remember when life used to be nice in Jamaica - part 2

[SandiF]

Re: remember when life used to be nice in Jamaica - part 2

After, wow, thanks for the knowledge read. Appreciated!

Q, mi swear sey most Jamaicans don't know bout busso. Any time mi ask a Jamaican bout busso dem nuh have a clue.

So nobody not familiar with that pod wey full prickly makka? It grows on a very large tree.

Who remembered the terrible stampede that happened at the Nat'l Arena in either 1976 or '77? It must be '76 as I was in grade 6, and all primary/all-age/secondary schools were having a festival of sorts at the Arena. Can't remember the occasion but Manley was to fly in by helicoptor. We were all dressed up in national customes singing ...

Come we go dung, come we go dung, come we go dung a Solas Market, come we go dung come we go dung, fi go buy banana. Waai Oh banana! Big big one, Banana!

The air was festive and it was a hot summer afternoon. I remembered standing in the heart of the arena looking up at the crowd of people, singing out to my hearts desire. Then all of a sudden, a piece of heavy rain started to fall!!! Knowing how Jamaicans 'fraid a rain water, that was when the stampede started!!! I remembered that there were casualties including death [img]/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] Nobody nuh tell mi sey unnu don't remember that!

[ackeegirl]

Re: remember when life used to be nice in Jamaica - part 2

well mi ask everybadi who know everyting and dem neva hear bout busso soup ...so it muss have another name or sometin like dat.

SandiF mi nuh know which froot dat ..yuh haffi "draw" it fi mi [img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] ...mi nuh memba di stampede ah Stadium either..maybe someting else more important did a happen inna mi life at di time..who knows.

Q! Pat wata soup! how yuh mean!!! all now mi still drink it! Mi season it up wid plenty scotch bonnet peppa and lickle salt and ah pure grin deh pon everybadi face who taste it...lawx, but dem also do plenty burping [img]/forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

barosa, Q and afer, at what age yuh did stap wear short pance? mi wanted to stap wear socks and ribbon from mi was 6 but dem thrown tantrum [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] when mi try it so mi grin and bear it till me pass common entrance and den mi only had to wear socks to school..but no more ribbons in mi hair [img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

Mi memba dat mi did get a wrist watch fi mi present when mi pass CE and mi hand use to stiff off and suddenly mi was left-handed when mi wearing di watch so dat everybadi coulda see it. mi was a real quaashie dem days deh. DWL!

[Q3210]

Re: remember when life used to be nice in Jamaica - part 2

Still wearing `shawt` pants this very minute.
Actually when starting high school in first form, I started wearing long pants or trousers as Pops would call it.
Busso was first introduced to me in 2002 when a group of us visited Reach Falls in Portland.
The bredren cooking soup at the top of the steps leading down to the falls let me in on the secret.
My inquisitive mind was informed by the bredren that the ingredients were crayfish, shrimps and busso.
Busso?
Wha dat?
Busso is a small crustacean or snail like creature that dwells only in certain rivers in Jamaica.
They harbour on the rocky walls of the rivers.
Am I right, SandiF?
The soup was steamy and perppery hot. It`s taste was quite nice and after one cup, I had another and so too did others in the group.
Make sure all of you try it when you go to Reach Falls or Drivers River. The Rio Grande and Swift River are the only other rivers that provide dwelling for Busso. Only in Portland.
I was informed too that Busso makes lovely pastry in the form of cakes of various kinds. Never got the opportunity for those but no doubt, Portlanders on line will tell you more.
Ehhh Sandi?
Maybe busso goes well with Ackee too.
So some of you think that you know Jamaica.
However, you least expected it that within a country we have another country.
Portland.
Not to leave other stones unturned, I bet that each parish has some unique thing about it that others dont.
Listening for your responses. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[ackeegirl]

Re: remember when life used to be nice in Jamaica - part 2

pon Q bout still wearing shawt pance..mi nah tawk bout shorts [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

mi realize now dat mi live ah Jamaica most ah mi life and mi nuh know har [img]/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] mi live deh an neva try busso soup and mi come ah Canada and a drink soup inna tin when mi leff di good-good soup dem back home [img]/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] mi feel so short-changed.

Going to Portland used to excite and scare me as the roads getting to my destination were travelled with my heart in my mouth..so much precipis (sp?) and narrow roads..all now mi nuh know how we used to reach..but when you get there! The Blue Lagoon! Wow! the lushness of the place, the warmth of people, it was like no other place on the island!

Oh Island in the sun! I miss you.

[barosa]

Re: remember when life used to be nice in Jamaica - part 2

SHORT PANTS!! Its so lang ago mi can't even memba!! What I can remember however, was dat I didn't go from shawt pants directly to lang pants. My fadda sent me to a tailor friend of his, to give measurements not knowing what mi was getting. But I suspected when I noticed dat de tape measure nevva go down all de way to mi ankle dat it was going to be a 3/4 pants. I was vexed so till, but I couldn't show it or say nutt'n. It was khaki and no big deal to me at de time since I wasn't popping no style. I tink de odda name fi it was "knicka-bacca" or someting like dat. I was 13 and very "innocent" at de time.

