A White Christmas?

It looks like I will really have a white Christmas, the first since fleeing from the cold in Canada many decades ago.

The thing about Colorado though is that it has sun and unlike the Canadian sun, this sun is warm, so even though the thermometers are saying 30 or some other crazy reading, its not that cold.

It was a bit of a pain getting here though a I had to overnight in Minneapolis and man wasn't the flight getting there terrible…a really bumpy ride as they seemed to have been having a snow storm.

Then when I got to Colorado it was minus my luggage. Luckily Devin and I wear the same size so although my clothes did not come till I was sleeping on Sunday night, I did manage to bathe and get some clean clothes.

Next time I will stick to my old route, Miami then Frontier or Southwest. Never Delta again although they fly into Kingston.

I am amazed to find so few people doing last minute shopping here. So unlike home where the guaranteed crowd swells the last two days before Christmas. I was reminded by Michele however that here they do the bulk of their shopping on Black Thursday.

As usual my granddaughter is wonderful and it is going to   be a great Christmas.

Tessane Chin to the world

Once again a great Jamaican, this time Tessanne Chin, has shone on the world stage and demonstrated once  more that Jamaicans are world beaters.

And now, once again, we will see the politicians jumping over each other to get on her bandwagon to try and benefit from her personal achievements, something in which they played no part.

Tessaane's success has again exposed for the world to see that it is only the poor leadership which has plagued this country since independence, that has brought us to where we are. For it is poor leadership that has put us on the top of the corruption and murder pile, destroying the potential of so many of our super talented people, while the cultist followers would have us honour those who have been the architects of our destruction.

For it is the garrison politicians and their willing collaborators in the two major parties, who have brought Jamaica to the criminal level that the country has sunk to, as the  garrisons are the crime incubators in which slavery is even being practiced today with the blessings of some of our so called leaders, present and past.

Tessane's success, did not come about only because of her natural talents, but because her talents were nurtured and most importantly, because Jamaicans at home and abroad, found something to rally around.

This is where leadership comes in, for with proper leadership, we at home and abroad can bond together and become world leaders in every possible area of life.

This is why I find this determination by some politicians to limit our potential, stifle our self respect, confidence and faith in ourselves by insisting that we have to hang on to the colonial  and parochial concept of Federation, now called Caricom, to succeed in this world, so counter-productive.

For if little Singapore without a tenth of our natural and human resources can become a world leader, whats stopping us?

The answer, poor leadership, has been clear for decades but are we really prepared to shake off the shackles of lethargy and continue to accept the leadership of those who limit us, as we go into the new year?

Despite the magnificent performance of the Tessanes, Shellies, Bolts and the unexposed talents of the thousands of young Jamaicans here, plus the obvious willingness of those in the diaspora to work with us to help us succeed,  I would not hold my breath, since there is real truth in the popular saying, "without vision the people will perish."

A Kleptocracy Indeed

For some years now, some perceptive Jamaicans had been warning that Jamaica could one day become an official kleptocracy, which is defined as a country ruled by or for the benefit of thieves and because the politicians themselves have been so convincing over the years when speaking about the activities of their opponents, it has been accepted by some of us that this situation is already on top of us.

But have we really stopped to look at the serious implications that this perception (reality?) is causing and making any effort to really deal with it rather than just treating it as a joke and entertaining veranda chatter, for as we all know, when the top of the stream is dirty, the bottom will inevitably become an unadulterated muck.

Two things happened recently brought this point home most forcefully and made me wonder for the first time in my life, to whether there is any turning back for Jamaica.

First was the shock of going to a company to pick up a custom -built shirt and after having signed for it with one person, having another person look in the bag then the security repeating the process at the door......3 people, 1 shirt!

That reminded me immediately how much on our resources have to be spent on preventing pilfering by staff and accomplices, something that I understand which had contributed to the crippling of many of  our free-zone producers many decades ago, forcing some out of business altogether and others to move to other countries where security costs would not stymie their competitiveness.

The second thing was receiving a email (joke) picture of a toilet where the toilet paper was locked up in a steel grilled encasement!

Yes we hear nightly stories about praedial larceny and the devastating consequences on peasant  farmers etc,  but I really did not realize the serious rationale behind the epidemic of stealing until being in discussion with friends  when a young man who was close by and who works in an electrical hardware establishment, chirped in "Den if di politician dem  a tief everyting a di top wi a di bottom nuh must tek something fi wisself to."

That really stopped me in my tracks, for to him, he was taking his cue from "Leadership by example" so to him it was an automatic justification for theft at the workplace.

How widespread is this view among young people and employees in general? Do we really understand what is happening to our country? How are we going to reverse the trend of thievery being the hallmark of the Jamaican workplace including the political arena ?

The latest talk of the town is the construction of a home by a young politician who was never in a particularly high paying profession before he entered politics a few years ago, but who is reputed to be now building an ostentatious mansion costing somewhere in the $300 million range.

It is certainly raising eyebrows in just about every sector of the society with many asking which of the three anti-corruption agencies that taxpayers are funding, will get off their haunches to investigate a matter such as this?

