Spirit, the worst airline in the world.

When Spirit first started flying, I heard a number of my friends saying it was the way to go. The fact that I have not heard anyone say that recently should have warned Me that all was not well.

For Christmas, I decided to go to Florida, but my credit card started acting up, so I asked my daughter in law Michelle to check out a good rate and book me a ticket.

Well, she chose Spirit, and I did not have a problem with that until I arrived at the airport.
To begin with, my luggage quota said 2 bags and when I arrived with my two bags, the attendant said it meant one to go to Florida and one to return home! Wow. 

I had never seen that version of 2 bags before.

Anyway, since my luggage was light, I decided to combine the bags. Six pounds overweight. Would you believe the attendant wanted me to pay $50 for the 6 lbs!

Well since my travelling companion's bag only weighted 25 lbs, I told the clerk that we would combine bags. No, she said, that bag had gone through already so I must pay for the overweight. Only when we asked her to call the supervisor did good sense prevail and since our combined weights were far short of the 80 lbs, she decided to let it go through.

Fight one over.

Then we boarded and I could not adjust my seat, so I asked the flight attendant how to do it. Oh, the seats are pre-adjusted for maximum comfort she assured me smilingly. In other words, passengers had no option to adjust their own seats. See me there with my long legs curled up in a seat that felt like a minibus.

Fight two lost.

I pledged all the way up that I would never fly Spirit again and have been pledging that every time someone mentions flying. I had planned to complain to the authorities about the baggage deception but what they heck, been having a wonderful time here so can't bother.

 After all, I will never have to have anything to do with Spirit again after I return home next week. Thank God for choices. No wonder Jamaicans have been referring to Spirit as the "duppy airline", (a spirit in Jamaica is a duppy. ie. ghost!)

Then to add insult to injury, when I returned to Jamaica on the 6th January 2012, it was without one of my checked-on bags as Spirit had tagged it to Mexico City instead of Jamaica!  Who knows, maybe I will get it by the 11th January (so they say) or maybe I am going to have to make a claim for lost luggage and spend the rest of my life waiting for compensation.

 What next with Spirit?

 I won't be able to tell you, as that airline will never get my business again.

Feting the Children

Today was the third time the riders from Fun and Thrills feted the children at the National Children's home for Christmas.

Our association with that organisation established by the Methodist church for unwanted and handicapped  children, started some four years ago and quite by accident. We used to ride by the home on Saturday mornings on our way to breakfast and Charles ( Williams) came up with the idea of us doing something for them. We made an approach to Mr. Anderson, the man in charge, and he said he could initiate a programme to take the kids riding in Hope Gardens as something for them to work towards. So we fixed the two bicycles they had there and begged some others. Howie made a bicycle rack at his workplace and it started from there.

On Saturday mornings we would take some of  the well behaved ones for rides and drinks. Then that Christmas we took them breakfast.........lots of goodies and cake and sat down and ate with them.

Time flies quickly and today marked the third year and the best by far for Mr. Anderson gave a most moving speech on how our association with the kids had motivated them to excell and now they have even had a music section added to their activities.

Some the kids gave an impromptu concert,........ bongo drummers, harmonica players, one violinist and an  excellent rendition of Bob Marley's "Everything's gonna be alright" was the chart topper. It was really wonderful and shows how well kids can respond and how quickly they learn when motivated. Some kids even presented some of us with hand made Christmas Cards and my godson Domique had brought along a gift which was won by one of the kids who answered a question posed by Charles, correctly. That litte intervention was fun too.

We learnt too that some of the girls from Glenhope Home are now at the National Chidren's home as there had been a fire at Glenhope  recently and some kids were displaced.

It was really a refreshing morning for the kids and for us riders.

Hiking to Red Light District

Sunday was quite and interesting, slightly stressful but overall, enjoyable day.


Thanks to Nicky (Sheriff) from Petrojam, we were informed that a gym was arranging a hike from Red light district to Newcastle in the Blue mountain range.


We should have left the gym in Barbican at 7 am, but when I got there at 6.30 am to register, I was the first so I headed off to join Charles (Ayatollah) with whom I was travelling. He and I share this thing in common where we hate hanging around to wait for people who have no respect for time, so accompanied by Theresa  Nicole (Lawrence) and Lisa, we drove up to Red light district and parked. On checking by phone we realised that the rest of the crew were at least an hour late, so we started walking, having gotten instructions on the trail from Sheriff.


Problem is, after asking directions and finding out that the shortcut would be from Cotton, when we got there we saw no significant trrail so continued on the main road until we saw a farmer tending his goats. His name was John. He told us that the best short cut was at a section called Two passes and after some encouragement he agreed to accompany us to the turnoff. He was a very nice gentleman who told us he farmed coffee, cassava, bananas etc and took them to the Cross Road's Market on a Saturday.

Our guide John with the first group minus Lisa, the photographer.

He took us to the turn off and accompanied us up the path for a while before leaving us upon our own.

Well I am here to tell you that there was a close mutiny as we ascended the steep, slippery path with nothing to hold on to but sharp, tall, grass, at times even having to crawl on hands and knees. Everyone of us except Charles wanted to go back down and continue on the main road, (The total distance on the road from Red light district to Newcasretle is 6 miles). Anyway, the Ayatollah kept insisting that we continue and suddenly we arrived at the top of the hill and saw buildings in front to of us. Those were the living quarters of the soldiers at Newcastle. The uphill journey was hard but it took us only about 45 minutes to get there as opposed to probably 2 hours if we had continued on the main road!

The soldiers were as surprised to see us as we them. After messing around  them for a while and taking photos at Newcastle we called others with the main group and ascertained that they were still more than an hour behind us. So we made our way slowly to Middleton, taking a bathroom stop at a guest house and taking photos. Charles even found a cold waterfall along the road to mess around with.

We stopped at a small shop at Middleton for refreshments and directions then continued a slow trek downhill to through the pleasant, picturesque countryside to our destination.

