Sweet Drinks: A High School Friendship and Memories

One Caribbean Nation.               

Deryck Thomas

 
                                           

 

By William Skinner

Sweet Drinks: A High School Friendship and Memories

Back in the sixties, while a student at the famous Modern High School located on Roebuck Street, Deryck Thomas and I developed a wonderful friendship that remains wonderfully intact. Deryck’s father, worked in a managerial/ supervisory capacity at what we called the Coke factory, which was situated extremely close to our school.

Occasionally, the students were treated to free beverages, and we all believed, it was the magnanimity of our distinguished Headmaster and owner of the Modern, Louis Lynch, who remains a legend among educators, in our country. It is widely known that there have been calls to make him a national hero.

There was also a rumor that the generosity, was the result of non-life-threatening mishaps with the beverage formula, and it was therefore thought that giving the nearby school's students, the beverages, posed no threat to their wellbeing. However, these rumors and beliefs were the overworked imagination of young minds.

Deryck and I would often take a brief stroll over to the Coke factory to say hello to his dad and of course, this opened the door and the coolers for us to consume a plentiful supply of beastly cold drinks. When we reminisce about our days at the Modern, this unforgettable memory, automatically surfaces.

We laugh at how our gluttony, left us so uncomfortable, that we had great difficulty in making our way home, especially when it came to conquering Pine Hill Road. Once we got over that hill, Deryck would bear left at the junction with Pine Plantation Road and ; I would bear right, reaching home about fifteen minutes later. Deryck would have been at his home in less than five minutes.

In recent times, the governments of Barbados and the Caribbean, have been warning parents, about the negative consequences of school children consuming too many sodas, commonly referred to as sweet drinks because of the high sugar content. We have concluded that the sugar had no chance of hanging around because the walk from Roebuck Street and "climbing" Pine Hill Road , would have burnt all the calories.

We have concluded that if sweet drinks were killers; we would have never made it alive, out of the Modern High School. We have to thank the long walk home, and Pine Hill Road for any escape from the Grim Reaper during those days.

We also must be honest and disclose that we do not touch sweet drinks these days because cars do not walk. We also know that we cannot make it on foot from Roebuck Street ; over Pine Hill Road,  and on to our homes anymore.

However we offer a simple suggestion to those who cannot resist the sweet drinks :  

 Go walking and make sure you include hills. 

Thanks, for the memories Deryck!

William Skinner is a Caribbean social commentator