Ethiopian Food

Last night I had the best food I have ever eaten since coming to Denver some ten weeks ago. This was at an Ethiopian restaurant downtown with my daughter Michele and son in law Devin. The name of the restaurant is Arada which means downtown in English and it is literally located downtown.

While the accolades about the food  that I saw on the wall all spoke to vegetarian food, I am strictly a carnivore and man is their food good.

We started with a triangular shaped meat pie with very crisp pastry called Sambosa and since Ethiopian culture is much older than ours, we were wondering if that's where our original patty maker got his/her idea from for that delicious Jamaican item.

Then we had some Hummos which consists of a roti like bread served with spicy chickpeas.


Next came the main course. Interestingly, at that restaurant, eating utensils are not used for anything but to serve. Instead, each course has a different type of flat bread (like roti) with which to eat the meat. I did not particularly like the bread, made from wheat, which was served with the main course. The one we got with the chickpeas was much better. But boy the spicy, well seasoned  beef, lamb, peas and corn which came as the fillings were so delicious that I did not stop to think about which bread was best until I was totally filled to the point of suffering from "....itis!"

My only regret is that I did not know about this restaurant until two days before I departed, for if I did, it would have been my favourite haunt throughout.(although they do not serve pork.)

Ethiopian Food

Last night I had the best food I have ever eaten since coming to Denver some ten weeks ago. This was at an Ethiopian restaurant downtown with my daughter Michele and son in law Devin. The name of the restaurant is Arada which means downtown in English and it is literally located downtown.

While the accolades about the food  that I saw on the wall all spoke to vegetarian food, I am strictly a carnivore and man is their food good.'

We started with a triangular shaped meat pie with very crisp pastry called Sambosa and since Ethiopian culture is much older than  ours, we were wondering if that's where our original patty maker got his/her idea from for that delicious Jamaican item.

The we had some Hummos which consists of a roti like bread served with spicy chickpeas.


Then came the main course. Interestingly, at that restaurant, eating utensils are not used for anything but to serve. Instead, each course has a different type of flat bread (like roti) with which to eat the meat. I did not particularly like the bread, made from wheat, which was served with the main course. The one we got with the chickpeas was much better. But boy the spic, well seasoned  beef, lamb, peas and corn which came as the fillings were so delicious that I did not stop to think about which bread was best until I was totally filled to the point of suffering from "....itis!"

My only regret is that I did not know about this restaurant until two days before I departed, for if I did, it would have been my favourite haunt, (although they do not serve pork) throughout!

Madelynn's First Doll

Still celebrating Madelynn's christening, the Williams and McBride families headed for breakfast this morning. Then the ladies, Joan W, Joan McBride, Michele, Rochelle and India, headed to the  American Girl doll store to buy Madelynns first doll.

This has been a tradition with Joan McBride whose policy is to get all her grand daughters equipped so she can sew outfits for them.

Doll selection for new born babies

This store has a large selection of dolls of every race and age and what I like about it is that some dolls are replicas of actual well known women.

They also encourage the kids to read as each doll set comes with a book telling a story about the person , tribe or race that the doll represents.

Grandma Joan poses with Madelynn and her first doll

As the kids get older they can select clothes and costumes that match so that both the kids and their dolls can dress alike.

 Madelynn is not yet appreciating her doll, but she soon will.

For more photographs, see; http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150295620076823.378983.763366822

Madelynn's Big Day

Sunday June 26th 2011 was Madelynn McBride's big day as that's when she was christened at the 100 year old Park Hill Methodist Church in Denver, Colorado by Pastor John  Thompson. (Incidentally, her mother Michele deliberately chose that date since its the birthday of her paternal grandfather Michael. Also, parents Michele and Devin were married at that same church by Pastor John)