Raf Jam is actually an oasis in the hills. It is a tastefully set out guest house in the valley and owned by Sharon who looks 14 but who says she is 31 years old.

A river runs through the property and although it looks harmless, it's actually six feet deep in sections. Well after sticking my finger in the water, it was the first river I had intention of jumping into, for years.

After about half hour we were joined by others including Michael and Howie who were not at all deterred by the freezing water.

The last hikers trickled in at minutes to twelve after which a fairly nice lunch was served. After lunch we left but it had been a really nice outing all around, even though Lisa did end up with some welts on her arm as a result of having been cut by the tall grass we had encountered at the first section of the short cut.

Such hazards do occur when we hike in the hills but are soon forgotten when the real fun begins.

Nomination Day

Yesterday, Monday 12th December, was nomination day for the elections to be held on the 29th December to elect a new government.
Thank heavens, it was a peaceful day with scenes of supporters from the two main parties, the JLP and PNP actually walking, singing and dancing together. There are 63 constituencies up for grabs and some 150 persons nominated for the jobs of members of parliament.

Quite frankly, I am so turned off Jamaican politics these days that for the first time in my life, I don't really care who wins. For although the PNP had been in power for 18 years and made a mess of the economy, the JLP has been in power for only 4 years and have already made almost everything they have touched into chaos and confusion. For example, while they hit us with a gas, supposedly to fix the roads , the roads have not been fixed but they spent over $100 million out of the money to refurbish the implementing office and have $60 million in furnishing waiting to equip it.

Fact is, this will be the first time in my voting life (since 1976) when I will not be voting, this is not because I do not feel like voting but I had already made my plans to be overseas long before they announced the date for the election.

 Such is life. Anyway, I won't miss much as the two main parties are hardly any different these days......nothing but back daag and monkey.


I just hope they keep it peaceful and do not mess up the peoples' Christmas and new year celebrations.

Dreaming

I have a dream. Nah. Not the type the late, great MLK had, but ordinary every night or almost every night dreams.

You know there was a time when I knew I had dreamt but could never remember anything about my dreams. Now I remember a number of them. Problem is though, I have been trying to understand the significance of dreams, but can't figure it out....I canna cross it!

In the past, I  have followed some gamblers who said I should buy cash pot when I remember my dreams. Twice I did that madness and lost a total of Ja$200, so I will never buy cash pot again!

Some of my dreams are very stark, but I just don't know what to make of them.  So out of curiosity, I have decided to start recording my dreams right here and maybe one day when I get old and have nothing to do, I will buy some dream books and see if there is a pattern or something.

Of course I have to figure out how to separate actual dreams from my subconscious playing games with me. This  happens often as I always go to sleep with a radio blaring in my ears (usually BBC) and sometimes when I get up thinking I had an exciting dream, I hear aspects of it on the same station in their news.

I remember a terrifying experience I had as a child with this same outside infiltration of my subconscious. You see, I had this grandmother who was such a devout christian that she was addicted to preaching on the radio and would even  endorse the back of her pension cheques and send them straight to Oral Roberts and Billy Graham!

One morning, I was having a nightmare about being in hell. Everything was hot and blazing and as I tried to escape my feet were being burnt up as I was running on red hot, searing coal. At the same time I was being chased by a terrifying monster with a fiery spear. It felt real and unbearable. I was so happy when I woke up and realised it was just a dream or rather, a nightmare. But guess what?  I  realised that what I had been living in my dreams was what I had been hearing on my grandmother's radio in the next room,  for she had been listening to some loud, firebrand preacher shouting about the trials and tribulations of life in hell!


So that is how external forces can play havoc with what we think are our dreams. Then there are the instances when you have too much vodka and have very confused and muddled dreams. However, I can recognise these and eliminate them.

So yea. I have decided to start recording them, but guess what, I know I dreamt last night but have been unable to remember anything about  that dream although I have been trying all morning!

Anyway, even if I can only remember one dream per week and record it, it will give me something to do in my idle years ahead! lol.

15th December 2011.

How ironic, now that I have decided to record the dreams which had been coming regularly and which I had been remembering clearly, I have almost stopped dreaming! In fact, I have only dreamt once since recording this decision and I forgot what I had dreamt about by the time I woke up!

Anyway, there is time yet.

A Petty Bureaucrat

I had to reply to the Public Defender's letter in the Jamaican Observer, since his personal attack on me just confirmed what I always thought of him, ie. he is nothing but an ineffective petty bureaucrat.
The letter is below,.

I refer to the public defender's letter of December 5, "Public defender in his ackee, takes on Joan Williams, Al Miller". I won't bother to comment on his defense of his office, but with regard to his childish, unthinking and spurious suggestion that I provide employment for Mr Junior Christie (the man sentenced to three months for stealing 45 ackee) I have no vacancy at this time!

However, I live on the periphery of King's House and have often commented on the state of what appears to be hundreds of acres of idle land overgrown with weeds. Since King's House receives millions of dollars per year for the upkeep of the property from us taxpayers, may I suggest that the public defender Mr Earl Witter put a proposal to the governor general for the development of that vast property to provide employment for Mr Christie and so many others in need of work.

Kudos UTECH

The University of Technology has always been my favourite local tertiary institution and they have risen further in my estimation with the announcement  in today's Jamaica Observer, that they have been operating of a Legal Advice Centre "......to provide legal advice for members of the public who are socially, economically and otherwise disadvantaged" since July this year. And to think their legal department is fairly new!

KUDOS UTECH, as usual you fill a need.

Kudos too to Legal Aid for jumping to take the excessive sentence of 90 days in jail for stealing 46 ackees which was handed down by RM Pusey against Junior Christie, to appeal and getting bail for him in the interim. One would have thought this role would have been undertaken by the Public Defender's office,  but with  their poor performance record, it is as well.

Thank God, we are finally seeing a trickling of institutions that are working in the interest of the poor and dispossessed in this country. If only the myriad of other publicly funded institutions mandated to perform similar functions would resolve to start giving taxpayers value for money, 2012 could be a great year.