For unless corruption at the top is quickly addressed, Jamaica will only continue sliding rapidly down the slippery slope where everyone who looks to the leaders to set the stage for what is right and acceptable, will just accept the status quo and join the fray "...to get their share" at the workplace, private farms and everywhere else, justifying it on the grounds that this is what the leadership is doing.

Can you see Jamaica ever truly becoming productive and being able to compete with other countries that do not have the type of security expenses that we do?

Could it be that because we are so high up on the murder scale that we have not become perturbed by the creeping acceptance of theft  because we see it as less threatening, thus failing to recognize how our ability to survive in the wider world is being destroyed by its pervasiveness?

Jamaica and Caricom

I am convinced that if Jamaicans had not threatened to boycott goods coming from Trinidad, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would have remained totally unconcerned about the issues which have made Caricom a millstone around the necks of the taxpayers in this country.

Now we see them jumping into action to hold discussions with the Trinidadian Minister of Foreign Affairsbut I am wondering out loud, who is really representing out interests in this discussion? Minister Nicholson, the man who told us to leave Trinidad alone?

I wonder why am I not feeling optimistic about the outcome of these meetings?

CORRUPTION IN JAMAICA

I wonder what is behind some media houses attempt to almost block out the trial of politician Kern Spencer  with that of Kartel.

Here we are in a country where the corruption index finds us sliding further down that slippery slope more and more each year yet the reporting on this important trial is being overshadowed by that of a dancehall artist whose fate does not in one way or the other, affect the majority of us.

Come to think of it, the media did almost ignore the Finsac Commission of Enquiry, finding almost everything else far more important to inform the public about instead of what was coming out of those sittings.

I have often wondered why Jamaicans are so uninterested about the continued high level of corruption in successive governments over the years, which has destroyed the potential of this wonderful country and caused us to become even poorer each year.

Now I know, for it is apparent that the media which usually sets the agenda for public discussion for the man in the street,  is not really too exercised about the issue of corruption either.

Tour Jamaica now an Ebook

Tour Jamaica which was first published in 1995, now has the 4th edition available as an e book available for download at http://www.amazon.com/Tour-Jamaica-Joan-Williams-ebook/dp/B00EJWCSHS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1386256460&sr=8-1&keywords=tour+jamaica+by+joan+williams.

Tour Jamaica is a comprehensive guide to Jamaica, the most beautiful island in the Caribbean.

With texts, cartoons and beautiful pictures, it gives an total overview of;  Accommodation, Arts and Craft, Attractions, Beaches,  Bird Watching, Caving, Crime, Drinking, Driving, Fishing, Food, Gambling, Great Houses, Hashing, Hiking, Historical Sties, Mineral Baths, Museums, Music, Religion, Sports, Theatre, Transportation, Waterfalls, Wildlife and the fourteen Parishes .

In addition, there is a dictionary which explains popular words and phrases for visitors.

The 4th edition of Tour Jamaica is edited by Chris Dalrymple. 

Bowden Hill Waterfall.....again

This must have been the fourth or fifth time that we the adventurous ones of Fun and Thrills went to Bowden Hill waterfall in St. Andrew, yet we still had difficulty finding the way.

You see, because it rains so much there, the area becomes quickly and heavily overgrown and thanks to Sheriff, we were once again led astray.

It was Johann who saved the day. It is surprising though that neither Michael nor Barry knew the way considering the last time we went there and were lost by Howie (ahem!) they walked out the entire rain forest  for hours and kept finding the top of the waterfall but not the bottom! So shouldn't they know the area inside out by now? hmm.

It was a great day of riding, hiking. getting lost and friendly banter all the way however.

Alric won the comedy hour as we walked through the thick undergrowth . His son Brandon had taken a wrong turn and when he rejoined us, his father suggested that he should simply have jumped into the Hermitage dam and when he got home he would have turned on the kitchen tap to retrieve him. Then he remembered that his house was supplied by the Mona dam! lol.

Of course Bernadette could not resist the temptation of sitting in an ant's nest giving Orrel great pleasure in getting all the ants out of every part of her body.

As usual, to get there, we rode up to Red Gal Ring  where the men separated themselves from the boys and girls as Orrel, Bernadette, Michael,  Conrad and Jane George and  of course Maurice decided to ride the hilly Bowden Hill route. Even Johann, Barry and Sparkles had better sense than to tqke4 on that hill and as to me and my house, no way after the number of bad words those hills caused me to use on the previous occasion.

So the rest of us went the extremely scenic Hermitage dam route and Lisa Williams is really turning out to be a champion rider for despite the rough terrain, mud and water, she remained resolute and completed the journey.

  Theresa who will be leaving us for greener pastures soon, said she rode part of the way up to Red Gal ring but I never saw her on a bicycle on the way up! She did redeem herself however by riding from the top of Hermitage dam road to Manor Park and Chully, to show  off his high energy level, rode back up the hill to meet us after they got back to Red Gal ring and some of us were missing.

Yes it was a great ride and an energizing hike though the bushes. However I refused to get into the water, which after testing,  felt even colder than the one I had tested some years ago just below Whitfield Hall in the Blue Mountain  range. So being an unapologetic coward when it comes to cold water, I stayed far from the spray as the macho ones had a ball under the fierce, cold falls.

I wonder if the next time we go there we will be able to find our way without taking any more wrong turns?

Only time and our continued sense of adventure will tell.