It was a Sunday evening and the heat of the sun was beginning to temper as the coconut trees gently swayed.
The foamy waves were rolling calmly to the shore and the atmosphere exuded peace in paradise.
Some folks were comfortably settled at the Seaside Bar where proprietor Sandra Nurse, bubbly and friendly as ever, found great pleasure in making sure her patrons were happy. She was holding the fort in the afternoon shift after relieving the morning session’s Rodney Greaves, another friendly service provider whom we had met some weeks before.
Sandra told us that Rodney had gone to compete in a dominoes competition as a member of the Bathsheba team. She jokingly said: “He gone to keep a seat hot.” Her broad smile demonstrated no malice. It was all in jest.
A group of women was the first to catch our attention. The women were all huddled together and seemed to be celebrating some special occasion.
We were right. Tracey Rochester was celebrating her birthday with friends and family. The group, in an entourage of three cars, had gone to lunch at the Beach House in St James and then set out on an island tour. One of their stops was the Seaside Bar and it was there that we caught up with them. They were quite relaxed and were clearly enjoying the moment.
One man chose to sit by himself on the balcony enjoying the picturesque view that lay before him. This was his weekly routine. His SUNDAY SUN newspaper was on the table ruffled, as if thoroughly read.
Ferdinand Jones told us he had come to watch the Atlantic Ocean. He seemed to be a lover of things local as manifested by the container of cane juice that stood prominently on his table as he munched on his lunch. He was at peace with nature.
The beachside created a picture of romance. Perhaps the most romantic of all was a scene which captured baby Carilan Crookendale with mum Rhonia Ali and dad Wendell Crookendale. Down by the water’s edge, the family seemed to treasure every moment.
Rhonia said they had decided to leave the car at home and enjoy the bus ride from their home in Hothersal Turning, St Michael. It was baby Carilan’s first bus ride and her mother’s first trip to Bathsheba.
The folks lazing about in the play park, eating, drinking and playing games in the cool of the Sunday evening seemed to be in their own world – a world away from the stress of the previous work week. The more romantic, lying on blankets with partners in warm embrace, transformed the area into their own love nest. Carefree toddlers and tots bopped along the freshly cut lawns while the older children played football.
Everyone could be seen enjoying the ambience and feel of Bathsheba on that Sunday evening. For them, Bathsheba was paradise.
