The wheel is turning full circle

Lance Neita, Contributor

With the rapid approach of Christmas, the traffic has started to back up again. Thank goodness for the highway and wider roads, but it is still an arduous task driving around Kingston or going back and forth on our rural roads.

Robert 'Bobby' Linton's gas station at St D'Acre is one of the oldest service points in the island. St D'Acre is located between Brown's Town and Alexandria in St Ann.

Robert represents the second generation in the family business, with the third generation now actively engaged in the well-known family enterprise.

Robert remembers his father going into Kingston one morning in his Bedford truck and returning the same day. It caused consternation and amazement in the village because at that time nobody believed it was possible to make the return trip in under 24 hours.

The wheel is now turning full circle in terms of time taken to travel to Kingston and back.

Last week I lingered for a while at the Coconut Board offices on Trafalgar Road where they serve exquisitely cold coconut water and fresh orange juice with a batch of coconut cakes, gizzarda, tarts and sweets always on sale. From there, in the afternoon traffic, it took us one and a half hours just to get on to the Mandela highway.

Regular traveller

Some road conditions have not changed in years. I have been a regular traveller on the Brown's Town to Spalding road for the past 15 years and it's no better now than it was in 1995. I beg to humbly move that this road be included in the grand road repair programme coming soon.

Getting off the beaten track and going into the hinterlands does have its compensation in spite of the hazardous conditions that make a mockery of one of the finest road networks in the world. Nothing can beat the wonderful surprise of a beautiful sunset unveiled unexpectedly as you struggle around a deep and treacherous corner on the James Hill road in Clarendon. You pause if only for a while as you remember Claude McKay's nostalgic recollections of his majestic Clarendon hills.

Sometimes a teasing little waterfall cascades out of nowhere as you negotiate a dangerous pothole on the Castleton road.

And don't discount the Rio Cobre gorge at 5:30 a.m. with glimpses of the early morning fog, or that showpiece of rolling, green farmlands as you leave Moneague and start the ascent to Mt Rosser.

Push-cart derby

Organising the national push-cart derby in the 1970s took Con Pink, Lloyd Russell, Frazer Perry, Evon Clarke, Pat Harker, and myself to remote corners where we met the most industrious, creative and interesting people. And interesting names and places.

Spreading the derby took us to Sevens Road in May Pen, 'Pain-a-tomach' hill above Lucea, Maggoty in St Elizabeth, Westgate in Montego Bay, Spyglass Hill in Discovery Bay, Red Gal Ring in St Andrew, the waterfront in Kingston, and in one hilarious incident, ending up on the doorstep of the Demontevin Lodge in Port Antonio.

It was at the St Thomas derby one morning in 1977 that we were shown the tombstone of the late Isaac Barrant who was minister of agriculture and lands in the early 1950s. We were told that The Gleaner was faithfully placed on the headstone in the family plot every Sunday morning, and that the villagers still danced kumina every anniversary of his passing.

Another good thing about our roadways: you can't get hungry on those long-distance drives. In earlier days leaving Kingston you could stop for fried fish at Old Harbour, pineapple juice at Sunrise Inn, fresh hard dough bread at Christies' in Four Paths, sham and roast corn at Williamsfield, and the absolute best curried goat in the island at Brown Man's or Neville's on Spur Tree Hill. Going onwards to Westmoreland you could have shrimp at Middle Quarters, plums at Luana, and seafood at Border before quenching your thirst at the Old Fort Bar on Great George Street.

There is still fun in motoring, if you can avoid the incredibly bad driving of others, if not yourself, and the ruts and precipices created by rains and years of neglect.

Comments may be sent to columns@gleaner.com or lanceneita@hotmail.com