouthful, we drop the container on the ground. We see it as someone else’s responsibility to clean up.
There is a lot for which the SSA has to take the blame, but far more for which many of us who like to scream loudly how patriotic we are, must be held responsible. And the state of litter around our country is one such area.
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IF THE DECISION had been mine, and if what was reported is correct, I would have shut down the whole Grantley Adams International Airport. I would have called out every last worker in my membership on strike. But the National Union of Public Workers (NUPW) is not run by me so this is all moot.
I believe unions have a duty to be responsible and prudent because their actions can cause tremendous pain to individuals, businesses and the country. But I also believe that if employers want unions to act responsibly, then they must be prepared to reciprocate.
Calling a strike in the last few weeks as the country prepared for the golden jubilee of Independence celebrations would have caused major disruption and no doubt drawn unprecedented heat on the union’s leadership. I understand and appreciate all that.
But if all the parties involved in the salary negotiations at the airport understand what is at stake, how did the discussions break down? According to the union, they asked for a 16 per cent increase in October and the airport countered with 15 per cent. Now, unless I don’t understand simple arithmetic, that is a one per cent difference.
If the airport offered 15 per cent, it must have meant they were willing and able to pay that amount. Additionally, the airport’s negotiators must have had some discussion with the entity’s shareholders in advance before putting their counter offer on the table.
What then could justify a withdrawal? That kind of conduct is disrespectful enough to provoke the strongest of responses. But, like I said, I don’t run the union so it really does not matter what I would have done.