Time and time again, ah have been spot on target predicting de date and time to look out foh Tri-Tri. Ah get de feeling dat some people think is some kind ah high sigh-ants dat ah does use. One time ah Pastor called to thank me foh predicting right again, he wanted to find out exactly how ah do it, he said one ah his members in de church told him she dreamt dat ah tell her in she sleep dat Tri-Tri was coming, yuh know she actually went and got in truth.{{more}} Well dis week ah want to predict but ah feel obliged to say ah bit on Tri-Tri folklore. My story is ah hand-me-down from people like de late Doc Kirby and Con De Freitas, great men who once graced de Agriculture Department.

Now dis Tri-Tri is a fresh water fish, it belongs to ah fish family called Diadromous, ah big word but simply means it can dwell in two different habitat, de fresh and de salt, river and sea. First de parent fish mate in de River, lay her eggs on de river floor and between de stones; (some species lay as much as 50, 000 eggs per fish) and within 24 hours de baby fish or Tri-Tri hatches. De tiny fish is washed down stream and remain in de sea foh between two to five months, den dey fish around till dey find fresh water (River) and those who escape being harvested head back up to de mountains. But de procedure is not all dat simple, certain significant conditions must be met and dis is way ah want to mek my appeal. Condition number one is dat we must keep our Rivers clean, avoid polluting de water, no dumping ah garbage, plastics, Two-Two and chemicals in de streams. De stream must have ah heavy flow, de heavy rains to wash down de babies and heavy rains to mek de area around de river mouth or S-story fresh or salt-less when dey ready to head back up-stream. So no cutting’n’destroying ah de forests! Trees are say-non-nah-must with heavy rainfall. If all de physical conditions are met we can have Tri-Tri all year round but presently de months ending in de letters “ER” September to December is when de harvest is biggest. Some people tek dey cue when dey see Tri-Tri lightening, but believe it or not, de time ah de month to look out foh Tri-Tri is last quarter moon. Dis is significant because last quarter moon is usually accompanied wid high tides. If de tide is low, below de river mouth de Tri-Tri will not be able to enter de river, so again heavy rains will help to raise de level ah de stream way it meets de sea. We had ah lot ah rains dis week, look out foh ah massive harvest ah Tri-Tri

So why am I boring yuh wid dis Tri-Tri non-cents. Well ah was quite impressed while reading de Argyle Airport study, dey did some wuk on de Tri-Tri fishing at de Argyle River mouth, de impact on de tunneling ahde River will have on de Tri-Tri, and ah was surprised at de amount ah Tri-Tri dat is caught in our Rivers, thousand ah pounds when converted into cash, climbs up to hundreds ah thousands ah dollars ah year. We certainly playing wid a viable industry. We can dry our Tri- Tri and package dem nicely for export. And if yuh looking foh Tri-Tri dis week, check out dis story. Ah was by de Fish market on Mon-dey way one ah de Tri-Tri vendors asked me when foh Tri-Tri, so ah told her Sat-dey and Sun-dey, she looked disappointed, den she said to me: “Yuh can’t mek it Fri-dey instead. Ah tell yuh dey believe is high sigh-ants ah using.

MILLER HAD PENCIL FOOT PANTS DAYS TOO

And what kind ah Two-two behave-yah going on wid dem school boys and de Police who near-gah say cutting up de young students pants-foot. Is ah lot ah non-cents dat dem young people does do, but ah does have to keep remind me-self dat ah was young too, and ah uses to do some ah de same non-cents. Now students are required to add-hear to school rules, dress codes etc. If ah student turns up wid his pants food stitched in Pencil Foot style, (mind yuh dat was ah style in my day at school, but we called it Gun Mouth) den de Principal or Teacher has no other choice but to send him home wid ah letter to his parents, instructing dem to mek de corrections, and don’t send him back till dat is done. No Teacher, Principal or Police gat any Rights to cut up de bwoy-pickney an dem pants. All ah dis is sending ah bad signal from police to young people. One look at Commissioner Miller, his deputy Pompey, Hackshaw and dem top brasses, and yuh will see Pencil Foot pants printed all over dey faces. Ah lady from South Rivers tell me dat nobody could ah stone de near-bar mango and raid orange tree in de moon-light like dem fellars, but all ah dat was treasured bwoy days, ask Jomo Thomas, he did own my golden apple tree. So Mr Miller, please tell your junior officers to go look foh de real Gun Mouth, lay off de kids and ley de Ministry ah Education do dey ting. As ah matter ah fact de Police need to apologize to de youngsters. Man when dem youngsters out ah line, ah will pull dem over de coals, but ah will not sit idly by and see dem get trampled foh dey rights. Dat is some real Two-Two behave-yah by de Police.

Before ah go, Ken John will be relieved to know dat Rick Mc Donald is organising ah graveside ceremony foh Charity who received no charity from society. And Toby Huggins passed away while flying home. Guess from de skies he got ah closer glimpse ah heaven, loved what he saw, and changed planes from up dey. We lose another good man, we all know we didn’t treat him good. And wid dat, is gone ah gone again.

One Love, Bassy.

Bassy Alexander is a land surveyor, folklorist and social commentator.