Mommy Michele and grandma Joan pose with the star....Madelynn

For the occasion, friends and well wishers came from far and wide. Her grandfather Michael flew in from Jamaica, her uncle Dustin and kids India and Tristan (born two years apart but both born on my birthday may 20th!) drove in from Oregon, her paternal grandparents Joan and Charles drove from Michigan, her godmother Rochelle, who has been Michele's friend from their early days at St. Andrew High School in Jamaica, flew in from Baltimore and her godfather, and uncle Dan, his wife Pam and daughter Brooke,  drove in from Colorado Springs. (Incidentally, Rochelle bent over backwards to make it on Sunday morning as she had to attend her graduation in Washington on Saturday night where as she was being awarded her second Master's Degree. )

Pastor John baptises Madelynn

The christenings was a wonderful occasion and Madelynn was a perfect lady, behaving like an angel throughout. She was dressed in  a fabulous white christening gown which  had been created and handmade by her paternal grand mother Joan.

To add to the mystique of the auspicious occasion, the water used to christen her had come in from Jerusalem, having been obtained from the sacred Jordan River there by a friend of Joan McBride who had been on a recent pilgrimage there.

After the christening, friends and relatives of the family gathered at Michele and Devin's home for a barbecue to celebrate the occasion.

Family photo on steps of the church

For more photographs see;  http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150295231261823.378868.763366822

Enjoying the Mountains

Main Street, Frisco

I guess I am half mountain girl and half water bird since I am happiest when I am in the water, (warm water!) hiking or riding somewhere in the hills. I find nothing more peaceful than waking up in the mornings and seeing the green verdant hills spread protectively all around, even if they are a great distance away. I suppose that's why I don't go to places like Florida and Barbados more than I have to, as I find the flatness in those places so unattractive. But some people love that type of landscape, so as I always say, to each his own.

So why am I off on that tangent today, one might ask?  Its because I have just returned after spending the entire day in some of the most beautiful mountains in the world, the Rocky mountains.


You know, the first time I visited Colorado, about 25 years ago, I went to Vail (in the summer of course) and was overwhelmed by how picturesque it was. It had the look of a typical Swiss village, only more beautiful. I have visited the state probably four or five times since then, but never had an opportunity to go back until yesterday.

In fact, since I came here in April, I have been telling my daughter Michele that I have to go back to Vail to see if it is really as beautiful as I had remembered.

In the meantime an old school friend, Ingrid, who I had just remade contact with, told me that I must go to Breckenridge as she thinks it s the most beautiful place in  the world!

Of course these are all ski resorts in the winter. My daughter skis at Keystone as she says its close to Denver, cheap and has night skiing. According to local lore, the upper middle class ski in Vail and the really wealthy and celebrities go to Aspen, all in Colorado.

So off we went, taking I 70 which goes all the way to California and of course I am the driver, since I hate having other people drive me. The scenery is absolutely breathtaking all the way with the snow covered mountains in the background and pine covered hills and mountains in front. Some of the pines appear to be brown or purple and this I understand is because they had an outbreak of the "pine beetle infestation" which killed a  number of the pines. The dead ones are not at all unattractive (at least from a distance) and from what I learnt from the tour guide last week, they are chopped down to be used for fence posts and cutting boards. But not being a natural scientist that is out of my league so enjoying the scenery is just up my street.

On the way, we drive through the 1.7 mile long Eisenhower tunnel which marks the Continental divide and which is at an elevation of over 11,000 feet. (The Continental Divide, according to the  National Atlas of the USA, ".............also called the Great Divide, is a natural boundary line separating waters that flow into the Atlantic Ocean or Gulf of Mexico from those that flow into the Pacific Ocean. It runs north-south from Alaska to northwestern South America. In the conterminous United States, it follows the crest of the Rocky Mountains."

From then on it was a steep decline and I saw something I have never noticed before anywhere else, that is signs reading "Runaway Truck Ramp. These are ramps built on the side of the road and going up a mountain so that if a truck's brake fails as they start the descent from the Tunnel, they go up the ramp  to stop instead of crashing into barriers or do whatever truck drivers normally do when they were in trouble. I counted four of these strategically placed.


