Kingstown At Its Rambunctious ‘Best’ for Christmas

The town was a mad jumble of people, of children of all ages galore, including those still in their mothers’ wombs, of vendors, of carts and vehicles. At times you could not help thinking that everyone was driving or had driven two vehicles. Some people seemed not to have been sure why they were in town on a particular day. On the Sunday before Christmas “Jax” got a Black Friday greeting and was for a while not sure how to respond. It was hustle and bustle as if Christmas had caught some people by surprise. Kingstown showed its true character, its lack of discipline and total disregard of regulations. Really anything went! Christmas seems no longer to be associated with the birth of Christ as the non-believers multiply. I was fortunate to get a small taste of the old time feeling as a choir serenaded outside my gate.

Hustle and bustle were indeed the order of the day and have come more than ever to signify the season. For those who had difficulty making economic ends meet, it was then or never. At times, one got the impression that there were more vendors than shoppers or that shoppers miraculously transformed themselves into vendors, wearing two caps at the same time. Although the lines at MoneyGram and Western Union remained long, I got the impression that there is a shift to sending barrels with articles that can be sold. Some method in this, I assume. The minivans, of course held high place. One day driving from Happy Hill (Layou) to Mount Wynne a Van passed me around a blind corner as if it was about to ‘take off’. It was either luck or a miracle that there was no vehicle moving in the other direction.

The National Sports Council did a rescue mission by allowing parking at the Richmond Hill Playing Field. The limited parking spaces around Kingstown became even more limited, as selling from the back of vehicles is now the order of the day. On at least three occasions I saw vehicles driving the wrong way on a One- Way street. One I excused, because he seemed to have been a visitor. He was driving past ‘Stop Light’  toward the ECCB office and Sagicor. With a bit of anger, I pulled aside and allowed him to pass but realised that there was no sign indicating that traffic was not allowed in that direction. I was reminded of one of Pauls Keens Douglas’ pieces.  A woman was driving along a street in Grenada and suddenly turned into a yard, not giving warning to the vehicle behind. It slammed into her vehicle. The driver informed her that she did not signal. With a straight face she said, “But everybody know I live here”! You supposed to know! The same logic applies here.

Let me say again, we have to get back to traffic lights. Pedestrians do not respect the traffic police at pedestrian Crossings, but they will halt when they see a red light. Some pedestrians do not know how to use the ‘Crossings’. They feel that once they see the Crossing or are near to it, regardless of the flow of vehicular traffic they have the right of way. Should we not be reminded that there is only one pedestrian crossing around Singer! The Cart Men had a wonderful season and I am happy for them but that came at the expense of traffic confusion as they bobbed and weaved between vehicles and pedestrians. By the way is there anywhere else in CARICOM where carts are so plentiful? Are we the only country that does not have traffic lights? Our traditional Christmas is disappearing. What is replacing it has not yet taken definite shape. All the best for the New Year to those who take time to read “Point of View”!

Dr Adrian Fraser is a social commentator and historian