Stredwick

                                                       The Marijuana Thief                                                                                                              ...

I remembered the first harvest I went to. I think I was in primary school at the time. It was held at the Grateful Hill Methodist Church. I think the harvest may have been held in the basic school. There were a lot of things on sale. Normally in a harvest, church members donate thing to the church to be sold to persons attending the harvest. At this harvest there were a lot of fruits, baked products, and agricultural produce. There were also craft work on sale. Once you know that there will be a church harvest you try to have some extra money to buy some of the products.

Have you ever been to a country fair? We used to have so many of them. We used to have them on Boxing Day, Easter Monday and on Independence Day. Normally we would have the fair in the day and then a dance in the night. Some of the places where fairs were held were Grateful Hill Primary School, Cassava River Primary School, St. Faiths Primary School. We also had fairs in Above Rocks and at Glengoffe High School. Apart from the fair during the day, we had a cricket match. The fairs would have ferris wheel rides and many other things such as catching a greased pig. Food and drinks would be available for sale right throughout the day into the night. People would come from all over to attend these fairs.

We first had piped water in our village when a pipe was put at Ashley Gate. Before that we had to go to the springs or rivers to fetch water. Women had to go to a place called Flat Rock to wash clothes. No sooner had the pipe been put in than fights over water began. Some families consisted of eight or nine persons at the time. They would put a huge washtub under the pipe and each member of the family would full their jug from it. They would not move that washtub until every vessel in their yard that could hold water was full. Other persons would object to just one set of people preventing others from getting access to water for more than two hours sometimes. As a result it was the families who had the strength in numbers and brute force who prevailed. After a while my grandmother got fed up of this and so we got water piped into our yard. Eventually everybody started taking in piped water into their homes. But people living in remote areas still went to the springs or rivers for their...

W hile I'm in favor of a flexi-work week I think the people's religion and their customs must be respected. A flexi-work week means that the work week can be flexed. In other words the times when one comes to work can be changed. The times when one leaves work can also be changed.I remember a story a colleague related ton me several years ago. He was a Sabbath keeper and worshiped on Saturdays. The company wanted him ton work on Saturdays but he refused. Instead he chose to work on Sundays but the company still wasn't very pleased. Eventually he had to leave. If  companies adopt a flexi work week then prospective em p loyees should be told what to expected of them.

This is my second stint of being unemployed. The first one was from September 2012 to July 2013. I've been unemployed since January 2016. I have only attended two interviews, I think they were preliminary interviews. I was not however granted a second interview. I don't know if I will find a job. I think my age may be working against me. A former colleague of mine told me that she was unemployed for three years. I will be trying in the next few months to get a job.

I've told you that I had to carry sugar cane from the fields to a cane heap by the roadside. I also had to go to the bushes and cut firewood. We usually roamed over more than twenty acres of land looking firewood. We usually cut  of the dried limbs of treed. We also used an axe to split dried tree trunks. We would use the bark of dried banana trees to lash the firewood together in order to carry it on our heads from the bushes. Some of those times could be enjoyable depending on which fruit crops were in season. Mangoes were the most enjoyable. We would climb the trees and spend hours eating mangoes.