By the 1980s it had become embarrassing. I powdered my face up to 1984. My grandfather [village overseer] and uncles [civil servants] powdered their faces every workday morning in the 1950s and 1960s.

White talcum powder.

I got some of that too, with some flattened rose petals for added effect.

I'm kind of an amateur "historian" and during the course of my readings I've noticed how Guyanese have managed to have absorbed a great deal of British cultural practices that have fallen into disuse in the UK.

We have some rather Victorian and Edwardian practices and dietary habits. Guyanese are a remarkable study of the processes at work of the British Empire. For a small and insignificant colony, we always had a bit role in almost all the major events, currents, and movements which drove and convulsed the Empire.

To this very day, I have a fondness for tinned meats and sardines (much to my shame)

Even though I left Guyana at age 8, I still carried a fresh hankerchief daily to school. All my American peers (especially in high school) thought this was odd. A practice I continue to this day. Never leave home without one.

Clubman?

Yardley?

I am talking about the 40s when my GF and Imam Kadir was at the Bangaree house at Free Yard PM, near ni**er yard.

They all hang out with Tallim Baksh who had a store where Spready's now exist at PM.

My mother and Bangaree wife were sisters. In my younger years  I hang out a lot at PM. My mother and others were born at PM and went to school with Cheddi.  

I had a late  Albion school Muslim friend who lived at PM and  thru him I knew other people from the Masjid. Most now living in TO and NY.   

I use handkerchiefs up to now too.

my dad did too

He even used it on his chest lol. He said it worked to keep him dry

Yardley for sure. It's still on the market. Amazon.com sells Yardley.

Congratulations!!

I must be really really Guyanese because I made my American fiancee baigan choka and corned beef. First thing I ever cooked for her. She thinks Guyanese are a very colonial people and always laughs at how proud we are of anything and everything (I brag of all things Guyanese)

I'm guessing your dad used Yardley.

nice!

Years ago I use to get the Yardley Lavender scented bathsoaps. I liked it.

What a bloody small world.

Imam Kadir moved the family to Kildonan Village sometime in the 50s where he bought land but stayed in charge of Jama Masjid at PM until his death in the early 90s.

Do you know what my great-grandfather's specific job on the Estate was? All I know is "driver/overseer". That doesn't say much.

nah, back then it was Lifebuoy and then Refresh

That was my second guess. I remember seeing and smelling Clubman when my dad took me to the barber shop as a little boy. They still use it in the US. I like that smell even though it's cheap. Must be the nostalgic feeling it gives me that makes me like it. 

I use a wax in my hair that has the best smell ever. Redken working wax maneuver. That along with my good looks and charm makes the girls weak in the knees.

No. Yardley.

Riya won!

go Mars!

The Indian I.T. guys I work with all use handkerchiefs. It must be something the British left all over the Empire.

One more quiz for today.

A famous laundry was on Lama Avenue, Bel Air Park. It had depots in Georgetown and some outlying communities. What was the name of that laundry?

[I'll be back this evening to check your answers.]

Think of it man. Today, in 2015, millions of brown people throughout the world are demonstrating subconsciously that we are indeed civilized enough to be invited over to State House for Tea with His Excellency the Governor

Kwang's dry cleaners

Also on your razor blade Q remember the one that cut wan alligator?

also Lux and salt Soap

Nacet razor blades.

Yes Nacet

I remember one day at school, we were all made to assemble for the visit of an important black official. Most likely a PNC Minister or Hoyte himself (I don't remember perfectly). I do remember the speech though. This idiot went on and on about soap. And how it's important not to waste soap and keep it out of the water when not in use. I still remember this speech to today so it was obviously effective

Dis is like when I went to the drive in and after smokin a fnice fat spliff,pulled in the speakers,pulled up the windows, (it was a bit cool) we then lit up the chalice. Suhhhh..ahhh..suhhh ahhh. The movie start, we got comfy in our seats nex ting I know Iman seein credits going up and she still asleep next to me.

Is probly same thing happen to you deh banna, get ketch in a worm hole and then get drop back down.

maybe he was warning you watch how you pick up the soap

Are you caught between the crack of someone's ass? Do you need soap to get you out?

I assume you did not spend much time on the sugar estate.

