Given the aggravations of daily life in Guyana, citizens are in need of some occasional light-heartedness to restore the human spirit, and this week, with the politics at full boil, one came for me via an email to his friends from Alex Neptune, who lives in New York with long roots reaching back here. Alex’s dilemma was immediately reminiscent of our boyhood days, as the song terms it. Simply put, he was holidaying with his Trini wife Brenda in Trinidad, at the home of his mother-in-law (who shall remain nameless), and his problem was that the neighbour’s yard had a Julie tree, laden with mangoes, but not one was coming Alex’s way. He would pass the tree and see the crop swaying gently in the breeze – you know how a mango can call you – but no fruit fell over the fence, and no neighbour appeared offering any, and Alex, a registered Julie fanatic, continued to grind.
After a few days with this dilemma, Alex appealed to his friends for help. He sends an SOS email to Marc Matthews in England,