My article’s caption are the opening words of Charles Dicken’s A Tale of Two Cities which I was obliged to study when I was a student at the Valley Secondary School. I could not understand the book. Consequently I did not like it. But those few words remained with me.

Colville Petty

The 2005 Summer Festival is now history. It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. At sea, the boat races went well. The UFO emerged champion of the champions. On land, there were several good carnival shows. The vintage calypso show on 27th July, featuring some of Trinidad’s greats, was great.

A highpoint of the festival was the August Monday activities at Road Bay. They were a major success. They started when the J’ouvert jam, which began in The Valley, ended up on its blinding-white sand beach. Once the two-mile stretch of rolling bottoms, g-strings and wining waists had reached there, the jammers refused to go home. They stayed at Road Bay which saw one of the biggest crowds in its sporting history. Some people were there for boat racing and others for the musical treat provided by the many bands and artists on show: Atlantick with Destra, Ice Water Steel Ensemble, Better Band, Happy Hits, Musical Brothers and others. Then there were appearances by Charla Connor’s Panaché Couture. Charla is definitely going places with her top of the line designs. I applaud her talent. It was the best of times.

Road Bay was brimming of excitement and people from all across the island soaked up the fun. The sea, sun and sand. And don’t talk bout people from St Martin/Maarten. It was as though Anguilla had belonged to them – and as though every speed boat and sailing craft from St Martin/Maarten had come over. Their people would not be left out. Even some of their government officials came over. In fact, a few of them came in for some criticism from their people for joining our celebrations while their own island had not yet recovered from the flash floods which left two dead. In the spirit of oneness, they were in Anguilla. It was the best of times.
Another crowd puller was the local Calypso Monarch Competition. It has always been one of the better carnival shows. Congratulations to Sunbeam on winning the much coveted and prestigious title and crown. His journey to the top was certainly a long one thus the reason for Singing for Fun, the title of one of his winning tunes. The other was Be an Example, a call for adults to be good examples for our young people. Repeater got the first runner position and Springer second runner up.

All in all the show was a good one – beautiful music and some sweet calypsos. It was the best of times. I must concede, though, that over the past few years the calypso art form in Anguilla has not seen any noticeable improvement and it is about time we do something about it. We had here for the vintage calypso show some of the foremost exponents of the art form and it may well have done local calypso a world of good had we invited one or two of them to conduct a workshop for our calypsonians. By the way, the authorities responsible for culture in St Kitts recently had the Mighty Chalkdust conduct a calypso workshop there and the calypsonians who participated in it found it most rewarding. We would do ourselves much good if we take a leaf out of St Kitts’ book.

We got to keep the art form alive because there can be no carnival without calypsos. Neither can there be carnival without our musical bands. They all came out with some first-rate albums: The Better Band with De Wetta De Better, the Mussingtons with Pure Pressure and Exodus with Sweet, Sweet, Sweet. It was the best of times.

Their music gave life to the parade of troupes to which I always look forward. The number was small in comparison with other years but they were most colourful nonetheless. First place went to the Valley Community troupe. It was large and vibrant. Victor Banks, as always, was among its members some of whom bounced against his bulging waistline as if to say, “De fatter de better.”

The Old Timers troupe that placed second also gave a good account of itself. Its colourful traditional dresses were exquisite. Eh! Eh! Even Amelia was in it, with her neat little wiggles. Lelia was there too. There is nothing she seems to like better than wining in a carnival troupe every year. She has not missed one for the past ten or so years.

The Valley was awash with colour, splendour and music, as the troupes winded their way to Landsome Bowl. The spectators were pleased with what they saw. It was the best of times.

It was the best of times when the Leeward Islands Calypso Monarch competition showcased the calypso kings and queens of the sub-region. Some of the more well-known were Socrates, Ayatollah, Dis and Dat, Ivena, Baker Jr, Dow and King Generic. Fernando Clarke was MC. He did a great job. His repertoire of jokes etc seemed inexhaustible. There was never a dull moment. It was the best of times, but it was the worst of times when the judges gave the crown to Ivena of Antigua. The large crowd at Landsome Bowl went silent in disbelief. A woman remarked that her “blood ran cold.” For sure, the blood of many people did run cold. They are still dumbfounded. The only words I heard from either of Ivena’s songs were: “What Castro say.” She was woefully inaudible, except to the judges.

