Latest update November 26th, 2024 1:00 AM
Back-to School Madness
‘Back -To-School Madness’ may be a word you only hear in commercials, but a walk down Regent Street yesterday afternoon would have made you believe it was a real phenomenon.
It took almost 45 minutes to walk from Camp and Regent Streets to the end of the Vendors’ Arcade on Water Street. Crowds reminiscent of last minute Christmas Shoppers thronged the sidewalks on both sides of the street. Most of the stores along the way were full to overflowing with customers making last minute purchases despite the sweltering heat.
“I got your size!”
The biggest sellers were school shoes and boots, since most parents have already had their children’s school uniforms tailored as is the Guyanese custom. Children of all ages could be seen trying on shoes for their mothers and even some fathers. They answered to questions like, “Is it too tight?” and “Can you feel my finger?” as a mother pokes down the front of a shoe.
One rare sight that belongs to these special days is that of the paper vendors. All along the street were vendors, whose buckets were filled with three-foot rolls of brown paper. As you passed them you could hear them calling out, “Come and get yuh book paper, hundred dollas a roll!”
In true Guyanese fashion, the street vendors were not to be outdone by the storeowners either. They displayed their wares on tables across the gutters, and frames braced against the walls of the stores. One enterprising vendor decided that wasn’t enough however, so he strung up a veritable gallery of haversacks over the sidewalk so that shoppers would only have to look up to make their pick.
The Arcade was an even more interesting melting pot, with hundreds of people passing through a passageway that was a little over five feet across.
It was a miracle that people weren’t walking over each other. Yet despite all of that, not only were people passing along the arcade but shoppers were even able to step to the side and inquire about a particular vendors’ offerings – whether they were looking for shoes, school pants or shirts or simple things like hair ribbons or a new wristwatch for their child.
Despite it all however, the kids seemed to be having fun and you can rest assured that tonight a lot of clothes are going to be tried on, and socks and shoes donned for walking around in the house so they can be ‘stretched’. Nor will the other preparations be forgotten. New books will be ‘papered’ and labeled, pencil cases and book-bags will be stocked up with all the necessary tools, pencils will be sharpened, erasers and pens will be collected and all will sit ready for Monday morning.
“I like this one mommy.”
Meanwhile, all over the country this afternoon will be celebrated as the last day of summer and children play their last care-free afternoon before a new school year begins.
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