Garbage and gum
on George Hamilton (Jamaica), 22/Jun/2010 11:07, 34 days ago
The nice thing about Jamaican streets is there is absolutely no chewing gum debris anywhere. Not being a gum chewer I hate walking on sidewalks that look like they are held together with used chewing gum as in Canadian cities, or worse, getting freshly discarded gum stuck on my shoes and worse still, touching Juicy Fruit on the hidden side of a stair hand rail. Jamaicans don't chew and spit out gum on the streets which is a good thing because many don't wear shoes even in the city and a large portion of the population wear sandals and flip flops that offer little foot protection.However, one of the most distressing factors for me is the unsightly bags of garbage which are left like litter on Canadian highways. Household garbage collection is actually very impressive in Jamaica. Home owners and renters don't leave garbage out at the curb on pick up day, the garbage trucks come right inside the gates of the compounds and take the garbage directly from the outdoor bins. People keep the area clean and tidy and always place their garbage into the bins. The garbage area in our apartment counpound is cleaner than garbage chute rooms in some Canadian apartments I've lived in. There are no signs of garbage day anywhere, ever.What you do see are bags of garbage abandoned roadside and on sidewalks at non pick up points presumably by the homeless which very soon get ripped open by stray animals...mostly goats and dogs but we've seen chickens in the country feeding on garbage. The most disguting were the pigs we saw one evening on Camp Road near where George works. There were 4 or 5 of them, not tied up, just there feeding on the garbage. What concerns me of course is these strays undoubtedly get killed and become jerk pork, jerk chicken or curried goat. Don't be surprised if I return to Canada vegetarian. The rastas may be onto something and not just ganja.