Lifespan of a Chennette

A 20 ft container pulled up to my door this morning. With my pots and pans, my books, some furniture, essential groceries from T&T, and most importantly, a real mattress and pillows. There were 42 boxes, 5 pieces of furniture and 1 mattress. However, at least 14 of the 42 boxes belong to my sister the elder, and will be moved out very soon. Very very soon.

I don’t think I should complain anymore that I am waiting to settle in. The rest of my life has arrived after all - all neatly packaged in boxes. There must be some sort of symbolism in that. Will my life change once the boxes are opened? Will I feel like I am taking root here in this mainland country, with no discernible rainy season? Or will it be like a Pandora’s box of troubles? Fortunately for me, this is not the kind of thing I ever really dwell on, except for the purposes of wild imagination, which I keep clearly defined in its box away from real life - I knew there were boxes lurking in this thought somewhere!

I don’t think I will ever really be rooted in a continent - although maybe it’s too soon to tell. But I miss the rain. I am sure deeper into the interior, away from the coast it rains regularly in Guyana, but there have really been only 3 days (or nights) since I have been here, when there was real rain. It gets overcast occasionally, but unlike in Trinidad, the clouds never really give in and let loose. No light showers, no brief drizzles (what we call “passing clouds”) hardly any wet breezes like I am used to. Just constant sunshine. Maybe there are advantages to having a windowless office so I don’t have to contemplate the horror of it all.

Of course there are disadvantages to island life - the past few days because of the high storm activity in the Atlantic and the Caribbean Sea (note: Wilma is the strongest hurricane ever recorded) there were super high waves on the North Coast of Trinidad, washing over the beach in Maracas across the road to the parking lot and flooding the Bake and Shark stalls. And, Guyana, being below sea level at its coastal levels, suffered breaches in their sea wall on the other side of the Demerara River.

Global warming is coming for us. Be ready. I know, paranoia has its downsides, but warnings are good any time.

I am also finally legally licensed to drive in Guyana. Yay! I have no car to drive right now since the elder sister and her husband are home, but that’s ok, this will make up for those many weeks when I drove without a permit (and without insurance). It all balances out - in a few weeks it’ll be like I never broke the law at all and the life of Chennette will be back to normal, and her father’s world view won’t have to be interrupted.

For now though, it’s still slightly bizarre, with friendly landlords, whose tiny dogs sleep outside my door at night, and who hire a gardener/day watchman who I cannot understand at all (just smile and nod, smile and nod…) and a night guard who is deaf in one ear and gets confused easily. Apparently he worked as a bouncer at too many loud discos. But he does provide regular hilarity every time he knocks on my door to let me know the “bwaoy” is here. My sister the elder loves that. My brother in law, the bwaoy, is undecided.