Return to Munro College

Many many years ago, I attended high school at Munro college in St. Elizabeth.

For those who do not know, Munro college a  boarding/finishing school for boys which was established in 1856. So this is why my statement that I attended Munro is always met with consternation, but no, I did not have a sex change.

As it happened, I attended Hampton girl's school from forms 1-5 and those where the worst days of my life. Then redemption came as we did combined classes with Munro for 6th form.... boys at last... those  were the best years of my high school life and unfortunately it led to be earning the notoriety of being the first girl to be suspended from Hampton!

You see Hampton at the time, had mostly old maids as teachers and their life's ambition was to make all the girls in their own image and it was always ours, to outsmart them. So when I got my driver's licence at age 17, the opportunity came as we planned that one half term, I would transport my and my friends' beaus from Munro to Hampton for a party.

It was easy since my father had a white VW bug just like the headmaster's, so on the appointed day,  I was brazen and boasy enough to drive right up the the quad and pick up the boys.

All went well and we looked forward to a wonderful day of dancing as the music room at Hampton had a record player. I don't know if word came from Munro that some funny movements had taken place, but within half hour of us settling down to have a wonderful day, who appeared  but one of the old maids, a Miss Brown. That is when we discovered how courageous and upstanding our beaus were, for as she appeared, they all jumped out the window and ran away.

Being the transportation co-oridinator, I of course got the book thrown at me. I can't even remember what happened to the other girls, order marks I suspect, but boy did I get it from both the school and at home. In fact, looking back, I am lucky to be still alive!(lol)

It seems some of the boys did have a conscience after all and it still bothers them, for occasionaly when I need the professional services of those in Jamaica, they never charge me!!!!!

I have never returned to Munro (or Hampton for that matter) after completing high school until  Friday 16th November 2012  when I had to do an outside broadcast (OB) for "Justice" on Power 106.

I tell you the truth, I really did not recognise much there except the chapel and the quad for the place has grown by leaps and bounds, expanding from just under 200 boys to over 1400, but the boys are still as well mannered, disciplined and focused as they were in the old days.  (I hope they are more chivalrous though!) 

We had a lot to  boast about on Friday as the Rhodes scholarship for 2013 had just been announced and Munro's Vincent Taylor was winner, making Munro the institution here that has produced the most Rhodes scholars.

After the OB, I had to drive over the hills through Newmarket to Bethel Town on  some of the worst roads in the world, to Windedown at Silver Sands, Trelawny, where my brother Bernard (Bernie) was having his annual big bash. 

To get to Munro for the OB, I had left my home at 6 am and never got to Winedown  until after 6pm....a long but reasonably nice day.

Bernie and daughter Whitney at Silver Sands on a previous occasion.

Of course Saturday was a big bash as usual, dominoes, food and liquor galore and of course great music and dancing  Unfortunately I ended up getting 12 love, although I changed partners and did not even drop one 6 love. But that's life in Ja..

On Sunday morning at the beach we saw a south African crew filming a reality show named Tropika. ........they had come all the way to Jamaica, flying for some 16 hours, to capture the beauty they had heard about but that some of us do not even appreciate.

Not to worry though, for as to me and my people, we revel in it at every opportunity.

Racism Will Survive Forever in America

As one who lived for a while in the Untied States when racism was totally overt, dangerous and widely acceptable, I have never been overcome by the romantic notion that racism had ever died out there.
What I do know is that it has again become an overt topic since Obama was elected and more so since he was re-elected last week, since the confidence the racists had that they would  have rebounded,  received a serious blow on the 6th November 2012.

What had happened in the past four years was that to be considered polite, one had to do the "politically acceptable" thing and not admit, do or say anything  publicly to indicate that one was living in the past, except of course if one was a proud member of  fringe organisations like the Klu Klux  Klan.

So most white Americans had become  become experts at hiding it, especially the more educated ones. That excludes idiots like Denise Helms from Turlock, California, who posted on Facebook that "Another 4 years of this (N word) ... Maybe he will get assassinated this term,"


When interviewed by the Daily News, Helms said she was not racist!  I put her among the less educated
since not only is she not smart enough to camouflage her obvious racism but also she is an employee at an ice cream parlour, so I assume she is a high school dropout.


I also assme that it is mostly red neck dropouts who  have taken their cue from that idiot Donald Trump   (Trump declared on election night that the US was no longer a democracy!) and have been signing petitions for their states to withdraw from the federation of united states.

