Wet and wild!

In this time of trouble and strife, people have been finding new and inventive ways to enjoy themselves, even a little, as they go about their daily routines. And who can blame them? Turning unfortunate incidents into reasons to celebrate might just be the key to happiness after all.

So, last Tuesday, in the not-so-venerated community called Riverton, along Spanish Town Road in St Andrew, the people there turned what could have been another reason to complain into an all-out party in the streets.

I found myself at a gas station in the area just after midday when a commotion not far away caught my attention.

spanish town road geyser

Bang! Shhh! It was a loud and unexpected sound that sent all eyes in the same direction. A pipe had been accidentally struck, one man said, by a workman attending to something completely unrelated, sending water spewing high into the air. Now this was not your run-of-the-mill broken pipe. This was a geyser the likes of which you usually only see featured on the National Geographic channel. The water was going about 20 feet straight up then coming down like rain on everything nearby. This brought traffic to a stop and created a rainstorm on an otherwise sunny day.

'Wata ah fly, wata ah fly!" said a young boy running to the scene. He had been flying a kite nearby with a few other boys his age, but ditched that plan as soon as he spotted the water. He wasn't alone. People started dashing to the scene from all directions. Some parked their cars by the side of the road and hopped out, grinning at the unusual sight.

I left the gas station and walked closer to the action. A woman with a protruding midsection stood, arms akimbo, next to a wooden stall on a dirt road near a bridge, looking at the water.

"Eh eh! Den how dem seh dem nuh have nuh water? All ah dat water did lock up inna di pipe dem dis whole time?" she said.

water party

Meanwhile, as word spread of the happenings, more people started showing up. They were now flocking to the scene like ants to honey. Unfortunately, many a man decided it fitting to abandon shirts and trousers and go play in the water. An unseemly scene that was, but few of the onlookers seemed to care. One young boy threw off all his clothes and started prancing around in the water with a huge grin on his face. His joy was short-lived, though, as an elderly woman in a house dress and a cross look on her face soon showed up. "Omari! Omari! If yuh nuh pick up yuh belongings and come out ah di water ah gwine pepper yuh behind today! Yuh know if di water clean?" she yelled. The boy glanced at her but continued dancing around. This seemed to infuriate the woman who abandoned all reservations and ran straight into the water to get the boy. Spotting her, the boy's eyes widened and he dashed in the opposite direction, leaving his clothes behind. The woman, now soaked, picked up the boy's clothes then disappeared in the direction from which she had come.

I said something to the woman near the stall, about how much fun everyone seemed to be having with just a broken pipe.

"Yes sah, we haffi find di joy wherever it deh. It nah find we, so we haffi find it," she said.

robert.lalah@gleanerjm.com