AT HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS

Dec 29, 2008 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

“Adam Harris? Never heard of him! Never saw him! Not interested in knowing him!”
This is going to be my response to anyone who, for the remainder of this year, asks me whether I know Adam Harris. I am forced to disown Adam, because people who know him have been dropping dead this year.

Earlier this year, it was his brother-in-law. Then his father died. I went to the wake. I ate his food and drank his beer; and then, to my dismay, discovered that I was related to him. Not anymore! I have no interest in being his relative, because no sooner had he buried his father, another person with whom he had worked in the media, David De Caires, died in Barbados.

Then a young reporter died soon after. Adam had known her, and she used to call him ‘Uncle Adam.’
Just when he thought we had seen the last of the deaths, during this holiday weekend, one of Adam’s cousins died in an accident. Adam Harris, you have a jinx.

Keep away from the Peeper. Nigel, please do not allow Adam to have anything to do with my column until next year. Peeping Tom is not going to become the next victim of Uncle Adam’s jinx. Merry Christmas, Uncle Adam, and a Happy New Year!

I cannot say that I had an enjoyable Christmas this year. It rained incessantly on Christmas and Boxing Days. In such weather, indoors is the best place to be. And indoors I was for the entire holiday weekend.
I have made it a rule that I do not go out on Christmas Day.

This has always been a day to spend with your immediate family at home. And therefore, long before Christmas Eve, I was in my rocking chair, with my fairy lights on and a drink in my hand, enjoying the warmth of my own home.

On Boxing Day, visitors would usually come knocking, and I would welcome them into my home.
This year, no one came. Neither did I go anywhere. So it was me and my better half all alone, enjoying each other’s company as much as we did the first time we met. Love at Christmas.

Not the high-flung passionate love of youth, but the aged and enduring love that has survived all the knocks that life has to offer.

I was forced to be indoors this year, but I would not have wanted to be anywhere else for the holidays. I know that when I leave the home I am entering a different realm, and I therefore take extra care and precaution whenever I am out of the house, especially since I do not know what is in store for me while outside of my home.

There used to be a time in this country when the stores would close at the latest 8pm on Christmas Eve. Some would close earlier, because there would not be that many persons on the roads shopping. Not anymore. People shop late into the Christmas Eve, meaning that persons would be late on the roadways instead of being safe at home.

This December 27th edition of the Kaieteur News reported on the deaths of three persons, all of whom were on the road when perhaps they should have been at home.

One of the persons, as things have turned out, was the cousin of Adam Harris.
The other was a roadside vendor who ought not to have been selling at that unholy hour of the night when he was hit down.

The third died after the car in which he was travelling ended up in an accident. Three passengers in a mini bus also died, while many others were injured when their vehicle collided with another.

I sympathize with their relatives. It is so unfortunate that they had to die, but it just goes to show how tenuous life is. And that is why we need to exercise caution and care when on the roadway.

How many times has this message not been reiterated? How many times have we not been reminded to take it easy on the roadways and be careful?

But even as much as we are careful, there are others who may not be, and it may be their mistake which can cost us our lives.

This is why whenever I leave my home, I touch a little object on my door and ask for the discipline to be careful on the road. I feel safe in my home. I have greater control over the variables that take place within its walls. I have control only over my own actions on the roadways.

Road safety is not the answer; it is only part of the solution. What is needed is a change of lifestyles.
It is therefore my wish, as we come to the end of this year, that we try to make our homes places of comfort and happiness, places we would not have reason to leave unless it is absolutely necessary. For I truly believe that it is much safer to be at home than on the roads.

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AT HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS

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AT HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS

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