Yes, I am a dreamer!

Cabinet ministers? No way.

I wonder if the Peoples National Party (PNP) wins the next election if we will see Anthony Hylton being appointed as a minister?

I ask, since over the past few weeks, Mr. Hylton has displayed a level of dishonesty which even brings Mr. Picklersill's doctrine of doing "anything" to gain power, to a new low. Firstly, in early November, he tried to whip up a firestorm by claiming  that companies had been banned from exporting under the new US Food Safety and Modernisation Act (FSMA). It took no less than the US Embassy to put out a statement refuting this. 


Then two days ago, he called a press conference to claim ganja found in Miami had been shipped from Jamaica as scrap metal. Another story of his that has been refuted.


Mr. Hylton  may have earned himself the much desired publicity he sought by these forays, but all he has proven to the public is that he is very careless with the truth and totally irresponsible.


And since I see were Mike Henry has stepped down as a minister because of his handling/mishandling of JDIC, but remains a candidate in the next election, it will be interesting to see if he too will be put back in the cabinet if the JLP wins the next election.


Whichever way it goes, the makeup of the next cabinet will tell us all we need to know as a young nation. But what the heck, we live in Jamaica so we could very well see Patrick Roberts being appointed a senior minister some day!

That's Justice?

Sometimes I have to wonder whether Jamaican judges live in Wonderland. Not all  by any means, but most.
For so often we see sentences coming out of the courts which make no sense at all.

The recent  instance when Justice Fraser sentenced a man who raped  a I2 yr old girl and  buried her alive to  just I2 years in jail, worse after the probation report on the criminal showed he had nor remorse, since he claimed "She Wanted It" was incomprehensible to say the least.

Now we see  a sentence of 3 months being  handed down to  hungry man who stole 45 pods of  ackees  from the governor general's home at king's house.

By no means is one  condoning praedial  larceny which is far too prevalent in Jamaica. In fact I think the laws surrounding praedial larceny are far too mild. But this case is a bit differnt, for the Governor Generals huge unused property belongs to the Jamaican people. So whereas wandering on to the property when one is hungry to ease the terrible pain in the belly, may be wrong, it certainly does not deserve 90 days in jail, an average of 2 days per pod of ackee?

If  I 've ever heard of  a wicked sentence, its got to be that handed down by justice Pusey.

I hope the Governor general who is supposed to be a  highly religious person, will pay the fine so the poor, hungry man does not have to spend Christmas in jail.

Riding to YS Falls

Yesterday, a lifelong dream finally came through. It wasn't really one of those serious, earth shattering dreams, but just one involving trying to re-live the childish exhilaration of speeding on a bike down a really steep hill and Spur Tree Hill in Manchester was the ultimate challenge.

Boy, did I ever enjoy those wonderful days as a child, speeding off the hills in Malvern, St. Elizabeth, despite the numerous falls and scars that still remain to remind me that nothing  nice comes without pain! But falling was the furthest thing from my mind as I let go off the hill yesterday, only braking occasionally as the breeze threatened to get the better of me. It was absolutely exhilarating, just as I had always imagined it would be.

The opportunity for this ride came as a result of some  mad person from Fun and Thrills MTR, suggesting some months ago that we do a moonlight ride to YS falls in St. Elizabeth, one of the most beautiful natural attractions in Jamaica. These falls are about 100 miles from Kingston, sitting on the periphery of our most important rain forest, the Cockpit County which abuts the parishes of St. Elizabeth, St. James and Trelawny. I certainly had no intention to ride in the night but the proposal was overruled and instead a normal daylight ride was agreed on for Sunday 20th November 2011.

There was however some last minute concern about that date since it was also the date of the Jamaica Labour Party's (JLP) annual conference and the bus drivers who transport the thousands of ardent supporters to such events are not known to be careful on the roads. However, although we saw hundreds of buses full of supporters racing to Kingston as we headed west, God is good and the quest by us cyclists was uneventful.

The buses  with JLP supporters were full and frequent

We decided to make the trip from four different points. Firstly there was the A team of MTR's made up of people like Howie, Michael , Alrick, Johan and Michel Smith who decided to take it from Kingston and ride all the way. Only Michael Smith accomplished that feat, due to time constraints as the falls closes early.

Then there was the Charles (ayatollah) group which decided to ride to Clarendon park and drive the rest of the way. They  did just that.

We who opted for the ultimate excitement were the two groups that left from Clarendon park. First there were the adventurous ones such as Sheriff, Sparkles, Pat, Moshe, Donovan, Shakira and Orrell (who provided mentoring) who bravely took on Melrose hill and Winston Jones hill, two daunting inclines. Then there were the really smart ones, Michael Chuck and myself who opted to skip the gruelling uphills and go straight for downhill riding only, declaring that we were going to ride from the top of Spur Tree Hill. I guess Chuck felt a bit badly, seeing the young ladies courageousness taking the hills, for he did manage to persuade me to give up my air-conditioned comfort in the support vehicle being driven by Christine and start the ride just past the Hatfield turn off in Manchester, thus collecting some minor hills under my belt.

Fixing Sheriff's puncture at Spur Tree 

As we started to descend Spur Tree Hill however, Sheriff got a puncture, but the chivalrous ones, Chuck and Donovan, soon had that sorted out. Halfway down the hill, we were overtaken by Orrel, the great one, who had arranged with this brother, who lives just above Gutters in St. Elizabeth to pick some jelly coconuts for us. That was really wonderful of him and we had a ball with Moshe having a jelly for the first time and enjoying it.(He is an Israeli working in Jamaica)

The rest of the ride was almost all downhill or gently undulating and we were not caught up by those who drove from Clarendon Park until we got to Lacovia, where we had stopped at the gas station for refreshments.