According to "We the People" https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petitions , petitions have come in from Hawaii, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Maine, California, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington etc. 

No one needs to take these seriously however, since for example, the population of Maine is over 1.3 million whereas the red neck petitioners are a mere 1,585. 

Iowa  has a population of 3.06 million while petitioners are 1,483 and that is the general trend.

These red necks  therefore are a tiny, tiny minority and most likely aligned to the klu Klux klan or some other extremist group.

 It is however imperative that the US secret service ups its security, for all it takes is one mad man to change the face of history, but we have to accept that crazy, anti social elements will continue to exist throughout the world as long as this planet is inhabited by humans.

Stopped In Their Tracks.

Thank god, the majority of American voters are sensible people and have returned Obama to power. This has put a stop to the possibly of the evil, chauvinistic philosophy and dogma as espoused by powerful white republican males, germinating within the society.

And their dogma was not only a serious threat to women but also to all minorities. Imagine living in a society where there is such a thing as "legal rape" and forcing women to have children conceived by rape while claiming that such a child is  "a gift from god!"

It sure was a close call.

War or Peace?

In two days, we will find out if this world will again be constantly tipped on the verge of another unnecessary war somewhere or if we will have a prolonged period of peace. For in two days the most powerful country in the world will elect a president and if Romney wins it will be always wars or the threat of wars. 

Lets hope the Americans will think rationally as they choose whose itchy fingers they will allow to determine whether we have a stable world or one under constant threat of annihilation through the misuse of  the large, dangerous stack of weapons of mass destruction that they have sitting there. 

You know what makes most uncomfortable about Romney too? He reminds me so much of Richard Nixon.

Happy Birthday Linette Trout.

Linette Trout is an absolutely amazing person. We first met her when she used to beg just in front of the Canadian High Commission at upper  Waterloo road.  As we passed by for our morning walks, she would shout smilingly,. "Bring something fi mi tomorrow yu hear mi fren.'

As I never walk with money in  the mornings, she was never lucky enough to get anything for when I did remember to bring something" tomorrow," she was never there. She went and came like that for months, always welcoming us cheerfully in the mornings and as her lips were very red, I used to wonder why someone would put on lipstick to go abegging?

It took many months for her to move her operations to weekends at  Kings Way in front of the Andrews Memorial hospital. As I rode past on a Saturday or Sunday morning she was there and became one of my favorite charities as my bicycle has a pouch and I always carry money in case of emergencies.

After stopping to talk to her several times and she constantly addressing me smilingly as "mi fren," one morning she suddenly asked 'doan yu is the lady pan radio". Out the window went my theory that street people do not listen  to radio!  

After she showed me her foot which was badly swollen and told me she had a kidney problem, I decided to see if I could get some help through PATH for her. (Incidentally, she does not wear red lipstick, her lips just happen to be bright red!) When they started to question me about her, I am ashamed  to admit that I could not supply either her name or age but they told me to send her in anyway.

The following week I wrote off the address and gave her with instructions that should go there and register for help. What they did not tell me at the time though was that to get help from PATH you must have a permanent address.

The following week when I asked her if she had gone to PATH, she told me how her bag with the address had been stolen as she slept on the sidewalk. " A pure pervert out deh" she had told me conspiratorially at the time.

This again reinforced my belief that all things always work for the greater good for at least she had not wasted her time going to downtown to an agency that could not help her and  where they probably would have turned her off.

By then I had gotten in touch with the Poor Relief Authorities and spoken to the Inspector of poor who told me to send her to her specifically and she would get her help. Unfortunately along came hurricane Sandy and the following Saturday and Sunday, she was no where in  sight. Neither was she there the Saturday after that.

I had started to worry that something had happened to her, but as I rode up this morning (Sunday), there she was smiling broadly as usual and welcoming me with 'Miss Will, mi glad nutten neva happen to yu far yu is a good ooman". I decided it was time I learnt her name and that's when she told me she was Lynette Trout and added that today was her birthday and she was now 51 years old.

I asked her if she did not have any family but she told me her daughter chased her out of the house and she also had one son but he has a girlfriend and a baby and really has no money but he gives her a "nanny " now and then. I asked her if she had ever worked and she said she used to buy and sell until "her head tek her". While I had long suspected that she may have mental issues, I have never seen any real signs of it when interacting with her as she is always smiling, cheerful and intelligent, but as they say here 'Si mi but nuh liv wid me".