As soon as we saw the exit to Breckenridge, I turned off as I really needed to compare that area with Vail. We had not done any research before leaving home so were taken by surprise by the pleasant historic village of Frisco on the way. Here they have a walking history museum as well as well preserved buildings from the 

                                              One of the historic displays at Frisco

days when mining was king in the Rockies. Not only is Frisco today a leading resort because of its history, it also is popular among skiers in the winter time. 

Dillon Lake

On the way to Breckenridge, we passed Dillon lake, a huge man made lake in  the valley. The interesting thing about that lake is that the original town of Dillon is submerged by It. This was because of a decision taken in the 60's by the authorities to dam the Blue River to meet the rising needs of the residents of Denver and other growing areas, hence the original town had to be flooded and the residents relocated. 

Breckenridge is quite a pretty town at an elevation of 9,600 feet but at the peak it goes up to over 12, 000 feet. It was extremely busy this time of year as people travelled from all over to enjoy the climate, the spring flowers and the general ambiance. And was the police ready for us for I actually saw a speed trap on the way there, something that I have always comented is extremely rare in Colorado.


We spent a long time browsing through the shops and drinking in the beauty. Here they have a number of bike trails along the most scenic routes and hundreds of people were doing their tours on two wheels.


From there we returned to Frisco to pick up back the highway.  The town of Vail  has an elevation of  over 10,000 feet and there were spots where the same snow covered mountains that one usually saw from Denver, were actually parallel to the road as we drove along and the interesting thing is that although  the peaks were snow covered, even I who normally freeze as at 70 degrees, had no complaints for it felt very pleasant, both while we were diving and as we strolled in the mountains.

Just above this altitude however the mountains are actually barren as no trees can grow because of the inappropriate environmental conditions (usually cold temperatures or lack of moisture). But we only observed these quite a distance away.

Vail has a ski museum displaying an interesting history about how the village was developed by Austrian and /Swiss immigrants, hence the Alpine look. Interestingly too we learnt how that area played a critical role in World War 2, something I had never considered . This is how they tell it at the museum. "From 1941 to 1944, the members of the 10th spent most of their time training at Camp Hale, built in 1942 and located in Pando Valley. Carrying up to 90-pound rucksacks of gear, members of the 10th covered 20 to 24 miles per day on skis, used snow huts and learned to snowshoe, skin with skis and navigate every type of terrain on skis. Soldiers learned wilderness skills from rock climbing schools and how to handle rough terrain.'

Statue of a soldier from 10th Mountain Troop

Anyway, the town remains as picturesque and clean as I remembered. What they have now added is a small extension called Lionshead where it seems residential  and resort development is booming and we were lucky enough to run into an art exhibition there.


The surprise of the day however was as we drove out of Vail, we came on to a street with many flags of the world raised high and guess which flag was present? Jamaica  of course!  Pity we did not stop to take  a picture of it.


Vail certainly not disappoint at all.

For more photographs, go to; https://profiles.google.com/114828585796685227607/photos

Ski runs at Vail

LYMING IN UTAH

For years I have dreamt about traveling on a train again and this weekend the dream came through on Thursday 16th June with my trip to Salt Lake City (SLC) in Utah. 

The trip surpassed my imagination in every way. To begin with, I had been following the development of fast trains that travelled up to 700 miles per hour and expected that it might be a bit scary fast. However, I suspect that it is because we have to traverse the Rocky Mountains, ascending to over 9,000 feet at times, why this particular train snaked its way so slowly through the 43 tunnels and dozens of canyons at between 20 and 79 miles per hour. (It was a busy area too as we passed several laden trains hauling coal).

 That suited me fine since the scenery is breathtakingly spectacular. I never expected the train to be so luxurious either, with reclining seats and foot rests, more than ample leg room and even a lounge with picture windows and glass above so one could take in the spectacular scenery from all angles. The Colorado authorities went even further by providing tour guides in the lounge who gave a vivid description about each area as we passed through. 

