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The Other Side Of The Coin

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Submitted by GoWeb Blog
minibus
Image – GoWebnow.net

I recently had a very interesting experience on a minibus bound for Speightstown, and even though I was greatly disadvantaged by what transpired, it left me with a sense of understanding for what PSV operators go through. Although I’m not sure I would classify myself as sympathetic, I would still like to show the other side of the coin, and give readers an insight into the life of a minibus operator.

Last Wednesday I caught a minibus bound for Speightstown in the Cheapside terminal. After lingering a while the minibus was forced to leave the terminal with a very small number of passengers. It was evident from then that things were somewhat slow that day. The driver started on the usual journey, heading up Fontabelle, but then diverted and cut out onto Baxter’s Road. For those of you that don’t know, Baxter’s Road was the previous outbound route for minibuses but is now reserved only for outbound Transport Board (state-owned) buses. Unfortunately, we ran into a police officer on Baxter’s Road, who was poised to report the driver for this infraction. I listened with interest as the driver explained to the police officer that he doesn’t commit such infractions but that things were very slow and Baxter’s Road always had a good supply of commuters, who were now exclusively the property of the Transport Board. He pleaded with the officer, pointing out that he had been driving up and down the coast of the island, burning diesel and making very little money. The officer agreed that he had never seen that particular driver on Baxter’s Road before, and then he inspected the number of passengers in the bus, seemingly satisfied by his inspection that the not much money was being earned. He decided not to report the driver, but did make him turn around and go back up the Princess Alice Highway.

I was obviously inconvenienced by this delay, as we had to go back where we had just come from, and then go the correct route (which is usually devoid of commuters), but I could understand why the driver would have did what he did under the circumstances.

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84 responses to “The Other Side Of The Coin”

  1. Sapidillo Avatar
    Sapidillo

    BP, Bradley aint lie. Grannum used to visit my next door neighbor, and when de boyz frum de gap see him, dey use to ask wuh he gine to do; and den wud shout out, that he gine to do judo.

  2. Sapidillo Avatar
    Sapidillo

    @ BP, if I recall it was a store ( I think it was a yellow building) that use to sell Avon. Bradley could correct me if i am wrong. It was adjacent to the Carenage. I can’t remember the name of that Street.

  3. Sapidillo Avatar
    Sapidillo

    We need a topic dedicated to dese stories/past happenings so that they don’t take away frum the serious issues that need to be brought to light.

  4. Bradley 432 Avatar
    Bradley 432

    @Pat
    Then figure out what was the third leg.

  5. Bradley 432 Avatar
    Bradley 432

    Its not only in the city ,but we had some real characters in the country as well.
    A fellow killed a goat one Saturday Morning and when this other guy turned up, all the meat was gone, He pleaded with the butcher,”Man ya mean ya en even left me the goat c***”. Who tell him to say so.The name Goat C*** stuck to him like a pair of cheap nylon nickers on a fat woman behind.One of the cruelist men that I’ve ever come across. He had a big stick with a steel piece at the end, and he would lash you with it. He used to lash out at the boys even before they shout him, because as sure as hell,when you went past him with that innocent child face,as soon as you get a safe distance, you would rev up to run, while shouting GOAT C***!!!!

  6. Bradley 432 Avatar
    Bradley 432

    We strayed a bit there. Getting back to the topic.In todays papers we see a notice by the Transport Board listing the many routes where their service will be cut back.I recalled that in the days of the Concessionaire and the early Transport Board that the time schedule could not be abandoned or altered unilaterally. If an operator wanted to lay on additional service, he was free to do so, but he could not reduce those basic service on the Ministry Approved schedule. But times have changed. The Minister of Transport is also Supremo of the Transport Board. Not many are aware that the Minister of Transport, in the last Administration has exempted the Transport Board buses from undergoing the Licensing Authority’s annual Mechanical fitness inspection.

  7. Bonny Peppa Avatar
    Bonny Peppa

    Bradley432
    ‘like a cheap pair a nylon nickers…….’
    Ya bad. Ya got water runnin down my face. Ya colourful.
    He woulda eat de goat c*** too? He like goat real bad man.
    I know a man dat was a Adventist but he did like pork real bad and he would go in de market, point at a lovely piece a pork and tell de butcher, ‘gimme piece offa dah lamb shoulder’. De butcher knowing dat he was a 7days, would tell him that it is pork. That is til one day he tell de butcher, ‘look, gimme de piece a lamb, is pork fa you, is lamb fa me. Now cut off de blasted ting an gimma’. De butcher nevva cross he again.
    Maybe it did a lamb cross wid a pig. He coulda call it pamb.

  8. Bonny Peppa Avatar
    Bonny Peppa

    Maybe David could make a topic for town/country characters, old B/town stores n businesses, some good old time stories or experiences. Would make good reading and real sport.
    I laffin areddy.

  9. Pat Avatar
    Pat

    @ Sapidillo

    The building where you could buy Avon products, was the Speedbird house. In the square where the Independece clelebrations were held.
    The Avon shop was on the first level. I used to buy my Avon there. Duffs Business College was upstairs.