Ivena screamed so much that she reminded me of a woman with labour pains. I have a practice of consulting my Bible, when I cannot understand certain phenomena. What did it say about Ivena’s victory? In the last day you will see signs and wonders.

I know that the organisers of the competition usually go to great lengths to get good judges but those, from the Windward Islands, who judged this year’s competition did not, in my opinion, do a very good job. There was much bitterness among several calypsonians who felt they were cheated. If the competition is to continue attracting first-rate calypsonians, and to maintain its credibility, then much greater care would have to be given to the selection of judges. The judging must be of a standard which inspires confidence.

It was the worst of times when Anguilla’s reputation for peace and tranquility was severely shattered by the sound of gunfire during the Miss Anguilla Pageant (Queen Show) on the night of Thursday 4th July. The pageant is the most popular of the carnival shows. It is the biggest crowd puller and people were out in their numbers, admiring the beauties on stage, only to run for cover when gunshots rang out. Rival gangs were settling a score and two innocent spectators were wounded.

It was the worst of times. Pandemonium at Landsome Bowl. And everybody fled. In all directions. Katrina’s pregnant cousin had difficulty running. So Katrina hooked her arm in hers and was able to pull her along and hasten the flight. Doris was wearing high heels. She couldn’t run in them so she put them on her head. And was off like a jet. Several other women did likewise. One of them discovered on reaching home that she had two different shoes. It was not surprising therefore that the following morning several ladies ended up in Landsome Bowl in search of their shoes.
Some women not only left their shoes. They left their children. Mothers couldn’t find children and children couldn’t find mothers, such was the confusion. It was the worst of times.

The Queen Show night was indeed a sad one for Anguilla. Sad from the point of view that we have in our midst mindless young men with no respect for human life. Sad from the point of view that the youngsters chose to do their senseless shootings when Landsome Bowl was crowded with visitors who had come to the island to enjoy the summer festivities. Sad because they shot not only at people but at the engine of our economy: the tourist industry. They damaged it badly and we now have a big job on our hands repairing it and repairing our image.

It was the worst of times when the last lap jamming had to be cut short because of the reckless behaviour of our young men some of whom were armed with offensive weapons which they carried in their waists, socks and underpants. Some of them had to be thrown in jail. The situation could have been worse were it not for the professionalism of our police force. Its members did an outstanding job throughout the summer festival. It was good seeing senior officers leading from in front. All of them must be congratulated.

It was the worst of times when three-year-old Amoree Nwokejiobi lost his life by way of slaughter by Rottwielers. Something is very wrong with Anguillian society when that sort of thing could happen here. And it is the worst of times when adults among us could sell our young children marijuana sugar cakes knowing full well the adverse consequences for their health. We should not take this sugar cake matter lightly. One almost killed an adult neighbour (BB) of mine. BB was given the sugar cake by his brother who was unaware that it contained marijuana and within three to five minutes of eating it he fell ill. In no time he began sweating profusely. And a bad feeling held him so much so that he thought he would die. Then diarrhea and constant peeing followed. He couldn’t hold his water.

BB concluded that he had eaten rat poison and eventually ended up in the Princess Alexandra Hospital. He did not know how he got there but when he regained consciousness, some hours later, he found himself hooked up to a drip. The peeing continued and he recalled filling a urinal with one emptying of his bladder.

BB said he felt like he was dead. His eyes were open but he wasn’t seeing nuttin. And he didn’t know nuttin. But he did remember that the sugar cake tasted good and had a bit of “rosemary” in it. And I got de feeling dat it had more than marijuana in it. In these days of copy cat practices we may soon come across marijuana bread, marijuana bull foot soup, marijuana omelets and so on. It is the worst of times.

The worst of times will continue if we do not pay serious attention to the problems confronting our youth as well the problems caused by our youth. We are advancing economically but are falling apart socially. From an economic standpoint we are experiencing the best of times. From a social standpoint we are experiencing the worst of times. The sooner we organise our country’s affairs so that these two aspects of our development move forward together the better, because our social regression could have serious consequences for our economic progression which could have dire consequences for our social progression and so on.

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