When I suggested that maybe her daughter did not want to live with her because she was miserable, she laughed heartily.

I was really glad to see that she had weathered the storm safely. She told me she had gone to the National Arena where they had a hurricane shelter but they only allowed people to stay there one night before sending them off with nothing but a blanket. When I asked her where the blanket was, she said she stored it in a secret place with her other things for as she sleeps in new Kingston, she doesn't like to lug things around.

You know, I am absolutely inspired each time I interact with Lynette Trout for I could never have really imagined that one who begs for a living could be so happy all the time. God bless you mi fren, especially on your birthday and may you have many many more years for you demonstrate to the world that happiness does not come from what you have but what you are inside..

Tiring but Fun

This Saturday with the Fun and Thrills family was tiring but  lots of fun.
We had volunteered to  marshal at the Jamaica Cancer Society's fund raising 5k run/walk at stadium east and it meant being at the stadium from 6.30 am.

Marshals and runners from Fun and Thrills stop to pose for a group photo 

Apart from some of us marshaling, a number of the members of the family also entered the race. These were Michelle, Sparkles, Howie, Deiree, Maurice, Bernadette, Michael and Kim and guess what, we won a medal!

Of course its we! Whereas it is Bernadette who  will actually  collect the bronze medal, how could she have done so well if she had not been keeping fit riding with us? 

Just kidding, you did it all on your own Bernadette so wear it with pride.

Charles had sworn that Howie would have been the overall winner but unfortunately while he didn't, it is still possible that he did well in his category, for we are still waiting to hear his time. As usual uncle Roy entered and never even came in last, instead easily outdoing people some 65 years his juniour!

 Charles Simpson, Charles Williams and I were to have monitored the first three runners but after a while we couldn't find Charles Williams then someone told us had he had apparently given up marshaling and was seen at an intersection directing traffic. I suspect he gave up the marshaling as he couldn't keep up with the runners for apart from the downhill sections, we were in  real danger of them running faster than we could ride!

 Other marshals were Orrel, Alric, Sharon, Fatman, Peter, Teresa, Ramon and Pat. Omar was of course there in his capacity as official photographer.

After we had seen the last walkers safely back to the stadium, we met at the eastern gate to get ready to ride to Bob Marley's beach for the real fun, but Charles (Ayatollah) was no where in sight. It was Alrick who suggested that he would soon reappear, coming from a direction  we least expected! He surely did for it is the Police station that he was walking from, saying he had gone there to arrange parking for Sparkles' car.

 As usual it was an easy ride but by then the sun was blazing and at times I was tempted to summon a support vehicle to stop and enjoy some air condition. However I kept reminding myself that the distance was not very far so I could survive and kept going.

 The great disappointment was that on arrival we discovered that the cook did not prepare for the numbers he had been instructed to, so some 10 or twelve of us were unable to get breakfast. Fortunately next door they were frying up fish for the regular beach goers so we managed to get some food, hence we didn't have to lynch the cook.

As usual too, the beach was absolutely wonderful and therapeutic . 

Incidentally today was the birthday of the twins, Ayatollah and his good half Chully but as Johnathon had his graduation ceremony from UTECH  today,  Chully couldn't come so we had a celebration for our half, Charles! Betty and Lisa brought over a lovely cake and pies, most welcome after the stingy breakfast!

It was a fun celebration with Charles  who tried  to fool the MC (the regular guy who deals with the music there ) to announce Happy birthday to Betty but the mischief was quickly corrected.

Then Teresa presented him with a book that Barry had brought along entitled " How to use the Internet." Who knows, we may just live long enough to see Charles learning to use the computer as his other half Chully has been computer literate for years now. (My own brother, Bernie, a gynecologist had contemptuously dismissed the idea of using a computer for years, saying he created employment for others to do that job. Then his hospital went paperless in 2012 and he had to go to night school for 6 months to learn about computers, so basically,  he was dragged kicking and screaming into the  twenty first century! lol)

Of course, we could not miss the opportunity to take another group photograph.

Then as usual, despite how strenuous the morning had been, there were the ride backers with Maurice (RB), Omar leading the charge, Omar raring to go and Pat joining them to ride until the support vehicles caught up.  We caught up with her group at Windward road.

We saw another group of RBr's at the bottom of  Mountain View avenue and as we approached the stadium, we saw the lone figure of Barry charging way ahead of the pack as usual.

Those who missed out on today's activities really missed out on a great day of fun and camaraderie.

Photos supplied by Omar Downie.

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