  10. Pat Avatar
    Pat

    @ Bonny Peppa

    That story bout de porrk funny. I had a Jewish colleague, very smart, so smart he and his Director and DG could not see eye to eye. He thought they lacked vision. To get him out of their hair they gave him a project that took him out of the office – to Israel. He spoke Hebrew and a few other languages. He was single and did not mind the travel. When he returned we would touch base and he would regale me with stories about Israel and its people.

    He said lots of the Jews there, what he called European Jewry, ate pork. It was sold in restaurants and supermarkets. However, it was called – white steak! hahaha.

    He admitted that he ate it as well, but to him it was not pork, just white steak.

  11. Bonny Peppa Avatar
    Bonny Peppa

    Pat,
    Another thing, you know some people would eat cooked breadfruit ‘stretch-out’ wid lil butter, peppa sauce n ketchup but don’t dare offer dem breadfruit cou-cou? I is one a dem people. Or you might eat potato chips but not creamed potatoes. I is one a dem too. Or I would drink sour-sop punch but don’t dare offer me fresh sour-sop to eat. You so too. Tell me ’bout you peculiarities.

    Bradley432 n Sapadillo
    I waiting fa some mo stories man.
    Wunna did know Town Man n he woman/ wife Town Woman? De two a dem use ta clean pit toilets. I did frighten as shite fa Town Man. He come to clean my fatha ‘out-house’ one night and I spen de betta part a de night unda de bed wid de poe. Talk bout frighten.

  12. ROK Avatar
    ROK

    @BP
    “He was living in a truck by the beach? Sounds like he went mad ta me. Sad.”

    Bonny, you ever hear that every madman got he sense? Well when the time came for the madman to demonstrate his sense, he became the maintenance manager at a south coast hotel. Mad nuh? Hmmmm….

  13. David Avatar
    David

    To those calling for a blog about back in time Barbados, feel free to submit.

  14. Bonny Peppa Avatar
    Bonny Peppa

    ROK
    Mawnin my Chocolate-bar.
    You like the tune I dedicated to you over at ‘Wrong is Wrong’ doe. ‘Specially fa you.
    Mwwahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
    He became a maintenance manager. All’s well that ends well.
    We all have our ‘moments’. Good n’ bad.

    Bradley432 n Sapadillo
    David asking you to submit a “Back in time” blog.
    De floor is yours.

    Bimbro,
    Time to ‘wake n’shake’.
    Ya vagabon.

  15. Sapidillo Avatar
    Sapidillo

    @BP, I’d work on it as soon as I have some xtra time on my hands; hopefully, before the weekend.

    @ David, I’m putting the monkey back on your back. Hahaha. It is a possibility there maybe duplication of person/business/event, etc. submitted by Bradley (if he is up to it) and me in getting the blog going. You aint gine get off easy. Your piece in this pie would be to merge our memories on the same subject. LOL

  16. Sapidillo Avatar
    Sapidillo

    @ Pat // October 7, 2009 at 7:55 PM

    Thnx for the recollection. For some reason, J.B. Leslie (sp) still comes before me located on that street. Maybe I was/am having double vision. Hahaha.

  17. Bonny Peppa Avatar
    Bonny Peppa

    Sapadillo,
    I wait, anxiously.
    The title could be: Looking Back, Reminiscing, De good ol days,Can you remember when, Those were the days. Just a few suggestions for the blog.

    I laffin a’reddy.

    But wait, you did know TownMan?

  18. Bradley432 Avatar
    Bradley432

    Then there was this woman from town who ran up to the country to hide out from something or some body.That was about the same time that either Laurie Dash or Lashley startes to install juke boxes up in the country. This town umman was given the name Juke Box, cause the bigger fellows use to punch her for the same money they would put in the Wurlitzer jukebox, 10 or 25 cents.

  19. Bonny Peppa Avatar
    Bonny Peppa

    Bradley432
    You got a story pun evry topic so mek haste an set up de blog. You n Sapadillo.

  20. Sapidillo Avatar
    Sapidillo

    @ Bonny Peppa // October 8, 2009 at 2:22 PM
    But wait, you did know TownMan?

    BP, I would write a few lines about the Town man I know.

    Gud Enuff Tuh Rememba; Bad Enuff Tuh Fuget? LOL

  21. Bonny Peppa Avatar
    Bonny Peppa

    Sapadillo
    I rememba dat Town Man n Town Woman did live some way down Richmond Gap, I tink. And de two a dem did eitha mad as shite or bewitch. But I know dat I did frighten fa dem, especially he. And de two a dem use ta look real dirty. And he use ta curse she real stink.

  22. Bradley432 Avatar
    Bradley432

    If Cyrus was the baddest policeman,then Brute Alleyne was the baddest driver that Barbados ever

  23. Pat Avatar
    Pat

    @ Bradley432

    Do you know the story about Step On and his wife Step Off, from out Sugar Hill or Mellors way? Whenever I asked why they were so called I got a rebuke.

