A young man from West Demerara who takes care of the electrical problems in my home was pointing out to me this past week that I should get rid of the half dozen or so fluorescent fixtures in the place. Apart from the inconvenience of having to occasionally replace parts of the lamp, I would save on my electricity bill. Also, and this point scored with me, these units, born for the industrial age, are not pleasing to look at. “This is a long time thing,” he told me, consolingly.
Reflecting on that comment later, I began jotting down examples of changes that have come to our lives making, in some cases, massive alterations in how we live. My intention here, as I relay some of them, is not to debate whether they’re good or bad – that’s up to you – but simply to point out some changes that you may not have noticed. Whether complaining about the changes, or welcoming them, we all agree that ‘dis time na lang time’ is definitely the case today.
There was a time, for instance, when gas stations in this country, indeed everywhere, sold only gas and oil. Today – the newly-opened Shell station on Vlissengen Road is an example – you can buy everything from newspapers to Pepto Bismol in what we still call a gas station, and oil and gas (I’m guessing here) may be approaching the secondary reason most people venture into such places in this era.
There was a time in this country when the zoo was a zoo. I’m not going to elaborate on that – you run with it – but yes, that was once the case.
I grew up here in a time when to cross the Demerara River you had to take a ferryboat or swim. Jerry Goveia, Banks Jerry, used to swim it from time to time. Of course, Jerry was not a conventional human being. He would sometimes board schooners tied up in Georgetown harbour, climb to the top of the mast, and jump in the river. It seems these days that we have stopped making people like Jerry, but there was time when we did.
In my youth at Vreed-en-Hoop we had one cinema, owned by the Gunraj family, powered by a generator which would frequently black out in the middle of a film, triggering a huge uproar among the patrons. Shouts of “Gunraj” would fill the air. On one occasion, with the power off for an unbearably long time, the lights came on to reveal that incensed patrons had thrown a pit bench flush into the screen – end of movie.
There was a time in Georgetown when the only place you could see a movie was in four or five cinemas in town and a few in the country.
Now everybody is watching movies in their homes, and the cinemas, with one exception, have been closed down or even been demolished.
You can argue if this is good or bad, but there was a time when Georgetown had about four gas stations; now we have three in one block. The economics of that escapes me, but then my name is not Robin Lowe.
It’s before my day, but there was a time when women’s skirts would come almost to the ankle; some of the miniskirts you see young ladies wearing nowadays… thank God we have those fancy sunglasses from King’s to (a) shield the eyeballs and (b) camouflage the peeping.
There was also a time when children misbehaved, complete strangers would correct them, and the youngsters would accept it. “Yes, Sir.”
It’s probably not something to be comical about, but there was a time when to see garbage in town you would have to open somebody’s rubbish bin.
Out of Saints, I worked on what Guyanese called “the Base” (now Timehri) for a few years and in the rainy season, on the East Bank road, much of it dirt, it could take 3 hours to get to town. Vehicle tyres would leave deep ruts in the road, with a hump in between. On one occasion, I saw a low-slung Citroen car stuck in the middle of the road, suspension jammed on the hump, and wheels spinning in the mud ruts. Whoever got out to push ended up covered in red mud. There was a time when that happened.
There was a time when your bicycle had to have a licence, brakes, a light at night and two reflectors. Nowadays bicycle lights are virtually unknown, and in order to brake you take your foot off a pedal and hold it against the back tyre. I can hear the youth: “Lights on a bicycle? You joking.” Not only that, but if you had no light at night the police would nail you; they would even chase after you to charge you for, brace yourself, “no bicycle light.” Brethren, you would even have to go to court – for no bicycle light. I swear there was such a time.
Finally I know you’ve noticed that these days when you go to a sport, there is a person in the band whose job is to direct your dancing – move to the left; hands in the air; wine back; do the Shadow; roll your bumper; etc. Well I’m here to swear that there was a time when people went to a dance and got up on the dance floor without any orders from the bandstand. I can hear the younger people, “So how did they know what to do?” As I said before, I don’t know the answers to these things, I’m only telling you about them. But believe me, there was such a time.
Oh, I almost forgot. There was a time when it would rain heavily, and Georgetown wouldn’t flood. If you’re 25 years old or less you probably think I’m lying. Ask your parents; there was such a time.