We were accompanied by the Colorado river for over 250 miles. This river has been swelling and wreaking havoc in some areas, flooding out homes, ranches and parks. In the beautiful 12 mile long Glenwood canyon, the bike path along the river had to be closed as it was covered with water but I had to think of the cyclists who previously used that trail with the greatest respect since there are no rails between their path and the raging river. 

Wild flowers on the roof of the convention centre at Temple Square in Salt Lake City. The snow covered Rockies loom in the background.

The river is absolutely serene, inviting and beautiful in some areas and dangerously furious in others. Many rafters were taking advantage of the summer weather to raft and surf.

Although I was going to visit my long lost friend Sharon who had left Jamaica from the early 80's and with whom I had only reconnected with through Facebook, I still had uneasy thoughts about Mormons and going to Utah for one did have a perception that the place was populated by dreary, straight laced non-fun-loving people. It didn't help that as we crossed the border from the beautiful Colorado countryside and entered into Utah, the first section of that state was an arid and very unattractive desert. I felt my worse expectations being manifested.

Soon however we passed the desert and entered the other side of Utah as we approached Salt Lake City. There Sharon was waiting for me at 10.30pm and guess what she had at home for me? Stew Peas and rice with Oxtail. I had actually arrived in heaven! The city is actually situated in a valley surrounded by the absolutely beautiful, snow capped mountains not even half an hour away. 

Then on Friday the real fun began.We started off with a tour of the beautiful Temple Square which  though not as elaborate as the Vatican, is huge and fabulous showing the uninitiated that the Mormons are indeed a very powerful and wealthy religion. The spectacular Temple was built from granite and I was disappointed that we were not allowed inside but it is a fabulous piece of architecture on the outside and the grounds are massive, well kept and luxurious.The Temple square is the centre of SLC  and all the streets are numbered from that square. Their conference centre is the largest in the world,  a massive 1.4 million square feet! Think of this in terms of how many 2,000 square feet houses it could accommodate (700!) and you get an idea of the size.  The roof alone is 4 acres and it is covered in wild flowers. The seating capacity is a whopping 21,000 persons all who have an uninterrupted view of the stage. The furnishings are exquisite and expensive with numerous, huge original, religious paintings covering the walls.

While it is visited by over 300,000 persons annually, since  9/11, no one is allowed to wonder through the building without a guide.

From the portraits of the executives you see on the walls, it leaves no doubt in your mind that Mormonism is an all white religion and very male dominated. Yes they have coloured members and women from all over the world, but absolute control remains in the hands of white males. Interestingly too, the Book of Mormons is supposed to be the translation of writings found on tablets written by native American Indians, but in the initial stages of this religion it was said that Blacks and Indians could not enter the Kingdom of Heaven. 

On Sunday, Sharon's daughter Tracey and her son- in- law Brady along with their kids Morgan and Cameron, took us hiking in the nearby mountains at Cottonwood Canyon to be exact. This is a spectacular area with the Praia river raging furiously beside the trails. 

The hills from which granite was mined to build the Mormon Temple in Salt Lake City

Next we went to Temple Stone Quarry where strategically placed plaques tell the story of how the original Mormons mined the granite from the dangerous cliffs to build their beloved temple.

Rappers perform at Juneteenth Festival in Ogden

Then to disabuse me of the perception that there are only a handful of black people in Utah, Sharon drove me to the city of Ogden to the 22nd Annual Juneteenth Heritage festival, a celebration of black heritage. We had a wonderful time there listening to various artists perform, including a band made up of musicians from the nearby US Airforce base. (I also learnt that there are a number of Africans in Utah as the state has a welcoming attitude towards persons fleeing from zones of conflict and civil wars).

