Patria-Kaye Aarons | NWC nearly ruined my relationship

Since the start of the year, I have had a total of seven showers. Only seven. I’m not proud of that fact, and I know it’s a bit of an over-share, but stay with me.

It’s not that I have descended into unhygienic squalor. I’m still nice to be near. I do what my grandma used to call “Pala-pala”, just a level above tidy and well below my usual 15-minute shower. And I use a lot of Bath and Body Works sprays. All because of the water lock offs that have become a constant feature of many of our communities since Christmas.

Don’t care your level of dexterity, bathing with a bottle can’t yield the same results as taking a shower. You just aren’t as clean at the end. And the complication of the constant stoop down and scoop up makes bathing with a pan difficult.

Cleaning myself isn’t the only daily chore that has become a pain in the behind. I’ve begun neglecting my female duties. I cook less, because a dirty kitchen frustrates the holy hell out of me. I’ve started giving the man his dinner occasionally in a paper plate, just so we have fewer dishes to add to the pile in the sink. Kwasi has started having a work pant shortage because we don’t have enough water to do laundry as frequently as necessary.

Running a household without water is a mess.

Speaking of mess, ‘twas utter humiliation one afternoon when Kwasi was greeted by a floating remnant of my reign on the throne. Never a moment I wanted the two of us to share. Filling the toilet bowl manually versus flushing it is as effective as bathing with a bottle versus showering. Only one truly gets the job done.

Let me be fair to NWC. They are trying. Last Thursday, no sooner did I complain on social media, I was lucky enough to get some water from the relief truck they had supplying households door to door in Duhaney Park.

Charles Buchanan and the rest of the company spokespersons are available and empathetic. They're running ads on TV and radio, asking for patience and understanding and are trying to give notification ahead of scheduled lock-offs.

We all know in the NWC coffers, water more than flour. For the multi-billion US dollars needed to re-pipe and modernize Jamaica’s ancient potable water network, NWC just doesn’t have. This is one loan I’d support from the Chinese.

MAKING THE BEST OF A BAD SITUATION

The optimist in me has, however, also seen the silver lining in all of this. In spite of it all, NWC has actually caused my relationship to strengthen. My partner and I have learned to see past the unpleasantness.

The absence of running water in our pipe at home has brought out Kwasi’s romantic side. He anticipates my needs and always ensures I have a full bottle of water in the tub every time I want to take a bath.

When we aren‘t pressed for time, he’ll simulate a shower by holding the bottle above my head and pouring slowly while I rinse. The water “pressure” is strongest at around 4 a.m. He’ll get up at that time while I sleep and do the dishes just so I can be greeted by a clean kitchen.

At this point, all of us have to make the best of a bad situation. We live in hope that after all these road works and pipe laying, water will return.

I’m also aware that this temporary inconvenience for me is everyday life for others in sections of rural Jamaica. Some families have been living without a shower long before Christmas. In this here Jamaica.

Their romantic men walk miles to catch their bath water at standpipes and from rivers. And as loving a gesture as it may seem, it’s wrong. We can’t talk about lofty first world aspirations as a country and grown men still can't shower at will...much less flush their toilets.

- Patria-Kaye Aarons is a confectioner and broadcaster. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and findpatria@gmail.com