Characters!

Sun. Oct. 30.22.

Greetings!

What a gwaan…wha’ a gwaan? What’s going on?

How y’do nah?

How nah?

Wha’ ‘appening?

Marnin’.

Good morning.

G’d’afternoon.

Respect!

I love the different ways we greet each other in the Caribbean.

The school children, pouring out on to the streets after school in their uniform, are usually quite polite, greeting you, good afternoon.

Maaan, It’s such a cool feeling, strolling in the hot sun, saying hello to complete strangers.

So many characters on the streets of my old home-town.

I present to you some of them I’ve been writing about…oh…here’s a photo of Kitty Market soon after the city hall people fiiiiinally decided to renovate it.

One afternoon, walking to the market, a scraggly man trips past me, pause, look 'pon me and shout out, "Hello fren. How you do? You doin' okay?"

Now, to be honest, I ain't know this man from Adam or Eve. I suspect he would spot me going regularly to the market. He would probably be sitting over the road, in front o’ the old building where them druggies-chaps hang out.

How to answer he? 

Proper ladies would walk past he with they nose turn away, like they didn't hear or see he. Or they would give a very polite nod.

I give he a pretend-shy, genuine-friendly smile and say, "Yeah man."

And I keep walking. That is enough. The man go 'long he way. 

Every time since then, whenever I walking to the market, he would greet me, "Hi friend."

And I smile and say, "Hi," and keep walking.

Characters all over the city streets of my homeland. You got to develop the instinct to know which ones to reply to, and how to respond. Not snobbish. And most certainly not palsy-walsy.

The ones I reply to easily, and gyaff...chat...with, is the pen-man who convince me to buy a pen from he every time I pass he. The pine-man who pine does be sour like lime sometimes, and I take it home and cook faux-Chinese food with it. Mango-lady. 

But you see them bus conductors who shout for passengers to take they bus? Walk past like you don't see or hear them. Because, if you ain't careful, they gon haul you into they bus, and the next thing you know, you heading off for the inner parts of countryside even though you only been going to the lawyer office across the road.

And them chaps with cutlass under they arm...cross the road if you see one coming. Don’t even look them in the eye. Not even half eye.

I must say though, they add to the sounds and sights and drama of small sea-side town life.

Oh geez, look at the time…some other writing is waiting for me elsewhere. I hope you enjoyed this little trip with me. Have a lovely day, fabulous week. Remember to take care of you, don’t let anyone turn off your light as you trek through this life. See you next time, plenty luuuve, neena.