Colorado River, just below Glenwood Springs, Colorado

Since for my return trip meant I had to be at the train station at 2 am, we decided not to sleep but just catch up on old times for the entire night. What struck me most is the fact that while Sharon has become a staunch Mormon and I am as irreligious as you can get, our philosophies of life are in sync.                                                                                                                                                     What the heck, who needs religion if you just determine to live a life of treating others as you like to be treated?                                                                                                                                        It was an absolutely wonderful weekend which I would not have missed for anything in the world, and since I have now decided that from now on it is going to be the train for me all the way for overland travel, we are already planing a trip for next summer, when the Cox family, the Mcbride's (Michele's new name) and I will be travelling to to visit Yellowstone park by train.

I am already looking forward to it.

For more photographs see;  http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150280987231823.376650.763366822

BANNED FROM PIKES PEAK

I have never in my life been happier to be banned from anywhere than I was yesterday. This was at the entrance to the over 14,000 foot Pikes Peak in Colorado.

This is a place I had been dying to visit for months as it is described as the most visited mountain in the USA and the second most visited mountain in the world.

 According to the information, to get to the peak "....you travel through four life zones from the lush planes and the alpine tundra ( that is, the vast treeless zone lying between the ice cap and the timberline,) while passing cascading streams .... )  At the top you are guaranteed the most scenic view, taking in four states and the snow covered peaks of the Continental divide. 

So scenic is the view that it is said it inspired Katherine Lee Bates who wrote the words of 'America the Beautiful".

So, you can understand my excitement on going to the peak yesterday. But we were banned from going to the top and with good reason. On reaching the gate, the attendant asked the age of my grand daughter Madelynn who was in her car seat. When we told him 6 weeks, he told us we could not go to the peak as that altitude is dangerous to babies under 7 months. 

So dangerous it is he said, that it could kill her.

We needed to hear no more. And the operators of the park are perfectly correct in adopting that policy, for on researching the matter today, I learnt for the first time about something called High Altitude Pulmonary Edema (HAPE) which according to Wikipedia, is a life threatening form of non-cardiogenic pulmonary edema (

fluid accumulation in the lungs) that occurs in otherwise healthy mountaineers at altitudes typically above 9,000 feet. It states that HAPE remains the major cause of death related to high-altitude exposure with a high mortality in absence of adequate emergency treatment. According to the attendant at the park, while children over 7 months can start breathing again when affected, it has been shown that babies below that age never do.

The information caused us to get cold bumps  all over for after all we are from a country (JAMAICA) where the highest mountain is just 7,400 feet so such concerns are never raised. 

 We were extremely happy that park attendants in Colorado are so well trained and vigilant. 

We were however assured that it was ok to got to Chrystal reservoir, which is just over 9,000 feet .

This is quite a scenic area in its own right with a good view of the snow covered peak, one of the four reservoirs in the area. After surveying that area, we drove over to nearby Garden of the Gods.

This is an over four hundred acre free park with the most stunningly beautiful huge, rocks similar to those which I wrote about sat Red Rocks, but much larger and with a less chiseled look.One gets a feeling of awesome spirituality just looking at these wonderful examples of the power of the Great Creator while Pikes Peak shimmers in the background.

From there we went to the Old Colorado city established in 1859, where we had ice cream and wondered throughout the old city.

UPDATE

The three of us returned to Pikes Peak in October 2016 and this time we went all the way to the top.

After about 8000 feet the hills were bereft of trees as apparently that is beyond the tree line. The road was smooth but narrow and curvy so we wended our way up at  around 30 miles per hour. Despite the surrounding hills being bare, the view was to die for. It was times like this that I wished I had a really good camera for I would love to remember the scenes from every angle.

At the top it was really breezy and freezing and as expected the air was thin and I immediately became dizzy while my daughter developed a severe headache. While we were in the gift shop waiting in line to purchase delicious fudge that the area is noted for, a teenage girl fainted. Lucky for her her boyfriend was quick and got her before she landed on the ground. I think that is what sent the signal for us to descend.

