Home Sweet Home

Life was so simple back then and living so easy. Take a mini trip with me back to JA and let us all lose ourselves in memories of living the simple life!

Who can remember when after school classes were 'lessons' and you had to pay for the whole week on Monday. But do you remember that the week of lessons did not include Fridays? In any case who wanted to go to any lessons on a Friday when you could be playing dandy shandy with your ball made out of an orange juice box, stuffed with paper and perhaps a rubber band around it to help secure it.
Then there were your school and church outings. No mini vans those says so you went on a big 'jolly' bus. For school the most frequent destination was of course Kingston. Lanamans Sweetie Factory was a favorite; plenty free candies to take home and if you were greedy and 'can't travel' most naturally you 'threw up' on the way home! Do you remember Funland? Lots of ride and fun for days and you only wanted to go to the zoo to see the monkeys.

For church the main trip event was 'convention' or a day at the beach. Puerto Sico Beach was a hot spot for my church and Dunns River Falls. Then of course there was the big pot of rice and peas and brown stewed chicken for lunch which was always cooked by some of the elders in the church. Sometimes people ended up with 'running belly' and blamed it on 'over night food ' But the key point was that you went out of town for a day and you had fun.

And who could forget trips from 'the country' to Kingston to see the Pantomime with stars like Miss Lou and Mass Ranny. You got all decked out in your finest clothes, hopped on your big jolly bus and was so full of excitement. Most naturally you had been saving all year for this special trip as you wanted to be able to make a few purchases at the concession stand during the intermission.

Back on the home front Christmas was a great time. Sorrel and ginger beer was made so people who stopped by could get a drink. The sorrel was bought with the stalks and then the buds picked from the stalks. The stalks were then kept to be planted for the next year. The fruits for the cake were soaked for a year in white rum and wine and once the cakes were being baked, you could smell that distinct aroma from 'down the road.' Then either a goat or pig was killed for the special meal and you ate until you were stuffed. Children then went to 'matinee' and you were just dying to get a little older so you could go to the 'show'-the later movies.

In the country side you would hang out in the square until your curfew time. They would generally have a 'sound system' playing a few tunes. Then people would get up on the stage and dance if they want and just enjoy themselves. If things were more organized there would be a concert but if not you just hung out with your family and friends in the square by the Christmas tree.

And who could forget Boxing Day, the day after Christmas! Do you remember that than was and still is a holiday in JA? John koonoo Dancers came out and you were so scared of the devil with his fork you ran from him whenever you saw him coming. Of course you had Christmas day left over if necessary and more cake and sorrel.

Did you enjoy that trip back in time to sweet sweet-sweet Jamaica? Did those memories warm your heart? Hope like me you now appreciate the days when life was much simpler, people more loving and truly cared about each other and our lives were less caught up in materialistic things.

More memories next time!