The city is yours. It’s part of you now. You’re part of it. Brand your city. Make it an extension of your identity. Call it whatever you may like: the Garden City, the Oz of the Caribbean, City by the Tides, City of a Thousand Bridges, the Handsomest City in the Caribbean – whatever! It’s yours. These are just some of the tag-names I came up with based on my observations while exploring the capital.
The Garden City: Georgetown has been called the Garden City for decades; since British occupation. Today the title remains but the city has changed drastically. Even so, we still see the blueprints of the trees, the city-block gardens, the fountains and ponds; we see the greenery of the lawns, the flowered landscape. It is up to us to further develop this blueprint into a truly green city with flowers guiding pathways and dividing lanes, lawns for parapets and flowering plants in hedges. There are so many things we can do to develop what has already been done.
The Oz of the Caribbean: Last year in a Culture Box I described Georgetown as Oz, the fictional emerald city in the children’s novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz written by L. Frank Baum. Now before you accused me of being far-fetched in comparing a sparkling, emerald city to Georgetown, let me remind you that Oz was also known for the spirit and hospitality of its people and the peculiarity of its characters. The reason I gave Georgetown the nickname Oz was for its peculiarity.
Everyone has the same history and heritage yet everyone has a unique stamp. We dress colourfully and speak in a rapid song. We talk with our hands and our bodies are in a constant rhythm. Our people have so much character; here a Rastafarian bobs his head to his tune, there an Indian Guyanese waves her hands, here African Guyanese pavement drummers beat out a rhythm, there the Chinese store owner pokes his head out the door. A mural of colours and rhythms that make a single beautiful pattern we call Georgetown.
City by the Tides: The first reference I heard of Georgetown being called the City by the Tides was in a song of the same name by local punk rock band, Keep Your Day Job! I found it fitting. This really is a city influenced by the tides. Our drainage and agriculture depend on the tides. There are miles and miles of walls protecting us from the vast golden brown Atlantic and thousands of canals and drains criss-crossing; a web to drain a city that is literally six feet below sea level. The City by the Tides has mudflats extending miles out to sea at the low tide then mysteriously disappears at the high. The city’s northern landscape is in a constant dance of erosion and deposition. It is a city of groynes and dykes, sluice gates and dams.
A few weeks ago, while on my journey exploring Georgetown I visited the Kingston lighthouse. It was amazing to see a fine strip of concrete keep back a huge tub of golden brown water stretching far out the horizon and then turn around and see a broad river pushing the city in a strange way towards the ocean. The city seems trapped between the two; trapped in an eternal dance of water and the heavens.
City of a Thousand Bridges: Getting around also makes it the City of a Thousand Bridges. From the ‘kissing bridge’ in the Botanical Gardens to the bridge outside your doorstep, it would be impossible to count the bridges that cross the many drains and canals. Some of these bridges, especially in downtown Georgetown are beautifully designed in iron; look at the bridges on Avenue of the Republic. Underneath the bridges you can see broken insignia and although many of these bridges are not maintained, they tell a story. Some bridges in Alberttown for example mark Georgetown’s late history as a colony and early history as an independent state. The signatures and commission dates of the bridges are carved into them. There are names of past mayors and governors. I even spotted one of LFS Burnham on South Road. All of these bridges have a story. But sadly we walk past as if they are nothing.
The Handsomest City in the Caribbean: When you add it all up, historic buildings and bridges, different peoples and nations living as one, gardens and grassy pavements, a river and an ocean, the dance of the people through language and culture, the experiences and heritage, you will find yourself in the Handsomest City in the Caribbean.
Georgetown has many faces, many scenes, many identities, many truths and many lies, many characters and many personalities. Georgetown is a city that is bountiful and limitless, a thorough experience here would never be capped, make any of these experiences yours and nickname the city for yourself.
Whatever you want to call it, call it. The city belongs to you. Officially it is known as the city of Georgetown but it will always be your city
