Skip to main content

Friends and Crocodiles?


Friends and Crocodiles

No, this has nothing to do with the Damian Lewis movie —that I own but have never watched (I fell asleep and either did not try again or fell asleep again.) Par! This is about Crocodiles that are now being found in Kingston Harbour and its environs and the fear that their presence evokes, even from 3,000 miles distant.

Growing up in Bournemouth Gardens makes me an expert on everything; ask my wife. However, this past summer Mr. Know-It-All was found wanting. This is because a dread story appeared, in the Jamaica Gleaner, I think, about a father who went fishing for fish and was himself fished for; taken by a Crocodile, in Portmore. Portmore may not be in Kingston Harbour, but I am willing to argue with those who say that it is not. It looks like it is, and now I know they have lots of crocodiles there, and that they have always been there, in its rivulets and lagoons. In my youth it was not so, or so I think, or thought, or remember. Are the numbers of crocodiles , now, the result of protection of the species? I doubt it, even as I remain mindful that the fine for harassing crocodiles is around $100kJ. During my growing up, crocs and alligators were seen alive at the Institute of Jamaica and were known to be farmed by the Gore and Swaby brothers (Live and Let Die) in some far-flung place; safe from predators like me. Nowadays, the predated predate and are omnipresent.



We, boys went swimming in the harbor just about every day, and all that I ever feared was sharks; there were none, but I wanted them to be there, so that I could boast about how brave I was. The only time that I ever saw a shark, in the wild, was during a shark-fishing trip to Port Henderson where we were all safe on a jetty, in an area that approximates today's Dream Beach (I would not have dreamt of swimming there.) The poor shark, a thing that avoided our liver-baited hook secured to the line by piano-wire, was no more than 3-4 feet long; barely longer than the dogfish that failed to escape my scalpel. Now, my imagination is being assaulted by the un-evolved companion of dinosaurs, shudder-inducing beasts that did not make their presence known to me, or to many; not in my youth.

Most evenings, after having “kicked the seed”, we would cool off by walking into the water and swimming, reversing course only when we thought it unsafe to continue. Most often we would swim towards Springfield Gardens[1], turning around, at the yacht club (RJYC) and head back. Neither sharks nor crocodiles were our company; I think. I would not even think of swimming there today.
Highly persuasive was the story of the crocodile captured in Rae Town; a place less than 2 miles distant and west of Bournemouth.

More persuasive is the story of the crocodile that was captured in a culvert at the cement factory; a place even more distant, but east, and one that means that our friend swam past Bournemouth and Springfield gardens to get to the cement factory culvert.

No, crocodiles are not Mr. Know-Nothing’s friends.



[1] The direction towards the cement factory: east. Portmore is west.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Anything For Armstrong

  January 28, 2021   Richard Hylton San Diego, CA 92129   HyltonRichard@gmail.com or RHylton@San.RR.com   William H. Orrick III United States District Court Northern District of California 450 Golden Gate Avenue San Francisco, CA 94102   Re: Allen v. City of Oakland, Case No. C00-4599 WHO                 By Surface Mail   Dear Judge Orrick. I am a resident of California who lives in San Diego. Members of my family have lived in San Francisco, California since the 1930s. Most of my family lives in the Bay Area; scattered from Daly City to Hercules.   My brother has had experiences with the Oakland Police Department. His Rastafarian hair operated as a magnet. He moved to San Francisco. My niece no longer lives in Oakland. Her family lives in Oakland. I visit Oakland less often than I used to. My last visit to Oakland was a drive-through, in S...
Post a Comment
Read more

Telling the new lie was just a matter of time; or as I call it, a matter of transparency

Richard Hylton  <hyltonrichard@gmail.com> Tue, Feb 6, 2018 at 5:29 PM To: Tarryn Mento <tmento@kpbs.org> Cc: CouncilMember Chris Cate <chrisCate@sandiego.gov>, Office of the General Manager <generalmanager@kpbs.org>, Allen Young <AllenY@sandiego.gov> The piece on your website today that featured incoming chief Nisleit, is more of the same. It is not “fake news” but it is “weak news”, and so it is not news. It fails to accurately represent the essential findings of a watered-down report that was prepared by your station’s license holder, San Diego State University.   I daresay that the fine folk from SDSU, despite their inability to understand the nature of data, found much more than what you have stated. The widespread disparities, requiring corrective action as reported by SDSU, went well beyond searches, alone. Indeed, the most massive disparity was in the use of Field Interviews, an item from Nisliet’s wheelhouse. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Poverty Penalty

May 21, 2016 Richard Hylton CERTIFIED MAIL-RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED The Honorable Laura E. Duffy United States Attorney U.S. Attorney's Office Federal Office Building 880 Front Street, Room 6293 San Diego, CA 92101 The Honorable Vanita Gupta Civil Rights Division U.S. Department of Justice 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington D.C. 20530 Re: Racial Profiling or Biased-policing City of San Diego and disturbing recent trend Dear Ms. Duffy and Ms. Gupta: I represent no one other than myself. Most people would be outraged if they knew what I know. On numerous occasions, I informed the United States Justice Department, California Department of Justice, and anyone else who may have a passing interest, that the City of San Diego is unique in terms of its use of racial profiling in policing decisions. Within the last 30, or so, days, others have echoed similar sentiments or views. I join with the Att...
Post a Comment
Read more