    @ Bonny Peppa

    Me, I am not picky with my food. But, I still eat my breadfruit stretched out, with lard oil and pepper sauce. (Well, I moved up to extra virgin olive oil these days.) I will eat some of it mashed, but am not a lover of it. Last one I mashed stayed in the fridge up to 3 weeks. Had to throw some away.

    I love my soursop plain. Will drink some punch but find it rich and filling, just give me my soursop. I still stand in the back doorway and spit the seeds outside. lol!

    I still drink loose leaf tea. Would you believe with 5 or six strainers in the house, I still strain it with my teeth? I am now an expert. Then I add water to the dregs and swish it out the back door into the lawn or the garden beside the steps (they say it is good for plants). If I have company, I just dump it in the compost pail I keep in the kitchen. (yuh got to be proper sometimes, he he he)

    I drink my scotch straight, but my rum has to be with coconut water. I buy a tetrapack of natural coconut water for $2.67 for ten ounces. No additives, no sugar, no water, no preservatives. But it is worth it. It pricey because it in de ‘ealth food section, bozie. Dat be all for now, I gine up stairs fuh a rum and coco water.

    @Sapidillo

    There were othe buliding on the square. There was a dry cleaners they called in those days ‘martinizing’ or something like that and a travel agency. What did Leslie do? Maybe that would jog my memory.

  24. Sapidillo Avatar
    Sapidillo

    @ Pat // October 8, 2009 at 10:34 PM

    I think it was called “1 Hour Martinizing.”

  25. Bradley432 Avatar
    Bradley432

    @Pat
    Step off , was his name . He was related to Dove the Calypsonian who always carried a guitar, and a white woman trailing behind him,which was unseen before. I heard this straight from Step Off himself.
    “Imagine,” he said, ” me and my brother gone out in the ocean fishing in my boat and he ketching more fish than me. I said to him Step off my boat.!”

  26. Bonny Peppa Avatar
    Bonny Peppa

    Pat,
    Hope you can get back down dem stairs after your rum n coco. I’m a teetotaller. I feel dat even ‘non-alcoholic’ wine would give me trouble. My head is dat lite. Trust me. When me n ROK ‘tie’ de knot, we gun have ta toast wid coco water. I hear dat rum n coco water taste greatttttttttttttttt.

    Bradley 432,
    Trust you ta come wid a good piece a humour.
    But how de wife get she name? I guess because he was Step off, she would automaticallly be Step on.
    So when me n ROK ‘tie’ de knot, I gun name STONE? I guess.
    teeheeeeeeeeee

  27. Pat Avatar
    Pat

    @ Bradley432

    That is too funny. Why dont you pen these tales and publish a book? I am sure you have enough material for two volumes!

  28. Bradley432 Avatar
    Bradley432

    @Pat.
    Excellent idea, but at present I am working on a book about my experiences in a war torn city.

  29. Bradley432 Avatar
    Bradley432

    Brute Alleyne was a Barbados self-made stuntman. I saw him once transfer from the back seat of one car to another at about 30mph along a narrow road. 30MPH in those days was Breck Neck speed. He once bet a bus driver that he was going to step off his bus in Waterfords Bottom .When the driver got to Waterfords Bottom, he put the pedal to the metal,and looking in his rear view mirror, he saw brute in the middle of Waterfords road running and waving at him.
    Brute was driving a truck for H&T (now MTW) and was working on the old Seawell Runway extension. Brute had a truckload of grits and was on one side of the runway, a LIAT plane touch down and Brute decided that he must get to the other side of the runway before the plane got him. He made it just. He was immediately taken off from driving truck,and was given one of those little yellow Lister tar trucks to drive.Anybody remembered a man who used to drive such a truck around Bridgetown,wearing a short khaki pants and tall khaki socks?

  30. Bonny Peppa Avatar
    Bonny Peppa

    Bradley432
    You got de stories man.
    I doan even know wah a Lister tar truck is. I know de long Lister cart thing that was used to transport goods. Dats about it.
    You got de knowledge man. Spread it.

  31. KISSMYA Avatar
    KISSMYA

    you better eat some fresh sour sop
    it is very effective against certain dreaded diseases——
    ——————-
    “spread it” -where have I heard those words before -or where have I said those words —“its more like spread them”–I think those words were said last night.

  32. Pat Avatar
    Pat

    Bradley432 // October 10, 2009 at 2:47 PM

    @Pat.
    Excellent idea, but at present I am working on a book about my experiences in a war torn city.

    *************************

    Belfast, no doubt!

  33. Bradley432 Avatar
    Bradley432

    @ Pat, you have me covered like an old pot cover.

  34. Pat Avatar
    Pat

    Bradley432 // October 11, 2009 at 2:48 PM

    @ Pat, you have me covered like an old pot cover.
    ******************
    ha ha ha! ah ha, ha ha.

    They say a leopard can roll around in the mud and cover his spots – but he still a leopard. ha ha aha!

    Yuh kant hide from muh.

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