…in the floods
The Germans do have a way with words…which, even though cumbersome to our English-inflected (that could also be “infected”!!) tongues, we’ve had to import some of them. There’s “Geist”, “weltanschauung” and of course “schadenfreude”. The last being to wallow in the misfortune of another. We’ve all done it at one time or another, haven’t we??!!
Well we saw it on display as the rains came down as if Noah was expected on Friday! The City Hall Gang of Four had been so snooty towards the efforts of the previous PPP Administration to help them out with previous inundations, you couldn’t blame the latter for their smirks if not outright schadenfreude! Point of the matter, of course, is there’s no way to prevent flooding in a City that’s six feet below sea level at high tides – when the rains come down during that cycle.
Of course, we should keep our drains, canals and kokers unblocked, but even at optimum, we’re not gonna be able to get rid of all that precipitation. Of course, we could always build a transparent dome we see in those futuristic movies where we’ve colonised the moon and so on. We’d be able to have the water rise outside the dome to even cover the entire city – while we go on with our daily routine inside.
But there’s the small matters of cost, expertise and will, isn’t there? Because, if we think about it, since the 18th Century we’ve actually built the equivalent of a dome to make our coast habitable. When the Dutch started colonising what would become Guyana, they didn’t start waaaay upriver – all three rivers – because they had a thing for the jungle. No! The coastland was covered with mangrove swamps.
So when the fertility of the riverine soils gave out, they HAD to return to the coast which had to be drained. Hence then “conservancies” with their “back dams” and the front dams that became the “sea walls”. And as we know to our cost, these are VERY costly, don’t we? But they were kept up through taxes and grants because they keep our sugar lands viable. Now with sugar going the way of the Dodo, climate change sending more rains our way to flood our lands and conservancies; the oceans rising to overtop our sea walls, shouldn’t we be thinking of doing something different?
Like either building that real space dome over Georgetown (but extending it over the entire coastland) or start moving inland? But then again, our leaders may actually be closeted supporters of Trump denying climate change.
So let’s just continue smirking at whoever’s running Georgetown!! Schadenfreude’s the real Christmas spirit!!
…at the movies
Not unexpectedly, the movie houses are chock full of “Christmas Movies”. But if the truth be told (and it MUST be told, shouldn’t it?) after going through adolescence weaned on interminable viewings of “Miracle on 34th Street”, he’s been kinda weaned off the genre. But your peripatetic Eyewitness’ a movie buff…what to do?
Not to worry! The moguls of Hollywood obviously did their market research and discovered your Eyewitness has a lot of company. With the result, there’s as many “mainline” blockbusters released around Christmas as in the Summer (which we also have in Guyana!!) And this year, they’ve outdid themselves with “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”.
Now in the interest of full disclosure, your Eyewitness must confess he was smitten by the Star Wars saga from the very beginning. And it wasn’t ALL about Princess Leia!! And even though through the magic of CGI, he was able to get a glimpse of the young Leia! Rogue One stands on its own boosters!
May the force be with you, this Christmas, dear readers!
…and Christmas fare
But never let it be said your Eyewitness isn’t Guyanese to the bone. So this evening it’s ginger beer – (not egg nog) and his missus’ famous Black Cake.
Each slice is like imbibing a “shot”!!