Despite the air and lack of oxygen at the top, it was definitely worth the trip.

True, we did not get to the summit of Pikes Peak, but my granddaughter Madelynn is safe and sound and I had a wonderful day enjoying the beauty in the fantastic areas around Colorado Springs.

For more photographs see; http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150275280021823.374603.763366822

THOSE AWESOME RED ROCKS

Yesterday started out quite sadly for me as Shadrach was leaving for New York and I knew I was going to miss him badly and it is not because I wont have anyone to play tennis with on Sundays! Worse yet, I had to take him to the airport by myself and I have this disgust with large international airports (and Denver's is one of the largest I have seen) which I find so confusing.


 I can't forget getting lost in JFK'  driving around in circles for over an hour. And just a few years ago when I was in New York, the idiot of a taxi man who took me to the airport circled forever as he couldn't find the Air Jamaica terminal. Luckily I had negotiated a flat rate with him before we left.


It was therefore with much trepidation that I set off . Amazingly however, when I got there I found everything as the directions were so well laid out and the instructions so explicit. I had to wonder out aloud why the operators of other international airports do not collaborate with Denver to improve customer kindliness.


Anyway we got  through quite easily and as Shadrach is under 18, they allowed me to accompany him though security and to the gate. Anyway I cheered myself up since he will be spending a month of his summer vacation in  good old Jamdown.


So after the sad parting I headed to Beverley's. She is a friend of Michele's who just loves the great outdoors as much as I do and she promised to take me to Red Rocks. I had heard about it briefly as  there they have is a natural amphitheatre which is built in the rocks and  I had heard about some of the concerts there. 
At first it appeared that we might just have to drive around as it was raining. but as Michele once told me "If you don't like the weather in Colorado, just wait fifteen minutes and it will change." That is so true for it turned out to be a wonderful, sunny day most of the time and a little overcast at other times.


I was not prepared for what I saw. It is only about twenty miles from Denver but its like you are in another world. As we drove up l saw these awesome and overwhelmingly huge rocks, all red, jutting out of the mountainside. Its as a super chiseler had gotten to work and chiseled these unbelievable formations in the rocks jutting precariously all around.  In fact, many of the rock formations have names, depending on the image they naturally project. Some names are Creation Rock, Ship Rock etc and it is estimated that those rocks were formed about 296 million years ago. Humbling  isn't it? Before the white man came, that area had been a favourite camping ground of the Utes.


One got a feeling of the supernatural and I even thought out loud that they must film dinosaur movies there for you could almost get the feeling that this is the type of environment that these huge creatures of old would hang out.


Luckily I have been keeping up my exercise by going to City park daily to walk and run and I cycle occasionally, so the hiking trail up and around the rocks was not all challenging. Unfortunately, the amphitheatre was closed as they were rehearsing for  a concert which was to take place that evening so we could not go up there even to take in the view.


The little  town of Morrison which lies below is quaint and inviting, a really lovely place to hang out in the numerous restaurants and bars, especially those by the creek.


What had started out as a sad day turned out to be a wonderful adventure and the good news came as we drove back to Denver, that is that Shadrach had arrived safely in New York.

 As the late great William Shakespeare said, all is well that ends well. I say amen to that.

A Classic

This is a classic.

Today as I drove my sixteen year old grandson to meet his friends, I noticed that the temperature gauge on the car was heating up so pulled into a service station to purchase coolant. I told him I had to stop because the car was overheating and he asked me quite sincerely why was I bothering to stop instead of just turning on the air condition? Wow. That was my hearty laugh for the day!

But should I really have been surprised that a member of the younger generation thinks that all heating problems can be solved by turning on the air condition? On reflection, no.

He is now at the age to get a license in the USA but I know whose car he will never drive!

I think in about ten years when he has his license and hopefully his own car, I will ask him what does one do when the car is over heating.

Wait for it!

When Will Bureaucracies Operate Logically?