After that it was easy riding though the picturesque Bamboo Avenue to Howie's at the turn off to YS falls. There we stopped for some delicious food, at least my curry goat was wonderful, topped off with delicious sweet potato pudding compliments of Pat.(Sparkles jealously claimed that I find all food wonderful but that is becuase she opted for the boring chicken which was apparently not up to scratch!)

As we lingered there, up rode Michael Smith who had made it all the way from Kingston on his own, and we were told that the rest of the group that had ridden from Kingston had been picked up by support vehicles outside of Santa Cruz ( the hottest town in Jamaica).

The rest of the day was absolutely wonderful as we frolicked at Ys falls, first in the rushing waters under the falls itself, then later by the heated pool which was apparently recently added as an attraction there.

It was really an absolutely wonderful day all round....... the riding, the food of course, the camaraderie.

Ride on F&T!





For more photos see;  https://picasaweb.google.com/114828585796685227607/DropBox?authkey=Gv1sRgCJuTuZGztcbjtgE

Policing in Jamaica

I am in total agreement with today's editorial in the Jamaican Observer but was inspired to write because of this one statement, ".....who from this distance seems hardly to have put a foot wrong since he took over leadership of the constabulary...", in reference to commissioner Ellington.

I am still puzzled how we made so many poor choices of commissioners over at least a decade, while there was someone of commissioner Ellington's apparent competence was right there in the force. In the meantime, hundreds of lives were lost because corruption reigned supreme and no sensible crime fighting strategy was developed or implemented for such a long time.

Now for the first time in years, we see the polls indicating that crime is no longer the main concern of Jamaican citizens.

It is indeed a breath a of fresh air and while crime and especially murders continue to keep us in the top five in the world, at least we are seeing good progress.

Congratulations to Commissioner Ellington who is demonstrating that with proper leadership, any organisation is capable of transformation.

Hopefully the kudos and awards that he is receiving will only inspire he and his team to do even better rather than allowing it to go to their heads.

The Politics of Roads

Revelations about the arbitrary and careless manner in which the JDIP funds are being used, are not at all amusing to people like myself who have been for years agitating to get the roads in our community fixed. For it has been many years that I have been calling  the representative (Missing Person!) Delroy Chuck about the conditions in this section of his constituency and the only result to date has been getting from him a disconnected phone number for his councillor who has responsibility for this division!

After failing with MP Chuck and his Councillor with his non- working phone, in desperation, I called Mr. Patrick Wong, the head of the National Works Agency (NWA). I must say after speaking to him, there was a ray of hope since he revealed that he visits the area regularly, was quite aware of the deplorable state of the road and he assured me that it was on the JDIP programme for rehabilitation, including correcting a drainage problem.

That was about a year ago and to date no action here. (And by the way, how do they decide the basis for road rehabilitation since just this week, I noted that the asphalt was scraped off the perfectly good and recently paved Barbican Road from the round about to Millsborough Avenue while other roads which are a worse state of disrepair, are ignored).

Incidental, the reason for the disgraceful state of roads such as ours lies in the ineffectiveness and possible corruption at the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation, (KSAC ) because for some inexplicable reason, they refuse to enforce the laws enacted to protect  residential areas. It is ironic that even from the ''olden days when there was far less traffic around, the colonial masters recognised that residential roads were never constructed to withstand the the battering from commercial traffic and made provisions under the parochial roads act to prevent this, yet the KSAC  refuses to enforce the law while not maintaining the roads destroyed because of their negligence.

Now after a cess was imposed on fuel to maintain the roads on top of the increase to property taxes which goes mainly to the KSAC, we still  have noting but almost intraversible roads.

I suppose I am being mean in complaining for at least out of the JDIP,  we see where the staff of the NWA will be able to work in sheer luxury, their offices having been refurbrished to the tune of in excess of $100 million! Bearing in mind a World Bank report some years ago which stated that the Jamaican taxpayer gets less than 50 cents value in each dollar spent on construction projects, I wonder who will be auditing that expensive refurbishing project?

I think that if this new, young, prime minster would like to demonstrate that he is indeed prepared to do things differently, he should heed the advise of those calling for the JDIP programme to be removed from the NWA and placed into another agency capable of delivering value for money.

But do we really have any such agency in Jamaica?

Mavado

Mavado has been for some years been quite a favourite of mine, although he often makes one cringe at the senseless acts of "youthful exuberance" which have him being often reported in a negative light.

Anyway in recent times, (since he got back his visa?) he seems to be taking life more seriously and acting more responsibly and the report in this weekend's Star, gives one reason for optimism. I am referring to the story under the headline "Mavado joins Stop the bleeding campaign". This is in reference to a movement by that name in St. Croix. Among the aims of this movement is "......to promote anti-gun drive while providing a vehicle for change through the preforming arts."

Congratulations Mavado, but wouldn't it be great if you took it a step further. For crime in St. Croix is not close to the level in Jamaica and with your talent and influence, you are well placed to lead a similar programme right here at home.

How about it "my yute?"

Jamaican Citizens Only

The new prime minister of Jamaica, Hon. Andrew Holness, has expressed the view that US citizens should be allowed to serve in parliament in Jamaica.

I totally disagree with view.

Readers will recall that as the Constitution stands, anyone who pledges allegiance to another country outside of the Commonwealth, is intelligible to run for parliamentary office or be employed in some public positions, for example the Director of Elections.

I have no qualms about agreeing that no Commonwealth citizen should have any greater right to represent the people of Jamaica in parliament than any other dual citizen, but where I part company with the prime minister is that I believe that no one who does not have total commitment to the Jamaican nation and Jamaica alone, should not be enacting important legislation  for the rest of us. For when they make a mess of this country, all they have to do is move to the other country which they also have allegiance to, leaving us to suffer because of their actions.

In my book therefore, the restrictions should not only apply to people with dual citizenship but also those with Green Cards as well.

Anyway, this matter is of far too much importance for us to be dealing with it on an off the cuff basis. 

Nothing but  a referendum, and an early one to boot, should suffice to deal with this most important issue.

