A week ago I entered a little shop with the sole intention of buying a loaf of bread. A woman who was ahead of me in the small space available spoke to the shopkeeper in hushed tones and he sliced a bread in half, packaged a part for her, and just before she left with it, he said in hushed tones, “Mi wi put dis pon di bill. Next week, yuh seh.”

It didn’t seem to bother the other three people in the shop, but as it was the day before Christmas Eve, it struck me that for many people, the Christmas season was just another few days like any of the others that had gone before.

At the same time the roads were jammed with traffic, downtown Kingston was filled to capacity with likely shoppers and uptown plazas had little space available for parking for those who arrived late. What really was happening?

As in previous years it struck me that many of us who bought hams, roasters and

five-pound chunks of beef really had no idea how the “other side” was living. To many, ham at $450 to $500 per pound was still a luxury, even if it was had only once per year.

For about five years now I have not bought a chicken from a supermarket ever since I discovered a source on Whitehall Avenue that is essentially a backyard facility, hygienically producing a few hundred chickens every two months. Prior to the Christmas holidays, as I collected my usual order of anywhere between 12 to 15 chickens, I was given the directive from the effective head of my household, Chupski, “Don’t give away our chickens. Honey, when we run out of stuff you cannot go back to those people and ask them for anything.”

The way I saw it, in our household we consume a maximum of one chicken per week. A half on Sundays and another half, diced and curried mid-week. If we factored in a guest or two dining with us, the maximum would be one and a half chickens per week. In eight weeks we would therefore use 12 chickens. If I ordered 15, I could afford to give away about three. Not so, said the lady! To avoid her wise counsel and her delightful mouth, I simply give away about three chickens en route to our refrigerator.

I do this not because I believe I can solve the perennial problem of the poor, but because I see the realities that too many of us assume do not exist.

The weather in North America and Europe has confirmed that we have paradise here in Jamaica. Even as a few cold fronts descended on us and we had to bring out the blankets and old jackets, tourists from abroad were flocking to the island which we take for granted. In the Christmas season as we were complaining of 20º C weather, visitors were running away from temperatures 20 below

In all of the uncertainty about our economic future, the main discussion at street level during the Christmas holidays was what people saw as the continued incompetence of the JLP administration. I found it difficult to avoid being drawn into political discussions whenever I visited even the most informal of settings.

“Missa Wignall, yuh believe seh di government a go call election next year?”

Me: “If you don’t mind, I am not in the mood to discuss anything political.”

“Awright, big respeck, but don’t yuh tink seh dem fail bad?”

No escaping it.

As tourists flock to paradise, the criminality which took a holiday immediately after the Tivoli incursion by the security forces seems to have returned with a vengeance. The real scary part of it is its sporadic nature, almost as if a deliberate anger is attached. To many, it is obvious that Tivoli Gardens was an incubator of organised criminality and once the “troops” were dispersed to areas far outside the community and with no seeming direction, they and the arms which they escaped with are out of control. But we would be fooling ourselves if we believe that those men are the sole source of our problems.

What I have determined is that in various communities across the island there was very little support for the police action in Tivoli Gardens in May this year among unemployed young men, especially those acculturated in urban inner-city living. To many of them, Dudus is still a hero.

“Look ‘ow downtown a gwaan now. Di man dem bruck out. Weh di guvament a duh!”

The irony is, when that is placed alongside the perceived support that Dudus had from powerful people in the JLP administration, it does not augur well for the present government because Dudus was seen to be more pro-small man than pro-JLP. All throughout the Christmas holidays when I expected many people to be thinking of family, peace and joy, there was much ragging of the JLP administration.

Even as the roadworks programme began in earnest in many communities, there were still criticisms of the government. “Missa Wignall, yuh nuh believe sey election fi call fi early next year?”

“I told you that I am not in the mood to discuss politics. Just ‘luw mi, nuh man. Is Christmas.”

“A mussi Christmas fi you. What ’bout wi?”

The thought that Jamaica and the region may face a major earthquake next year or the next is chilling enough, even if we subtract the hard times being experienced by many. Haiti’s most recent encounter with its tragic earthquake is very definitely not a concern of the “typical” Jamaican. In my forays into Kingston’s many “ends” and “corners” I have been trying to convince many that the longer it takes us to experience another earthquake like the one we had in the early 20th century, the more likely the chance of another one happening.

“Right now, mi a look a work. Wi nah bother ’bout no earthquake.”

While many of us were busy enjoying the fellowship of family and friends for Christmas, ignorance, unemployment and criminality were afoot. An election next year will certainly not solve it. Even if for some politically suicidal reason the JLP administration decides to call an election, there is nothing in the PNP’s book of open secrets that it has any better plan than what the JLP has.

For too long, the people have been without effective leadership. They need to look to themselves and their fellowmen in the new year for new directions. If the PNP wants to be an effective political party in 2011, it needs to tell us what would be better than what the present administration is doing.

Surely, that ought to be an easy task. Just a few words on an impressive document to make those who are disgruntled by the JLP have a better year when it comes.

observemark@gmail.com