Oh what a disappointment. There I was thinking that there was an exciting aspect to the Denver mayoral elections in that we were about to discover that some electoral fraud and manipulation was afoot, only to discover that it was an element of semi-literacy that was at fault!


These elections use mail-in ballots and when my daughter and son in law both got letters from the electoral office telling them that both their signatures were irregular so their ballots for the May run off had been rejected, my antenna immediately went up. Aha, I said to myself, it means one of the candidates' campaign team had been vigilant enough to do a canvas of the area that they resided in and based on their assessment of how the two residents of the household would vote, they had arranged by some devious means to have their ballots rejected!

Wow, I thought, so there is some intrigue in these otherwise boring elections. I therefore encouraged them to visit the electoral office to find our exactly why 100% of the voters in one household was rejected!

So off we went on Friday last to the electoral office and I really found the experience there quite amusing. As we entered, there was an old lady dressed like a parson (that funny white collar) sitting by the door with a ballot box. I soon learned why she appeared so happy to see us for the big room we entered had ballot boxes, lots of voting machines, people behind the counter but no customers or should I say, voters.

She seemed disappointed that we had not come to drop our mail in ballot in her box which would have given her some form of activity in that she would have had to deliver stickers saying 'I voted." When she heard our problem, she told us to take a number. I wondered if there were invisible persons around for since no one else required assistance from the bored looking staff members behind the counter, I just could not understand the 'take a number ' routine.

Anyway, as the number was drawn, about four of the six people behind the counter offered to help.
You could see that they had not had to deal with other members of the public for a long time, for normally bureaucrats are never anxious to help anyone, but these guys were bored.


While the two enumerated voters explained their problem to a lady behind the counter, a male senior citizen who was also there anxious to help, listened to the complaint about their signatures being rejected, then said to me, "Without checking, I know what the problem is." He said they have around 3% of the ballots rejected at each election because of the problem and he had been trying to convince the 'powers that be' to do a simple adjustment for years but they don't listen to him.

He then showed me the mail-in envelope. In it is the ballot, a big white sheet of paper marked :"secrecy sleeve" to cover the ballot and an envelope in which the ballot and sleeve is to be enclosed and posted to the electoral office. On the back of the envelope, the voter is required to sign an Affidavit, stating among other things, that he is an eligible voter and that the signature and name on the envelope is his/hers. The problem the 3% has however, is that they do not read the envelope properly for if they did, they would realise that they would have to find the name they are saying is theirs!

However, you would never believe where they have hidden the name. It is written upside down just above the addressee on the front of the envelope and is surrounded by bar codes. So if you do not look properly, you just do not see your name. As a result, where there is more than one voter in a household, it is easy to just grab any envelope, mark the ballot and sign the back without checking whose name is written upside down on the front!

This is what the gentleman says he has trying to address over the years. Neither he nor I could understand why the voter's name could not be placed at the back where the person is required to sign. The only explanation we could come up with is that bureaucrats just do not think or operate logically.

So when the other clerk checked why the signatures had been rejected, naturally it was for the same reason the man had outlined....they had signed without checking that the envelope they were signing had the correct name.


According to my wise informant, the 3% rejection of mail in ballots could be eliminated easily and he added that what was troubling is that when the majority of voters are informed that their ballots are rejected, they don't bother to pursue it, unlike my kin. They wanted to vote so they took the trouble to go to the office to sort it out whereas most people don't. And that only makes the number of persons who vote in these elections even smaller, ranging from 20-30% in an election for mayor, he told me.

The system does offer several opportunities to get it right, for the voting period is two weeks and if one votes early, when he /she receives an advice that something is wrong, they have more than a week to make the correction. But very few people are prepared to put up with the hassle caused by upside down names.

What this reinforced for me is that no where in the world is the bureaucracy prepared to make life simple and hassle free!


 And there I was thinking that convoluted bureaucracies were endemic to Jamaica!