The front seat

The woman sitting next to me in the front seat wanted Bhena's on Regent Street.  The bus stopped at the traffic light, not the bus stop  There was a police outrider. The driver told the woman that she could come out here. The woman mek a quick dash out.  I say whah.. look de police.. the driver wink at me. He said.. oh.. he has no control over the passenger. The driver said.. once is not the conductor opening the door. He said the law have plenty loophole, that is why they have lawyer to find the loophole. I mutter something about how man mek law an' man not perfeck.

The front seat is a nice kind of place to do contemplation away from the humanity in the back. You could gaff with the driver if you want especially if he bored because he doan have nobody to talk to. The front seat means you  have to use the seatbelt. I don't like the feeling of being restrained. The seatbelt though is a great equalizer of humanity. The scent of the sweat, cologne, other bodily things.. makes you feel like you are embracing the unknown humanity which travels in the bus.
If luck is good, your nice clean shirt would have a smudge from the dusty seat belt and you could claim your working class creds if anyone looks funnily at your dirty shirt.. especially if is a Monday morning. "Yeah I came in a bus that started running since 4am.. and not in my own airconditioned SUV or ..

The only thing about the front seat is that you don't get to let the imagination run wild as you listen to the one sided cell phone conversations "I in a taxi coming.. ", "I aint lef home yet..", "I alone cant decide de icing colour pun de cake.. ".. She is coming in from France tonight.."

I never forget the man who turned around and handed me his contact details after I finished my conversation.. because as he said.. he hear me talking about Moodle and he works with Moodle. I also confess to speaking loudly sometimes because I want to see who looking at me.. one time I tell somebody about how I dont want the lady to ker me to sharma.. and the woman next to me looked at me with disgust on her face.
But all that don't happen in the front seat.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Turpentine mango madness

Image
Some of the mango was stuck on the stubble around my mouth. I looked at the mirror, a bit of shame because I had just collected an invitation from a well dressed guy and I wonder how I must have looked to him.. look at dis big man .. he cyan eat mango good . Thing is.. wiping off mango from stubble is difficult.. and the casual swipe with a hand which might have some juice is also useless. The turpentine mango is useless when it is green - it tastes awful, like turpentine.  Mother Nature works a miracle because the ripe one though, is sweet, juicy, no strings and no turpentine taste. And the colours on the skins are bright yellow/orange/pink/purple/red shades that are probably meant to draw all species of mango lovers. The trouble with turpentine is that you cannot pick it green or 'turnin' ' to ripen like say how they do it with Spice mangoes.  You have to leave on the tree until there is some point.. when there is no taste of turpentine. So you look at the m
Read more

Re-writing Irfaan Ali's disgraceful statement after accepting his comrade's resignation

Image
  (President Irfaan Ali made a Facebook post in which he accepted the resignation of his comrade Nigel Dharmlall from the Cabinet and the Party. This is an imaginary rewriting of that statement) Fellow Guyanese, as you’re aware, I am in Trinidad and Tobago attending the 45th session of the Heads of Government meeting of CARICOM and the 50th anniversary of CARICOM.  Tonight I want to address you in relation to the allegation that was made multiple allegations of rape and sexual violence which have been made against Minister Nigel Dharamlall.  From the inception, I advised the population that I would allow the system to work.   I would never and the government would never intervene in the system. We’ve allowed an independent investigation; the minister proceeded on leave to ensure that an independent investigation was conducted. I recognise that many survivors of rape and other forms of gender-based violence do not trust the system to work because it has failed many times.  I ad
Read more

My experience with depression - Dr Raquel Thomas-Caesar

Image
(The University of Guyana held Turkeyne & Tain Talks 2 on Monday 12 September, 2016 on Suicide Prevention . Dr Raquel Thomas-Caesar made a presentation based on her experience. This is the text of the presentation) by Raquel Thomas-Caesar I am not an expert on the issue of Suicide and Depression but this is my personal journey dealing with such issues. I have never spoken publicly about this at such a forum and I hope that it serves to help others even if only a small way- Dr Raquel Thomas-Caesar South East London,  June 9, 1995 As I sit under the tree, hidden from all eyes…I wait….to go. I wait to die. Then it hits me…OMG. I really don’t want to die. What have I done? My head is swinging, fuzzy, I can hardly walk. But I barely make it up and up the hill…I see two young black men in the distance…they come towards me, I could only imagine they thought I was on drugs..I beg for help. My Angels.  I wake up in the hospital. This was me- 21 years ago.  In a foreign land, drea
Read more