Hartley Neita

During the 1980s, the fad of the new generation of yuppies was to have a Citizens Band (CB) radio system.

They could be identified by a long, sometimes as much as six feet, antenna mounted on the trunk of their cars. At their homes, they had antennas as high as 50 ft.

Alysham in the Shortwood area of St. Andrew was called Porcupine Land because every house had an antenna.

Era of CBs

Each person had an identity. Some used the constellations, so there were Saturn, Orion and Capricorn. Females had nice names such as Rose Bud, Darling and Tupsie.

They spoke a language of their own, phrases I cannot now recall. Some of these CBs were very powerful and could speak to CB owners in Europe, the southern tip of South America and Eskimo land in Canada.

They also developed a working relationship with the police and the Jamaica Tourist Board. There was also camaraderie. It was family.

I found the system very useful to keep in touch with my children at home when I was travelling out of town.

On one occasion, my car stopped in the Bog Walk gorge and refused to start. It was night.

I called the code for 'Help' on the CB, and within 10 minutes, two CB users from Bog Walk and three from Spanish Town were with me.

Another five minutes, there was a wrecker. My car was towed to my mechanic's garage, and five new friends took me to my home in Kingston.

Cellular phones

Today, of course, cellular phones have replaced CBs. It is an annoying instrument.

Go to a restaurant and every minute a phone rings somewhere in the room. At every function, the chairman asks guests to turn off their phones, yet within five minutes the phone of someone who is expecting a very important call rings. His attempted whisper is always loud and disturbing.

If there are four persons in a car, all of them including the driver are constantly calling someone or are being called. Cellular phones ring during service in church, and it is definitely not God calling.

There was a time when tele-phones were rare. In offices, the only person with a phone on his desk (note his, not her) was the boss. The rest of the staff shared another phone.

Not many homes, too, had telephones. So, if you wanted to speak to someone, you walked, rode or drove to his or her home, or shouted to him or her if they were not too far away. There was therefore, more community inter-action then.

Personal talk

Communication is also very personal. There is dancing, cheek to cheek, to songs of romance.

Walking in the moonlight, fingers tangled tightly together, a wink across the room, or miming the words, 'I love you' are also wonderful ways of communicating.

And then, of course, there is the smile - the universal language of love and friendship that even a baby knows.