'Claplunk'! - Dodging falling rocks in St Mary

What beauty! What majesty! What ... 'claplunk'! Another rock hit the roadway. Screech! An overloaded Coaster bus garnished with a dreadlocked conductor hanging lazily halfway out the door, swung quickly out of the way.

"Ah weh di ... ?" the conductor yelled as the bus sped down the road. I was with a man named Everton near the Port Maria to Galina roadway. We were looking out at the water and the wonderful scenery when the rock-bus incident occurred.

"Is a next rock drop," said Everton, casually. He and I had met several hours earlier in the Port Maria town centre. He is a fisherman who was telling me about the brutal nature of early-morning wake-up calls, and inconsistent markets for his catch.

"Di fishing business ah nuh easy business. Yuh haffi know seh is a hard life before yuh git up and seh yuh waan tun fisherman," he said.

Nonchalance

I was struck by how nonchalant he seemed about the falling rock. I thought it a major incident which required the immediate intervention of someone - anyone - with a tractor.

"No sah!" said Everton, setting me straight. "Ef we fi call pon tractor man every time dis yah road have stone and rock pan it, him woulda haffi sleep out yah," he said.

So it was a regular occurrence, I learned. I asked him if no one ever thought to do something to keep the rocks from falling. "Well dem put up a sign," Everton said, pointing to it. "But edda from dat, mi nuh know wah gwaan.

"Mi hear one man ah talk seh dem try fix it nuff time and nothing don't work. Mi nuh know if is true, but dem seh is like Flat Bridge. It just can't fix."

Stop and wait

Claplunk! Another rock, this one larger than the first and accompanied by a copious amount of dirt and gook, fell hard on the road. Vehicles that were nearby had to stop and wait to see if anything else was going to fall. When it seemed that all was safe - for now - the vehicles started moving again.

"Ah who ah go move dem deh yah now?" asked a woman walking by. "Dem fi have a more betta plan fi dem ting yah. One day smaddy gwine get lick inna dem head wid one ah dem stone yah," she said.

I asked Everton if anyone had ever got hit, or if the debris had ever caused an accident. "Yes man," he said. "More time inna di night when man a drive good speed and come on to it, dem haffi draw brake and den di next man behind him might nuh realise what a gwaan and den yuh know seh is a sure accident dat," he said.

It had rained the previous day so I asked Everton if the rocks only fell when the soil was wet. "No sah! Wedda rain or shine or whatsoever, dis yah place tan so. Mi nuh know what it bout," he crossed his arms in front of him as he spoke.

"All mi know, dem haffi come wid a betta plan, for surely if dem lef it as is, it will cause a hattaclapse. And we don't want none of that!" he said.

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