THE FIRST TIME I heard the word slumlord, it was from a friend o’ mine some ten years ago when we were talking about the kind o’ places he used tuh live in while he was in England studying.
He tell me dat the landlady used tuh call him up and quarrel when he took a shower more than once a day. He say the woman used tuh ask him if he didn’t take a bath already for the day. He also told me ’bout having tuh share a kitchen, toilet and bath wid other room renters. Dat was in the 60s.
A cousin o’ mine who also used tuh live up there told me dat if the landlord or landlady was paying fuh the heating and water, which had tuh be heated by gas or coals in a furnace, ya was only allowed tuh take one bath a week ’cause dem would be paying for it.
Pon the other hand, it would be a different story if you had tuh put in coins, like wid the bubble gum machine, tuh cook and heat the water.
She say dat because you would be sharing a place wid other renters, when you put in your coins, some people used tuh listen tuh the coins dropping in the slots dat you put in tuh cook and bathe wid, and when you done cook and think you got water tuh bathe wid, dem done got it used up, leaving you wid freezing water.
But now talking ’bout the rooms, duh used tuh be barely able tuh hold in a bed; a li’l, squeeze-up thing wid sometimes a li’l sink in the corner, wid the hot water tap pon one side and the cold water tap pon the other; the mixing used tuh happen in the sink itself. Dat was so ya could tek a li’l fresh rather than a full shower. My friend was forever shaking he head and calling dem slumlords.
And, look, after all o’ dat, ya had tuh make sure dat ya rent was paid on time; otherwise you know dat ya tail would be out in dah bitter cold duh does have up in England. I got the opportunity tuh see it fuh myself some years later.
Now, like the Bajan landlords like duh get wind of it and picking up from where dem English people left off. All of a sudden we in tuh this thing ’bout renting rooms, mekking big men, women wid children, total strangers from all about the place share the same bathroom, toilet and kitchen and then pon the back o’ it, you turning around and asking dem tuh pay a $150 a week fuh a run-down place.
Duh doing a whole lot o’ foolishness because duh know dat these poor people cahn do nuh better.
But wait, you could imagine in this day and age an old lady 82 years old living in an old brek-down wooden house fuh I think she say 50 years. The old girl say dat she ain’t got nuh electricity; the stars and the moon does be her light. She ain’t got nuh running water, she does get water from the stan’pipe.
She does have tuh manoeuvre her way through the pieces o’ galvanize tuh get in and out o’ the house dat look like it would fall down from the first huff and puff if the wolf in the Three Little Pigs pass by.
And you could imagine dat somebody got the gall tuh tek $5 in rent from she when the week come?
Duh had another woman in the papers the other day who said dat she used tuh go somewhere else tuh use the bathroom. The story said dat the place was immaculate and well furnished even down tuh the carpet in and around the pit toilet. But when ya lift up a part o’ the carpet in the house, all the floorboards rotten out and a whole lot o’ junk, and she paying rent.
These is only a few o’ the many people who are forced tuh live in these kinds o’ unsanitary, unsafe, unhealthy and disgusting conditions just because duh cahn do nuh better, and people who own these structures, people ya would call landlords, know dat duh exploiting poor people every single week by demanding and expecting dat when dem come and stretch out duh hands, dem expect duh money; and dem hauling in as much as a thousand dollars a week.
My question is this, what is this Government doing ’bout this sort o’ thing? When is this Government going tuh stop all the lot o’ long talk and do something ’bout these landlords? When is this Government going tuh stop talking ’bout building here, there and everywhere and start taking some o’ the same money and repairing some these old people houses so dat they could enjoy duh old age after wukking suh hard ’bout here?
I think dat it is time, high time dat the Government start tuh come down pon slumlords abroad and landlords here, and make sure dat this foolishness stops.
Mavis Beckles was born and raised in The Orleans. She has an opinion on everything.