Barry taking it 'light-ly'

I remember I once went a week without electricity. It took more than a little bit of effort to not lose my mind entirely. As I remember it, the cold sweats started after the first day. By the third, my hallucinations were getting out of hand and my dreams were being invaded by beautiful women wearing light bulbs and television sets on their heads - which is not as exciting as you might think!

So when I heard that the people of Barry in St Catherine have been without electricity for a while - a long while - I expected the worst. They must be miserable, I told myself, so just pack as much patience as possible for the trip.

Many people know Barry only as the lesser of the two best-known alternative routes to take when the Bog Walk Gorge is closed. Most drivers opt for the Sligoville route when this happens, so Barry really is the like the bastard child of secondary routes. Not exactly a glowing reputation, is it?

But there's something that makes Barry stand out from the pack. The community, made up of farmers, business people, students, and civil servants, has never had electricity. That's right, never. So the coal irons, lanterns and bottle torches, which most of us regard as relics of a time long gone, are everyday implements in Barry.

After-dark activities

I was standing outside the community shop with Miss Claudette, and asked her what people in Barry do when it gets dark.

"As evening come, is either yuh go inside go lock up, or yuh might read or tell story," she said. "Sometime yuh play card or something, but nothing really there to be done," she said. There are poles in the community, but no wires are attached. A handful of residents, many of them related, came out to join us at the shop. I asked Miss Claudette, who owns the shop, what was the best-selling item. "Mosquito destroyer and candle," she laughed. "Sometimes people passing and ask if we have cold drinks, but unless we get ice to buy, we don't have cold drinks. When we tell them we don't have light, dem don't believe."

Whenever there's a major sporting event going on, like the Olympics last year, many of the younger members clear out of the area, choosing to go stay with friends who own television sets.

"Ef we don't do that, we have to read bout it in the newspaper the next day, or we might listen on a battery radio," said Miss Natilda, a portly woman who runs a stall at the side of the road.

"We don't see when Bolt run. We only hear dat it happen. We don't have TV to see anything."

Very little crime

The residents who had gathered there told me that Barry is a large community, with several hundred residents. They said that despite the night-time darkness, there is very little crime in the area. "If any likkle ting do tek place, is must someone from outside. No wrongdoer is not here in Barry," said Miss Claudette. The others nodded in agreement.

"Mi did have a new''lectric iron what me get, but mi have to give it away, for it cannot tek di fire. Mi have to use the iron one because is fire we use to hot the iron so we can press the clothes," Miss Claudette said.

I asked the group if they thought they'd ever get electricity in Barry. Most of them laughed.

"Well," said Miss Claudette. "We waiting now for 40 years. If we don't have nothing in Barry, at least we have patience. We will gwaan wait and see. Maybe by next Olympics we can see Bolt run, instead of listen him pan radio." 

Where should Robert go next? Email him at robert.lalah@gleanerjm.com

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