Some people say age is just a number, but to others that number is evidence of the years of experience.
Yesterday, I was on my way to that beautiful place Alliouagana. Yes I left Antigua and when I was airborne the pilot banked a left and I was astonished. I had to take a second look check that my seat belt was securely fastened I looked in the distance was buggy peak and St. John’s looked green and as we approached the shoreline.
I honestly looked back over the plane’s wings. I could not believe that the lush green island I’m now flying over on my way to Montserrat, was Antigua.
For like I said with age and a keen eye you can see the changing of times. Anyone under thirty years will not understand what can astonish me so easily. But I’ve been flying out of Alliouagana for many years and for most of those many years my first port of embarkation was Antigua. So, I grew accustomed to the colors of the island, and lush green was never a color that was seen island wide.
There used to be so many brown, ok clayish color. I’m not saying I’m great with color but I’ll say this it was noteworthy more of the muddy, clayish color than green. Yesterday! it was as if a kindergarten child took a brush to the island and fill in all the clayish spots by accident.
I venture now this far to say Antigua should be glad they are so close to us. You know they owe us a lot, but as good neighbors and because they were good to us during our disaster, we won’t charge them. Our volcano send the ash over to Antigua and blessed their soil and today Antiguans can buy lawn mowers to cut their lawns instead of buying a yard broom to sweep behind the fences.
Cutting back trees that have grown too high over their houses or are blocking their views. This is my non-scientific knowledge taking over here. Antigua’s soil was so close to be fertile the volcano ash raised the alkalinity and lower the acidity.
I want to venture and say it was sulfuric acid but it could be the airborne pulverized limestone or even calcium carbonate, but what do I know. As if I took soil samples.
The truth is that island looks green, and then at the approach to land here in Alliouagana, I’m watching that hill across from Davy hill (Silver hills) and I can remember how sparse and bare that hill was. I remember we could’ve counted the amount of prickly bush on that hill by the green patches. The hill was so bare you could’ve seen the rocks. As bare as it was like I said, in the distance was greenery giving credence to why the Caribs called it Alliouagana (land of prickly bush). Today that too is lush green. In a few years that may be prime agricultural land if we don’t sell it off to some mogul for a few dollars more, calling it advancement.
All this much change in less than twenty five years.
William ‘Bubblicous’ Galloway