A Disgraceful Sentence

From time to time, one sees sentences being handed down in the courts which lead to you ask yourself what the judges/magistrates were thinking. Sometimes these sentences range from extremely harsh for what appears to be a simple demeanour committed by persons who are obviously propelled by nothing but desperation to a ridiculous slap on the wrist for someone who was driven by nothing but greed. And each time you have to ask yourself what kind of training programmes are there for judges/magistrates, especially since "the powers that be" seem to be so opposed to mandatory sentences.

The sentence which really "lick mi fi six:" so to speak, was reported in the Gleaner of November 4th 2011, under the headline Taxi driver sentenced to 12 years for attempted murder. This case referred to the terrible incident where a 12 year old girl was raped and buried alive by a taxi man Garsha Wilson who was known to her family. 
It was a spine chilling case when it was first reported last year and it remains so even with the passage of time. The question that now rises however, is how on earth could the judge sentence such a monster to only 12 years, which will probably see him coming out of jail much earlier, based on whatever grounds they use to release convicted criminals early.


On the other hand, this poor child, even with therapy, has received a life sentence at the hands of this monster. This sentence received makes absolutely no sense. 


One can feel nothing but sympathy for the mother who was reported in the Gleaner of Sunday 6th November as saying on hearing the sentence, "My head start hurting me right away and I begin to cry when I heard the man was sentenced to only 12 years".


According to the DPP, ".....unlike in certain jurisdictions, in Jamaica the crown cannot appeal against senctences". But isn't it time that we should be enacting legislation to give that right of appeal to the prosecution, for  far too many times when judges display to the public and all who are involved that they are totally out of sync with the realities of life, the matter should not just die there. 


Who really cares about the victims of crime in this country?

What's New?

In one fell swoop, the young, new prime minister of Jamaica, Andrew Holness, has caused me to believe that he has nothing new or different to bring to the table of Jamaican politics.

The fell swoop is the acceptance of the embattled  former People's National Party (PNP) MP Sharon Hay Webster into the fold, to run for the Jamaica Labour Party.(JLP)

Readers may recall that Ms. Hay Webster had been for a years a solid member of the (PNP) and my leeriness about her arose from the fact that in 1995, Heather Robinson, the then PNP MP for South Central St. Catherine, resigned from that constitutive and politics on the grounds that she was not interested in "hugging up gunmen" who were trying to take over her constituency." She could get no assistance from her party to deal with the problem, (in fact, I got the distinct impression that the PNP solidly threw its support behind the gunmen at the expense of Ms. Robinson!)  and when she walked it was Ms. Hay Webster who took over the seat and she has prospered mightily in it.

Is it because she was prepared to and did hug up gunmen, why she survived so well in that seat?

The threat that Heather Robinson foresaw, came from a man called Bulby who successfully set up the "Klansman Gang". Since Robinson walked away, that gang grew by leaps and bounds mainly through the extortion racket in Spanish town and when Bulby was finally killed, he was said to be worth some $100 million.

Not only did the gang become super rich, but also their influence in the political sphere grew far and wide to the point where today, not only is the Klansman gang the enforcing arm of the PNP in South Central St. Catherine, but also in St. Catherine East Central. And their latest campaign has been to behead women and children.

So is Mrs. Hay Webster a politician off the order of a Ms. Heather Robinson? I don't think so.

Also, why is Ms. Hay Webster now ready to resign the seat (which she is not entitled to hold since she is a US citizen) and give up her US citizenship  whereas during her many years as a PNP parliamentarian, she insisted that she was qualified to remain in Parliament despite her dual citizenship status?

Ms. Hay Webster's entry into the JLP raises more questions than answers, especially since there is no way in hell that she is going to win that strong PNP seat, now that she is representing the JLP there.

This whole affair has nothing but a strong stench to it.

Fling Rockstone Inna Pig Pen

Who told me to fling rockstone inna pig pen? For the email responses (abuses) have certainly been amusing.

Let me make it clear that when I point to the age old sexist practice in certain quarters in Jamaica of only asking for accountability when women ascend to high office in public institutions, I am not at all saying that  for accountability and transparency is bad or malicious. By no means could this be so since I have been on record over the many decades,  demanding accountability from public servants.

However, what I detest is hypocrisy. For example, how come no one wanted accountability from the UDC when God ruled and we couldn't find out what public assets were being sold and for how much?

In the interest of transparency and accountability, will some parliamentary committee and powerful journalists start looking into the operations of important institutions such as the Public Defender's office, so we can find out how many hapless victims whom have suffered at the hands of government agents/agencies they have gotten justice for versus the number of complaints made to them? And how about the Fair Trading Commission among other important institutions to citizens? Or do we have to continue waiting for women to head these and other institutions before the searchlight can be put on them?

Help me to become less cynical about this society!

Politics, At it Again .

Wow was I ever mistaken. Would you believe that I had been under the misguided impression that the sudden targeting of the Director of Public Prosecution by the opposition and their minions in the press, had to do with the fact that this high office is now occupied by a woman! For in Jamaica, when women finally achieve high office, this office becomes more targeted for extraordinary scrutiny and things that were never required when the office was occupied  by the male occupants, suddenly become urgent and important ..."in the interest of transparency". The summoning of the DPP to appear before a parliamentary committee and the harsh and unfair criticism that followed her refusing to do so, was a case in point. Then came the throwing of blame on that office for the slow pace of the Joseph Hibbert affair!

I was however just reminded that the Trafigura Affair is going to the courts in November and the DPP will be required to act of on behalf of the Dutch authorities to get information as to whether the donation to the Opposition, then government, by the Dutch company was a bribe.

It has therefore become urgent and important for certain people to discredit the DPP's office before this celebrated case is heard.

Can we really sink any lower? Politics is really the root of all evil in this country.

Off They Go

Unfortunately, as they say, all good things must come to an end. Such a pity.

