By Leonardo Blair, Freelance Writer
ASIDE from one woman passing out and a few eye-catching costumes displayed in the road show of Jamaica Carnival 2001, the occasion came and went in a fairly tame fashion.
Though there was the usual jumping, humping, screaming, balloon throwing and whistle blowing, some persons felt the city bacchanal lacked the 'oomph' of previous years. "The carnival poor this year! Nutten naw gwaan, It dead!" lamented one whistle vendor along Lady Musgrave Road.
"Last year the show did bigger than this, all them time yah ( about 2:00 pm) yahso (Trafalgar Road) full up already," said Mark Edwards, an MPM worker observing the revellers.
Hundreds of revellers and onlookers armed with bag juice, bottled water, photo and video cameras, relished hedonistic moments for hours under overcast skies and drizzling rain. The old, young and physically challenged revellers couldn't care less about numbers and the women 'wined' so much at times, it appeared their skin would fall off.
"... Carnival nice, ah wouldn't mind it happen twice a week because when yuh come out ya, yuh see 'oman! Mi nuh matter bout the man them, cause man nuh watch man but the gal themcum dung so!" said Sheldon Gordon while gesticulating with his hands.
"We enjoy weself more as a young individual, because this is peace and love ... nuh matter where yuh come from, nuh matter the community, right here, today, you are friends ... until its over," he added.
Gordon who explained that Carnival over the years has allowed him to meet people he wouldn't have met otherwise, enjoys the carnival season because he gets "nuff free 'oman" and was glad that the free condoms were being issued by the Jamaica Aids support group.
"We don't know how much of them we have handed out so far but it is a total of 50,000 condoms and they're almost done," said Althea Bailey, Regional Health Promotion Officer of the South East Region of the Ministry of Health.
"We are promoting safer sex, we give them (condoms) away free, in order that people will practice safer sex," she added.
The carnival parade was divided into two camps yesterday: the Byron Lee-led Jamaica Carnival which started along East Kings House Road and Michael Ammar Jr's Bacchanal Jamaica which started along Mona Road at the Mona High School.
Carnival 2001 came to a lazy end at about 5 p.m. at Liguanea Park under a bright afternoon sun and a marvellous rainbow.
