I got a great Christmas gift

Dec 27, 2009 Features / Columnists, My Column

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Christmas Day has come and gone and I feel as though I have lost a good friend, not that I am one of the children who look forward to the day because there are gifts and toys, but because it is the one day when people who do not call or write to me all year do so.
For example, I have a grandson I have never seen. His elder brother I saw about five or six years ago. I got a call from them and was shocked. There is Akeem who at 13 is almost six feet tall. The last time I saw him he was as skinny as a beanpole. I took him to Pizza Hut and simply stared. I had not seen him since he was a toddler. He called and made my day. That must be counted among the greatest gifts I got in years.
Now there is his brother named Dwayne after my son—his father. I am still to see him and I have vowed to do so next summer. That was one of the Christmas Day calls and what a joy it was. And thanks to technology, my grandson reads my column every week and now that I know that, I have to watch what I write.
Christmas Day is also the day when special foods abound and it is the one day I do not have to worry about where the meals are coming from. But strange enough, it is also the day when I am least hungry.
I got two breakfast invitations and promptly postponed the other to lunch because I knew that the meal would be there whether I go for breakfast, lunch or dinner. In the old days it used to be tea, breakfast and dinner.
But it was the run-up to the big day that really caught my mood. There was the usual Regent Street lime that actually provided me with a chance to see the teeming mass of people who, either because of tradition or because the extra small piece came late, spent almost the whole night looking for bargains. And bargains galore there were.
Items that cost so much more during the daylight hours suddenly lost their value. This must have been the reason for the late-night crowds. It was also the one time when the police did not tow away illegally parked vehicles.
There were other attractions. There were these two women who probably shared one man and who managed to confront each other on Regent Street. They provided some added entertainment when they clashed. One threw the contents of a bottle on the other and sparked an involuntary striptease, much to the delight of the teenaged boys who were out in their numbers.
I also got an appreciation for the tights women wear under their clothing. In days gone by there was the garment called ‘roll on’ but the slimmer folk simply wore a dress, some half-slip and panties. They need so much more now that the real estate seems to have appreciated, hence the tights and the invaluable protection when these two women clashed.
My friend and Kaieteur News colleague, Frankie Wilson, got bitten for intervening to separate the warring combatants.
Music blared and one unfortunate fellow spent the rest of Christmas Eve in the Brickdam lock-ups. He had parked his music cart in the middle of the street to the annoyance of the police. Indeed, the police were ubiquitous and they were at the scene in a flash. The one good thing for him was the officer in charge was in the Christmas spirit.
“I am not going to charge him. I will send him away with his cart in the morning,” he told me.
There were other things. There was the mad rush by some people to get to the hospital to deliver their babies. That was a special Christmas gift for the mothers.
I remember one of my sisters giving birth to her first daughter and second child on Christmas Day. She delivered her baby at home in Norton Street, Lodge. She had been climbing around putting up decorations the day before. Christmas Day came and out of the blue she cried out for pain. There was no midwife around so my elder panicky sister had that task. The hospital came later.
GPL almost kept its promise and GWI did not run around effecting disconnections. But there was something that GPL did that really annoyed people. It sent out two light bills in one month and demanded payment for both. It was no coincidence that in each case the bills were identical in the charge demanded.
I did not hear of any fires caused by fairy lights and I did not hear of any serious road accidents. No one attempted to snatch and run in the crowd although I am certain there must have been a fair share of pickpockets.
It was also a night for philanderers. I saw a few men ducking into short-time places and smiled. I then wondered what must have happened when they went home and got a call to service.
I know that many girls suddenly found that their paramours were missing and from what I hear, this is always the case at Christmas. Men drop women and the women are stupid enough to go back to them when the season is over.
Old Year’s is coming. I look forward to that too because it means that I am around to see the dawn of another year. Life is beautiful.

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