It was wonderful having my granddaughter here, but unfortunately it was just for one week. Boy did she ever enjoy the water...... from Hellsire to Caymans river and Silver Sands beach, she just got into the flow and had a wonderful time. She is such a well adjusted child,..... . salt water, fresh water, she is just ready to roll.

 And guess what, she crept forward today (26/10/2011) for the first time at last. Before, she had only been reversing as she learned to creep ,but this morning after much effort she went forward. Such a joy to see the progress....the simple things in life that make it such fun to see them grow up.

Now wshe has left a very sad "granny" behind. To make it worse, I heard it was 20 degrees and snowing in Denver this morning. Poor kid.

She's Here!

Whoopee! My granddaughter Madelynn  Sophia Elizabeth McBride arrived in the country of her maternal  ancestors, Jamaica, on Wednesday 19th October 2011 at 9.30pm. Aw poor kid, she had been travelling from 6am but was still in a great mood when she got here. And she looks no different from when I  last saw her at the end of June. Of course, being almost six months old, she is now creeping. Sure she may onlyu be creeping backwards but at least she is creepeing and sitting up by herself to boot.


It is so wonderful to have her here. Oh of course it is wonderful to have her parents too, but after all she is the star of the show.

Yesterday she got her first introduction to salt water as we went to  the beach at Hellsheire. She is such a champion that she just fell into the routine right away. No complaints about salt water.

Next we went to Two Sisters cave. It is good to keep going back to these places for you get reminded of things you had long forgotten. Two Sisters cave is an open cave for the top was destroyed in the 1692 earthquake which also destroyed Port Royal. In Hellshire itself there are some 139 caves all interlinked. Of that number, 22 have underground lakes. Two Sisters has two lakes, 60 feet at the deepest point.

So after a wonderful day at the beach and exploring caves, she went visiting great grandmother Williams and other friends and relatives. Boy is she going to be ever so tired when she heads out next week!

For more photos see; http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150422116931823.412122.763366822&type=3

Of politics and church

Politics has never been a church service, neither was it meant to be. But if you follow the Ombudsman bishop Blair and the childish politicians among us, it might very well turn out to be so. How boring.

I saw nothing offensive about Abe Dabdoud's loader man poke at the soon to be prime minister Andrew Holness, neither  did I see anything but a light joke when Pernel Charles described Colin Campbell as a refugee. But in both cases, the petty politicians went bawling to the ombudsman. Now peter Bunting, gen sec of the PNP is taking on Clovis to task over the dinosaur cartoons.

Come on guys, lighten up. Let's not take the humour out of politics for without laughter we will all end up with high blood pressure, based on the perfomrmance of the politicians themselves!

Ride to Dornoch

The Dornoch that we sought.

The Dornoch that we got!

According to the late, brilliant Albert Einstein,"Reality is merely an illusion" but boy the reality of Dornoch was no illusion but a great disappointment interspersed with real mosquito bites!

It was just yesterday morning that Betty was telling me about a documentary she saw about the photos that we see on the Internet versus how the subjects really look. We got a taste of this after going to Dornoch and I am especially sorry for Tara, Stefan, Penny and family who never got to swim at all or even ride. But I am sure they had a wonderful weekend nevertheless. I surely did.

On Saturday night I decided to sleep up by Betty and Charles, since the MTR Fun and Thrills people had decided to do a ride to Trelawny starting on Sunday morning at 4am and I did not feel like getting out of my bed so early and riding up to meet anyone. Besides I had long decided not to start any more rides from the Headquarters since I am allergic to getting up early to start rides at the appointed time only to end up waiting hours on end for those who do not respect other's time or simply lack discipline. So I have been, for almost a year now, riding out with Charles who does things my way. This two day ride was slated to have ended on Monday morning (after a night's rest) at Dornoch  in the Cockpit country where the Rio Bueno has its source, for the pictures which we had seen, had made it look like the Garden of Eden.

Charles and I set out promptly at 4 am with Kenesha as a support driver and after a brief servic stop at the gas station on Constant Spring road, we were joined by Chuck. From the beginning, the three of us had decided that there was no way on earth we were going to spend hours on end on a bicycle, but instead we would ride to Juici Beef at Clarendon Park, then leave the MTR's and drive over to the beach in Trelawny.

Well by the time I got to Sandy Bay and was about to cross on to the main highway, I felt the sun pelting down into my back and who did I see drive up beside me but Stewart, music and  air condition running and feeling no pain. He looked so happy that I immediately decided that I had had enough of the ride (3 1/2 hours in the saddle) and also wanted to share the good life, so I beckoned him to stop, packed up my bike and we drove off happily to Juici Beef where I had the most delicious porridge I have ever had anywhere, Peacorn porridge, made from peanuts and hominy corn.

When the MTR's arrived, I heard that there had been one mishap as super rider Howie had slipped and fallen while crossing the train line in Old Harbour.  He got a cut on his knee but happily there were no other mishaps for the entire weekend.

Beautiful, calm Burr Head Beach

Charles, Kenesha and I left the main group at Juici  (Chuck drove back to Kingston) and drove straight to Retreat Guest House in Trelawny where we heard about this absolutely wonderful beach, Burr Head beach. In my book, this beach is only to be outdone by Negril.  It is a public, white sands beach right beside Beaches hotel and it is so clean and shallow that I swear that if you wade out for half mile, the water is still at your waist. This is going to be my beach of first choice, from now on, in Trelawny. Betty later joined us there as she had driven down my car but came via the north coast whereas we had  taken a new and challenging route, going into central Jamaica then heading north from Porus, up Shooters Hill then to Trelawny via Albert Town, Clark's Town, Duncan's then on to Falmouth.

Whereas we used the beach for free, Betty had to pay $300 as it had been rented for a private stage show and after noon they had closed the gate.

After a wonderful swim we went to Bodmint where we found that Caroline and Charles Simpson had also defected from the ride and had driven straight over after riding to Porus.  Later, we went over to the bar next  door  to make arrangements for dinner. It was there Carolyn and  found two Jamericans  and played dominoes with them.