Like Cheddi's Dad, an overseer was in-charge of a  gang of workers who oversaw the worker's performance  and a driver is about the same position, who 'drive' the workers for better productivity... It was an elevated position on the estate and driver/overseer is looked at as a prestigious  positions. British designations.

Before tractors pulled the sugar cane 'punts' [barges] to factory, there were oxen to do the pulling and horses before trail bikes to take managers to the back dam.

All sugar estates had stables for the horses, with workers to look after the animals.

My grand father at PM was the stable boss who looked after all the workers.

They had a  large wheel with sharp blades attached, that spin and cut pieces of sugar cane in two inch sizes that animals ate.

As the cane is  fed into the manual  blade by spinning the wheel, workers had to be carful that their fingers don't get caught.

The animals were also fed corn, that we used to trap birds under  a pyramid trap make of bamboo. The corn would be placed under the trap and one side elevated with a four inch stick  and a string tied to the stick. Patience comes into play as we waited, sometimes for hours behind a bush for a bird to eat the corn.

We would pull the string  and the cage would fall trapping the bird.

Try  teaching that patience to kids these days.

I have fond memories of the stables at Albion and PM where my grad father was the 'stable boss'.

 A few years ago as I was tying to find   out what happen to my GF's house,. I was directed to an old man who lived close to my GF.   He talked about meetings under my GF house and when the house  fell down, after being vacant for a long time, the material was use to build a smaller house near the overhead water tank at PM, owned by a lady who work at Alim Shaw store at Rose Hall Town, where my sister worked who murdered a few years ago.

Near Bangaree's  house at Free Yard PM, across the street from ni**er yard, lived a young woman who worked at Taliim's  store that was located where Spready's store now exist, near PM market.

A small world indeed....For decades I hang out with seven brothers  and one sister  from Kildonan in Tortola BVI.  I saw them last August in BVI and October in Chicago.

These guys have a story to tell. Their dad died when they were small and their mother  brought them up. I will be seeing them again shortly in Florida and will ask about your GGF.

I record their stories on video and if they talk about your  GGF I will try getting  you a recording.         

Hea Skelly and  Warria, how ayu doin on dis BRIGHT marnin Friday de 13..

We we suppose to have Winta Games start today and  its raining  rass like in Guyana.

Cain tell me, ayu two ah go bush cook dis week-end, true?

Doan tief anybody foul...me ah watchman abee one with a 22...  

My Dear Tola,

Thank you very much for your detailed response. I am most grateful for the education.

I confess, I have never set foot on a sugar estate. My knowledge comes from first hand accounts of authors and other families who have a relatively recent experience of the sugar estates (50s and 60s especially).

My father's family were spectacularly lucky in that they did their indentured contract in the 1880s for 5 years and promptly left PM Estate and by an accident of history "douglarized up" into being a somewhat significant tri-village landowner, money lending, and proprietor family.

Imam Kadir Baksh is the only member of my mother's family with a "recent" estate experience. His several sons were all sent to the United States and Canada to study in the 60s and his daughters left also. My grandmother was his only daughter who stayed in Guyana then eventually left in the 90s after his death.

My only memory of PM as a child was that my great-grandfather would allow me to accompany him up to the raised lectern and stand next to him as he delivered his Friday sermons. I was like age 6 to 8 at the time.

Other than that, most of my memories are centered around Kildonan. PM was only the place we went to so the Old Man could lead prayers at Jama Masjid.

I would appreciate very much any memories that you and your friends could share with me of my late GGF. He especially fascinates me because he was a Hindu Brahmin (of the full blooded type) who made the rather remarkable transformation into a Muslim Imam. I wish I was sensible enough to ask him questions of historical note before he died. But alas, I was only a small child with limited faculties of reason and no real concept that he would someday die.

Time up.

Swan Laundry.

Empire Cinema on Middle Street Georgetown had a name before it was renamed Empire. What was that original name?

The breathtaking primitive and primordial expanse that is the Guiana Highlands inspired a certain British author to pen a literary masterpiece which was published in 1912. What was the name of the book and who wrote it?

Metro

Excellent!

You know your cinemas.

Congratulations!!

The owner of the Metro cinema changed the name to avoid confusion with the Metropole cinema.

The lost world by Sir Arthur Conan Dole

One more cinema quiz.

There was a cinema at Uitvlugt which closed its doors in 1964 during the racial disturbances. What was the name of that cinema?