De following year afta dat, when mi di pass de technical entrance exam, I was rewarded with my first two pairs of lang pants. It made a big difference in my life and psychologically prepared me for MANHOOD. I've nevva looked back since. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] Because of de skinniness of my leggs, I never really embraced shawts as some men do. So now unnu all know. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[Q3210]

Re: remember when life used to be nice in Jamaica - part 2

Bone leg Barosa, if yu ever si mi trial. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[barosa]

Re: remember when life used to be nice in Jamaica - part 2

Q, Bone leg? ...I would say was more aplicable in dem days as a youngsta. Now, tho still SKINNY they are a bit more fleshy with age(DWL). I am trying to get more food to go down there! [img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[SandiF]

Re: remember when life used to be nice in Jamaica - part 2

haha! the days when boys and teen youths wearing short foot khaki pants! I'm certain it must've been a very liberating feeling when every young boy got his first long foot pants! DWL!! [img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[ackeegirl]

Re: remember when life used to be nice in Jamaica - part 2

SandiF mi glad seh yuh come pon di verandah come sit wid we yuh see! (((SandiF)) for di wan britisha and mountaingal dem juss gawn leff me wan wid di man dem [img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

I guess boys had to contend with short pance and girls had the dread socks with sling back shoes to contend wit until we parents decided if we getting old enough to wear di sling back shoes by itself or keep we in socks. Lawx, mi wish dem did mek up dem mind quickly doah, because me was sick and tired of hearing "yuh ah tun big ooman pon me" everytime I voice my opinion. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[britisha]

Re: remember when life used to be nice in Jamaica - part 2

AG mi a mek oddas share their memories while mi dung a the War Zone stating my views on the War. Mi wi check ooono latah. Have a nice day y'all.

[ackeegirl]

Re: remember when life used to be nice in Jamaica - part 2

well, look who decide fi come grace us wid har presence [img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

(((britisha))) come sit with us when yuh ready.

[SandiF]

Re: remember when life used to be nice in Jamaica - part 2

dwl! this bringing back some memories! Sling back shoes and socks!! haha!!!!

I'm seriously laughing hard as I'm remembering one day walking from Barbican Road down to Grants Pen Rd, (my sister and I) with a crocus bag with 2 chickens in it!!! My sister was wearing her sling-back shoes and socks as we were enroute to church on Waterloo Rd after dropping the fowls off at their new home on Grants Pen Road. Mi poor sister was bawling on the way because she couldn't live down the fact that my mother sent us on such an errand on the way to church!

Mi gonna call my sis right now and ask her if she remember! *ohmigoodness!*

[britisha]

Re: remember when life used to be nice in Jamaica - part 2

AG mi did save di "Memba Jamaica" and sumtimes mi inyah a read dem an laff. Mi still too tyad fi memba suh mi agi oono wan brawta from one a mi horiginals. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

britisha
Member posted 10-18-2000 11:33 PM
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Lawd, mine oono mek mi neighbors call the police sey one crazy woman a laugh loud late a nite.

Wendy, mi completely feget bout dat until u remin me..

Memba potato race? Well mi was the fastest potato race runner (pick up potatoes, put them in a sack and run to the finish line) until wi went to Mt. Alvernia fi di finals, and the territory look different to me. I was about 8 years old at the time. People, mi get confuse and come iinn lass; a shame u se, until tiday.

Memba pudn pan? Special pan fi bake the pudn. Fi mi madda she used to love to bake potato pudn,..mi love to eat it, but no ask mi fi grater the potato.

Saturday was cleaning day...in the days before electric polisher and Rexo and Poliflor...they had to boil bark or strawdye to stain the floor. Bark was bad, but strawdye? He, you han dem and finganails dem purple fi days..Lawd a massi, mi glad seh a mi big sista used to do dat.

Then dem would a lick "johnny coopa" while dem a shine the floor wid the coconut brush.

Memba when smaddy dead, and if dem have little pickney, dem would a pass the pickey across the coffin 3 times, so dem no come bak and badda the pickney.

Memba shoe black? the plant, When u go country, dem gi u fi clean u shoes

Memba big slate and little slate and chalky slate-pencil? Den somehow dem put one hole in a di slate frame and put one string through it and then put it around u neck so u no lose it ...LOL Dem lucky sey some a wi neva heng wiself wid dem sintin deh.

Memories, memories, sweeeett memmorrieesss, of days we once knewwww..

[britisha]

Re: remember when life used to be nice in Jamaica - part 2

Oh yes, mi cum back. A whey oono deh?

Inspired by Q's kite flying chread. although many of us weren't financially prosperous we were rich in many other areas, the areas of creativity and the ability to "make something from nothing" so to speak. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

We were never bored, sometimes hungry, but not bored. we always had something to do to kill boredom, at least it never existed.. Who naaah read the same book for the 40 trillionth time a:

- fly kites made out a pretty papah and bamboo sticks

- a make wi own cloth dollies outah old cloth...hair and all

- a use sling shots fi shoot buds or lick fruits offa trees a Maypen Simitri

- gone fishing a taawndry (mek sure wi cum back before wi modda cum fram market). [img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

- a wash wi school crepes and whiten dem an put dem fi dry inah di sun

- a ride skates, shoot marbles, ketch bees (laaawd di amount a bees sting mi used to get, aftah a while ie nevvah hurt anni more...mi was so immune to it) [img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

- race "boad haawse" when rain fall inah di guttah, or papah boats***chuckle***

Di point being, wi nevah get inah henni chubble for wi used our imagination and creativity to stay afloat and drown seeming misery in some very rough times.

Das why mi cyaan hannastand ie, dem yah chirren soh lucky, (more a dem dan befoe, many still deprived materially) dem haff computahs, computer games, dis and dat, whole heap a shoes, clothes blah blah and dem seem miserable...mi noh hannastan ie at all at all.

[Q3210]

Re: remember when life used to be nice in Jamaica - part 2

Nowadays pickney seem more depraved and rude because parents are all out working or hustling.
Days of old, at least one parent would always be at home, hence more supervision.
Emphasis is mostly in consumerism that favourite American dream. Americans do not have morning offerings and prayers that bring us all down back to a common level.
Today we tend to compete by buying things that we don`t really need, but just to show that we are keeping up with the Joneses.
We throw out the children with our bath water and what we reap is what we get in the behaviour patterns of people nowadays.