When we went back over there to wait for dinner, one was still there and he played with Carolyn while I played with Charles Simpson. That's when the 6 love drop! 

While we played some more,  the main group of tired riders arrived . (about 7.30 pm)  It was then that I learnt that the only person s who rode the entire journey were Alrick, Orelle, Maurice, Howie and Michael. Everyone else had to be driven over Shooters Hill and Sanford and Fatman never got back on their bikes. Disgraceful, considering that the stalwart women like Nicky and Sparkles did! (I wonder who dares to say "Look who's taking" . I aint no masochist! lol)

Anyway, when Fatman came he joined Carolyn, one of the six loveites and threatened to give it back to us.  Thank god we were called for dinner just when we were at the dangerous got 4 love point!

The dinner was quite good and I dare say the curry goat was probably the best I have had in years.

Next morning I discovered that Penny, Stefan  and family had arrived in the night as they wanted to ride to Dornoch  next day. The breakfast at Retreat guest house was excellent and before we could finish, Charles was calling desperately for Kenesha to pick them up at Burr Head Beach for while they had walked over from Bodmint from 6.30 am, they did not feel like walking back. I could have kicked myself for not thinking of driving to the beach when I woke up for I had been up from 7am but just never thought of it.

The lazy men who refused to walk from the beach back to Bodmint!

After breakfast Kenesha and I drove down and found the bunch of lazy men who we piled into the back of the pickup and took them back to Bodmint. We then walked with them to Aunt Gloria's where they voraciously gobbled up the breakfast but  poor Howie, chief masochist could not even sit down at breakfast, as he was still sore from the 15 hour ride.

As we got back to Bodmint, Chris (Dalrimple) joined us, having driven over from her home in St. Ann's bay. While we hung around, we heard brakes screeching outside and a faint thud, only to discover that a taxi  had run into the back of Donavan's  vehicle as he was turning into Bodmint. Although his vehicle's bumper was damaged, it was admirable to see him working assiduously to help the taximan pull away metal from his fan so he could drive his car to a mechanic. I wish I could be as charitable to people who rear end me. I promise to try.

Well sanity finally prevailed and it was decided that we would all drive the 19 miles to Dornoch instead of riding. We took the winding road  via Clark's Town to Stewart Town where we then took an unpaved, potholed access road into Dornoch. When we got there we parked at the top and hiked for about fifteen minutes down to the river head . Disappointment, for the beautiful clean river that we had seen in the pictures was no where to be found but instead only a mud hole and millions of mosquitoes. Luckily I had a towel to ward them off so only got bitten about a dozen times!

Disappointed I returned to my car with Johan and Kenesha and we decided to go back to Stewart Town to find a bar to get some cool beer. We did but then got a call from Charles saying that he had discovered that if you continue on the road to Dornoch, you could end up in Discovery Bay in 10 minutes.  I could not bother to go back on to the bad road so instead proceeded on to Kingston via Brown's Town. I was sorry to have to separate from what was a really nice group of fun loving people, but c'est la vie for after all, it had been a wonderful weekend of riding, swimming, eating, dominoes and camaraderie so there was no reason for me to be greedy.

 Another weekend well spent despite the disappointment of the Rio Bueno river, but I imagine that the mud and mosquitoes were a natural result of the islandwide rains which had pelted us all on the Saturday before .


No regrets about anything.

THE JEWS ARE DEFINITELY SUPERIOR!

If the Jews have been led to  feel  that they are superior to every one else and many times more superior  to Arabs, who can blame them?  For haven't the most powerful, well armed and wealthy nations in the western world which espouse Christianity insisted that they are the "chosen people" from time immemorial?

This is of course because the powerful christian religion was founded on the bible. Those who have bothered to research it however would recognise that the bible is mostly Jewish history and their myths about the creation of the world, but these concepts were adopted wholeheartedly and defended by the sword, starting in 312 AD when the all powerful Constantine, who ruled the Roman Empire and the world as it stood then, became a Christian activist. It was he who foisted the concept that the bible was written by god himself, on the world.

These beliefs on which Christianity has been founded, has led to the powerful nations coming together and using their their immense power to first take away Palestinian  land to establish a homeland for "the chosen people" and secondly to victimize those whose lands they had stolen.

By natural  progression  therefore, based on this philosophy,  the Jews are the most valuable people in the world. If this did not have serious implications for world peace, it would really be hilarious.

Since yesterday, I have felt  a bit like how I imagine people must have felt in 312 AD when  the all powerful emperor Constantine declared that  it would be Christianity or death for everyone.

My reflections  arose as I tried to get some world news from the international media including the BBC and CNN and  became bombarded from morning to night with nothing but reports of how over a thousand Palestinians prisoners had been swapped for one Israeli prisoner. There was absolutely nothing else happening in  the world, if you were a person from Mars tuning in to these media houses!  Only the BBC pretended to try and introduce some semblance of fairness and impartiality by interviewing a few Palestinians who had been  freed,  but you knew right away that it was fluff by the terms they used, ie. the Palestinians released were terrorists (and other similarly incendiary terms) while constantly referring to the Israeli who was released as  a soldier!

They all really sought to reinforce from every angle, the concept that one Jew was far more important than the  all Palestinians combined.

Well blow me down. I suppose all this will just keep translating into even more aggressive support from the west for Jewish hegemony in the middle east and to hell with everyone else.

The Prime Minister of Jamaica

It is now a done deal, former minister of education, Andrew Holness will be succeeding Bruce Golding as the 9th prime Minster of Jamaica.

I am not at all surprised about his selection, just surprised that the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) which had developed such a terrible reputation for maximum disruption when selecting leaders, has managed this succession so flawlessly.

While Holness age 39, has been a popular favourite among Jamaicans of all ages and political loyalties, to me it is no big thing. He has apparently been a hard worker and a very visible politician and while I would not have had a problem with Audley Shaw becoming prime minister, I have no problem with him either. In my book, either of them will certainly make a better prime minister than leader of the opposition Portia Simpson Miller.

