Skip to main content

Post #28: Locked In

 Rain is drizzling down, dripping and dropping in dribs and drabs outside my window. A flat repetitive, arrhythmic plop announces the meeting of raindrop to aluminum railing. A soft smack of a kiss marries raindrop to tile. A gentle patter nurses Raindrop down the gullet of Flower. Today, the wet of the Caribbean has taken over.

The Lighthouse Look Apartments sit on Lighthouse Lane, in the city of Atlantic Shores, in the parish of Christ Church, in the country of Barbados. Having graduated from quarantine at the Moonraker, Roo and I now find ourselves here. No spare surf shacks, these. Appliances are all modern, and nicer than the items I possessed back home. The internet is top shelf, and all U.S. content is available to stream. The shower has pressure. The beds have blankets. I have air conditioning and a free laundry room on-site. There is nothing here to want.

Except to leave!

As mentioned previously, Roo and I arrived just as the government announced a nation-wide lockdown. "A pause," was the marketing phrase they used, "to relax, reassess, and regroup." Originally set to expire on February 17th, the lockdown was later extended to February 28th. The same curfew of 7pm to 6am would be in effect. The same window for exercise and use of the public beaches and parks would be open in the morning. But the government decided to take the lockdown a step further, and so this weekend, the curfew went into effect on Friday at 7pm and will extend until Monday morning at 6am.

No leaving your house, for any reason (lest it be medical).
It is an odd kind of predicament. 
On the one hand - the symphony of the Caribbean outside my window, brought on by the rain! The far-off sound of crashing waves! The sunshine! 
On the other hand - look, but don't touch.

I am a coiled spring. I've been on this island for two weeks, and only twice have I had occasion to throw my body at the surf - I crave more! Chucking this body at sand and sun and saltwater is what I've been waiting for! To be this agonizingly close and to be stuck inside for the second consecutive week....

When the doors open, they will fly open and we will all go rushing forth like headwaters of a river. The dam will burst with socialization because we love it and need it and miss it. This illustrates the difficulty of containing covid-19.

For now, it is push-ups on the patio, and socializing in the driveway with my neighbors, and plenty of naps. 
The time will come. 
For now, we're locked in.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Post #34: Barbados Bye Bye

No one in Barbados has a last name. I learned this very early during my stay here. Whenever you meet someone, you get their first name and then an associative physical or geographical characteristic. "Hi, I'm Peter." And Peter is tall and bald and from Denmark and so that's how Peter is known to you from then on. When you describe Peter to someone else, those characteristics become that person's last name. Person A: "Do you know Peter?" Person B: "Maybe. Peter who?" Person A: "You know. Tall. Bald. From Denmark?" Person B: "Oh right - Peter!" What's incredible is that people fully accept that this counts as "knowing someone," and I can think of no better way to encapsulate my time on the island than that: a series of very intimate and personal connections, shared experiences, and fun where no one even knows your name. It's hard to say what I'll miss about Barbados because I believe that in time, this pl...
Post a Comment
Read more

Post #33: Rockfight

Anton Chekhov believed that every element of a story should contribute to the whole. "If in the first act you have hung a pistol on the wall, then in the following one it should be fired. Otherwise, don't put it there." A month ago, I was sitting in my driveway, talking to my neighbor. We were talking about fights in Barbados. I was curious to know how the men here typically behaved when a fight broke out. Did they throw fists? Was anyone quick to grab a knife? How often did shootings happen? Ever see some wild shit? She laughed and said that none of those things happened all that often on the island. She went on to note that of the three or four fights she had witnessed in her life, all of the men picked up a rock to use as a weapon. "Huh," I thought to myself at the time. "Good to know." Fast forward to this morning. I've been trying to get a new routine down since restrictions have loosened and gyms were allowed to re-open. I settled on this: wa...
Post a Comment
Read more

Post #6

Monday, 3.26.18 1:55pm 36 years old 185 pounds Life according to John Cena: Hustle, Loyalty, Respect Life according to Kurt Angle: Integrity, Intensity, Intelligence Life according to the puppy Rousimoff: Play Time, Nap Time, Food Time At the edge of town About a six minute drive from what passes as Main Street Over the train tracks that have needed a weeding since before they were laid Between the eroded farmhouses and the marsh that follows the river to the south Down the road just a piece from the best slice of pie baked west of the mountain Behind the masks of the alcoholics that stagger in and out of the two bars that drain love and wallets and marriages where sunlight doesn't touch Beyond the reach of all but the sheriff department, and he only comes 'round when there's real trouble like murder trouble like that summer that no one talks about when Jimmy and Paige were found with their.... Into the teeth of a wind that bites, and a sun that beams like Je...
Post a Comment
Read more