Mamee Smith holding on MARKET life today is not what it used to be, or so claims Ornella 'Mamee' Smith, 67, from the Coronation Market, in Kingston. With very little profit to make in the increasingly competitive world, she said that she does not believe that come September she will be in the market. "Nothing not selling anymore. I barely make $500 if I make more is just small change overs," said Smith, who is from Manchester and can be found in the market between Wednesday and Saturday. She said she got her first taste of the market life when she was four. She remembers that at that time there were many more buyers. "Me used to sit down on the pumpkin heap and watch mi aunty sell," Mrs. Smith said. She said the market was clean and everybody was polite and courteous. Now she complains, the market is regularly vandalised and hardly any money is made from sales. Mrs. Smith believes that with the present economic system which has caused layoffs by the hundreds many people are forced to become vendors. "People who used to buy goods now a push we over for space to sell and everybody getting aggressive in the place," she said. The mother of three children said her children want her out of the market. "I will just listen to them because I really don't want much," she concluded. carlington wilmot
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