A BIG DAMP SQUID

No, I have not completed the task that has been keeping me away from writing on public and other issues, but after the big damp squid last night, I just can't help myself. My fingers are a law unto themselves!

Thew squid is of course the nationwide broadcast made by prime minister Bruce Golding in the wake of his sudden (but welcome) resignation.

Ever since it became known that the PM was not running again as JLP leader at the conference due in November and therefore a new leader and by implication, Prime Minister would have to be found, a lot of idiots have been jumping up and down calling for him to tell them why he was resigning.(Amazingly, these are the same people who had been loudest in calling for his resignation when the scandals about his handling of the Dudus affair were exposed!) At the same time, the same people (I have no doubt) have been spreading rumours that the reason for his resignation is because he is about to be indited by the US government and his extradition sought. Then they have put out the word that if he did not confirm this in the nationwide broadcast, then he was not speaking the truth.

Yawn.

Politicians are sometimes so stupid and immature and they really seem to take those to whom they direct their propaganda, for fools.

The defense by Golding of his chief Don Dudus was disgraceful and his resignation, because of his handling of the issue was overdue. This is not just my opinion, but the opinion of some 80% of the persons polled in a recent survey done by the party that Mr. Golding himself leads. This is why he is seen as  liability to the party which was doomed to become Jamaica's first and only one term  government since independence, if Golding remained as leader. That is why Golding could command no respect in the party and had to step aside.

Last night he was arrogant enough to reiterate the nonsense that he had only stood up for Dudus because his constitutional rights were infringed. He still has not come to terms with the fact that he cannot sell that one since he has never ever had an ear for the constitutional rights of others who had been extradited before Dudus.

Jamaican politics. Yawn. In my book, either Holeness or Shaw would make good successors and the upcoming election  is threatening to be be quite boring as the PNP has said that their strategy remains the same as whomever takes up the mantle will remain tainted by the Dudus affair. Pathetic. It f that is all they can find as an election strategy? We may as well all go to sleep for now.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Being caught with your two best selling publications not available puts a great strain on one. So here I am doing the 6th Edition of the Original Dancehall Dictionary and the 3rd Edition of Tour Jamaica at the same time in an effort to have them back on the shelves before the end of the year and the winter tourist season.

No wonder I don't have the time to blog these days.

Revisiting Big Dunn

According to my bible, if you can drive don't ride and if you can ride don't walk. So when Charles aka Ayatollah called at 5am to say he was sending a support vehicle for me on Sunday 9th September, to follow me up to Stony Hill and I saw bicycles packed up inside when it arrived, I packed mine in too.

But Charles was not as weak willed for after we picked up Chuck and we all were driving up to Stony Hill we saw him and Theresa struggling up Long Lane. But Theresa being smart, jumped into Charles 1st vehicle as it arrived (ours was already packed up with sensible people!) but stubborn Charles refused to be bribed and struggled all the way up the steep hill in the early morning all by himself.

All power to him.

Of course, all this excitement was in preparation for a return ride with the Fun and Thrills group to the wonderful, refreshing waterfall known as Big Dunn aka Fish Dunn, just outside of Buff Bay, Portland.

The ride to Castleton Gardens was easy as it was downhill all the way and there, we had delicious, boiled corn and janga soup. It was there that the main group of riders which had left the headquarters later, joined us.

Super athlete Andrew and daughter Paris

The greatest athlete on this trip was 8-year-old Paris Smellie, Andrew's daughter. Andrew had driven
to Agualta Vale then unloaded her bicycle which she rode from there past Annotto Bay while her super athlete dad jogged protectively behind her. 

They kept that up to the border of St. Mary and Portland (Dover district in St. Mary and Windsor district in Portland) where it started to rain. I personally welcomed the rain for what always defeats me on those long rides is the blaring sun.

As soon as the rain stopped, Paris was back on her bicycle and Andrew back to his jogging all the way to Buff Bay.

Along the way I had seen members of the Portland Cycling Club heading west, but just outside of Buff Bay some passed me on a hill while one or two others of the team followed, doing Orrel's regular job, that of helping weak female riders by riding behind them and pushing them up the hill with one hand.

Members of Porland Cycling Club- a Patricia Marie Summons photo

In Buff Bay they told me they are the top riding club in Jamaica, having recently won the championship and that one of their members, Oneal Samuel's rides with BMW in Atlanta, Georgia while two of their members are now in training for the Caribbean championship meet next month.

When one showed me his wheels which cost US$5000 each, I finally realized what a little leaguer I was! I can see why they would be a top riding club however as their regular training routine involves riding east from Portland to Kingston and back home via Junction taking an average of seven hours to do that rotation.

Wow.

They rode with us and had breakfast with us at a cricket field just beyond Crystal Springs. About two minutes before that, I had kept to my resolve to stop riding as soon as we started the steep ascent to the intersection. However, after breakfast, I realized that what I remembered to be a steep climb was a mere slope as the really steep section starts after the intersection going towards Bybrook.

It was a marvelous day. Someone had tied three knotted ropes on trees at the top of the falls and allowed them to fall over the gigantic rocks for adventurers to climb up on and jump into the deep, clear, refreshing water below.

Several of our macho men tried but gave up in frustration until Johan accomplished what had seemed to be the impossible. Seeing that it was doable, Andrew and Howie persevered until they succeeded too.

Fun and Thrills riders frolic at Big Dunn aka Fish Dunn, Portland

While on our first visit there, Chuck had been the only one to "chuck" off the gigantic rocks into the deep water below, this time numerous fellows did and was joined by Sasheena who represented the women.

It was a great day as the weather was excellent for riding, the water refreshing and not too cold, the breakfast delicious and the camaraderie wonderful. The only regret is that we had mistimed our return visit as the apples which were ripe and in abundance on the first trip, were absent this time.


What the heck, you can't always have it all!