NDP supporters march wid ah passion

Last week ah write say that de NDP March in February will mark de beginning ah de end ah either Gonsalves or Eustace. It was ah simple piece ah logic, Arm-in been laying charges against de ULP and Gonsalves kept dismissing every charge. De people kept ah silence dat was deafening, nobody knew what to assume. So Arm-In call his bluff, he went fo broke and summoned his supporters and patriotic Vincentians to meet wid him pon de streets and ley dey March and demon-straight.

Wednesday morning ah got up bright and early, ah do me stretches, bathe and put on me walking shoes to tek in de March in February!{{more}}

At 11:00 a.m. de appointed time to start, no sign ah Arn-In, de crowd was small and ah believe dat NDP supporters were beginning to feel dat dey might as well head foh either de Hospital, de mortuary or de burial ground wid dey leader and de party. But half hour later de busses start pouring and de Bequia, Barrouallie and Shatto crowds stormed in and Arm-In unearthed himself and surface outside de Party Headquarters and de March start ah swell.

Ah not good on crowds so ah will only say dat it was big. Not only dat, de people were passionate, dey were chanting dey complaints and grievances as dey moved along. Another thing too, is dat de sidewalks were lined wid hundreds ah onlookers, some walked along, and dey were all curiously silent and focusing on who was in de March. People were looking down from Offices, business places, Government Buildings, dey were almost motionless. Dat is no silence to tek foh granted.

While de Prime Minister Sue-in and Sue-in everybody, his ULP supporters Sue-Sue-in dat he gone off on ah tangent, and he not listening to anybody inside de Party, he does not intend to be side-tracked is his pet phrase. Ah selling it foh de same price dat ah get it, no mark-up, no discount. Lie-Za phone me on Wednesday Night bawling she miss Glen. “If Glen was alive, Arm-In would ah ha to call off dat March, Glen alone would ah kill it”! What ah could say is dat since Glen passed on, de Prime Minister has lost his footing on de ground, he ain’t know way going on, but he will tell yuh otherwise.

Ah was complaining to Lie-Za dat in de heat ah de March ah heavy weight lady like she was getting in de Carnival groove and attacked me from behind Congo-line style. Once upon ah time ah would ah tek ah hint and mek ah lime oops, ah line; but dat was once upon ah time.

LOOK HOW WE CRICKET COME

Some years ago England cricket team was on tour and played ah One Day International match here against de West Indies. My cousin Ken who lived in Canada foh over forty years was here with his wife on vacation so he teamed up wid me and de Mighty Sheller to go see de match. Before Ken went to Canada, he played village cricket and we uses to go and look at Windward Island Cork Cup Tournament but dey never had limited overs game back den. His wife Carol who is Canadian is no cricket fan so she packed him ah basket ah sandwiches and other soft stuff and so on. But when he saw me and Sheller straining with ah basket and an ice-box, he wanted to know if there was ah picnic on. In de stand we met four English lads who had traveled all de way from Britain to see de games. We made friends with dem, heckled dem Caribbean style and den we fed dem well.

Needless to say dat Ken and de English lads drank all de beers before lunch and den dey headed foh de bar downstairs de stand. When it was lunch time dey couldn’t overs way going on. Every body opening food basket and ice boxes and inviting our new friends to partake. Den we got ah message from Ferdie Footstep dat he wanted to see us outside in de car park. Ferdie like he walked with his Restaurant, Bar-B-Q pork and Chicken, breadfruit and bull-jow and de full wuks’ plus ah bar. Cricket start back and we still partying outside in Ferdie’s van. Our English friends admitted dey never had ah better time at ah cricket match, dey could get over de noise, de music, electrifying atmosphere, de North Stand waving from de top and Glen Jackson and his Guinness posse at de southern end mashing down the bleacher stand. At de end ah de game everybody walked to de carpark, lime foh another two hours post mortem-eyes-in de game, no quarrel, no fight, nobody got injured, everybody jump in dey vehicle or catch ah van and head foh home.

Dat is de kind ah Cricket dat I have grown accustomed to; so when de ICC come wid de rules dat say ah must park me vehicle home and catch ah van to Arnos Vale, and ah cant walk wid me pot ah food and me drinks, and if de game boring ah can’t say: “dis ICC cricket calls foh ah Hairoun” dat is advertising. Ah could go in de Guinness Posse Stand, yes, but ah got to be discrete in de way ah shout and jump up, sorry dey not looking foh I. Man what de heck is going on. Ah think ah will go pon Villa Beach oops, on dat day ah will have to get ah pass to go dat side ah de country, my own homeland. Ah don’t know why Blondie Bird not name-ing ah section ah his Carnival Mas Band: “Look how we cricket come”!

And wid dat ah gone again.

One Love Bassy