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. 

Top Down Politics

A basic tenet of democracy is that it is the will of the people that  prevails or as Edmund Barton put it, "..creating a nation requires the will of the people".

Here in the Caribbean, we have some leaders trying to create a united states of the Caribbean called Caricom, without the will and consent of the  Jamaican people for if we go back to just over half century ago, it was definitely not the will of the Jamaican people.

However, based on the "school tie concept", some leaders in the English Speaking Caribbean are determined to push the idea of Caribbean unity down our throats even if it chokes us to death, all because the colonizers had left us with the concept of  the British West Indies and West Indies Cricket.  "

While it is true that the people of the eastern Caribbean are one big family and  this even includes people from Guadeloupe and Martinique because of their proximity to the rest, those of us in the western Caribbean have no such ties that bind.

The proximity of these islands mean that when you are born in Grenada, hopping over to school in Trinidad is normal or to Kittitians, having Christmas dinner with relatives in Antigua is the norm etc, so they know each other and are close family, unlike us in the western Caribbean who are virtual strangers apart from the parochial UWI trained politicians.

For the man in the street in Jamaica there is no relationship or even knowledge about  the people or culture in the eastern territories. In fact, many Jamaicans know so little about the other Caricom member countries that it is not unusual to hear my countrymen referring to Guyanese as "small islanders!" Neither do the people of the eastern Caribbean know much about us and some even think of us all as being gun toting , trigger happy people and only realize that the country is relatively peaceful  and we are like them in many ways, when they visit.

It is the fact that we know so little about each other that makes our being a part of Caricom so counterproductive and besides, in terms of trade, we are too far from the eastern Caribbean and their populations too small to make the free trade advantageous to us. In terms of free travel throughout the region, the difficulties we are having in the other territories are mainly because the man in the street knows nothing about us and judge us by the statistics that put us in the top five murder capitals of the world.  That is probably what encourages immigration authorities throughout the region to be wary of those of us carrying Jamaican passports.

In short, until regional unity becomes accepted from the ground level and the UWI school tie clique can prove to us that there are practical benefits and less counterproductive reasons for us to get closer to our eastern Caribbean cousins apart from it being the wish of our leaders, most of us will never willingly accept this shot-gun marriage.

Leadership Crisis

Jamaica has a serious leadership crisis which does not bode well for the future of this beleaguered country at all.

Things  have been made worse by the recent election of Andrew Holness, a Seaga protegee and apparently a follower of Machiavelli, to the leadership of the alternative government, the JLP.  For many people had hoped he being a young man who claimed to be transnational, would have brought some semblance of decently and integrity to the political process as the present government has long proven to be not only incompetent and corrupt but lacking in leadership. For while our first female Prime Minister Portia Simpson is a novelty, that is mainly what she is and in fact is an embarrassment to female leaders throughout the world, who until now, have been far better at governing and leading than their male counterparts.

So that was why all eyes and hope were on the young man, the representative of the new generation. Holness has however has proven to be far too vindictive, petty and totally dishonest to allow us to hold out any hope for this country, for since he won the election, his only mission seems to have been to go after not only those who openly came out in support of his opponent Audley Shaw but also to even punish those who remained silent, leaning neither towards him or Shaw!

Where he struck the nail in his coffin however was by his outright act of dishonesty towards his own colleagues and  party supporters,  showing what he has in store for all  detractors, independent thinkers and persons aligned to the PNP. 

When Holness was first selected JLP leader by the disgraced Bruce Golding in 2011, as per normal, he selected a group of senators to sit in the Upper House. What Jamaica did not know however is that these appointees had been required to demean themselves in exchange for the vaunted job, by giving Holness undated and open letters of resignations.

While it has been revealed that  the unsigned  letters did not state how or when they could be used. Holness had apparently given the senators verbal assurances that they would only be used if any of them opposed the party's stance on having the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) replacing the British Privy Council as Jamaica's Finial Court of Appeal. 

However when two senators Auther Williams and Dr. Chris Tufton refused to obey his unreasonable request for all senators to resign after he was elected Leader, he simply ignored his promise to the two to only use the letters for a specific purpose, dated them and sent them to the governor general!

If that is not a total breach of trust, I certainty do not know what is, but if Jamaicans do not understand by that act, he is totally without scruples, then we are as blind as lambs to the slaughter.

Of course the crisis of leadership in this country has not passed unnoticed by all around us, for, within days, Barbadian Minister of Industry and International Business Domville Innis,  in castigating the Gleaner for an editorial criticising his government, told them to mind their own business and instead pay attention to the  "...rot going on in Jamaica."

Jamaica is indeed the sick man of the Caribbean. 

I Plead Insanity!

I plead insanity for having believed the hype on Sunday last that despite the bruising leadership challenge to Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) leader Andrew Holness, he would have been willing to be magnanimous in victory.

I guess I was just hoping against hope.

Instead, Holness moved swiftly to get rid of those who did not support his leadership, reappointing only Bartlett and Shaw as showpieces to the new shadow cabinet.

What would have been magnanimous and sensible would have been for him to have reappointed everyone from the original shadow cabinet en bloc then over a period remove the non performers, as they have always outnumbered the performers. Instead he jumped straight into stark victimization.

Plus what possible reason can there be for wanting the senate to resign for nothing has changed over the 2 years since Holness appointed those senators except that some did not support him ion his leadership challenge.  His calling for their resignation therefore has nothing  to do with their performance or usefulness to the country but pure pettiness.

I  therefore applaud  Mr. Shaw for putting his own political future on the line and standing up with those who supported him who are threatened with victimization, none more obvious than the two deputy leaders who came out in support of him but whose nomination papers mysteriously disappeared  few days before the election.

And if Holness really wanted to unify the party as he claimed , what of the fate of the lady Councillor who was evicted from Samuda's office for supporting Shaw and the one whose future in  politics was threatened by Warmington?

It is perfectly clear that while democracy prevailed on Sunday, it is really vindictiveness  and divisiveness which is the final victor.

Looking into the future

On Sunday, the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) pleasantly surprised the Jamaican people by having a peaceful and apparently fair election. Surprised everyone I say, as so many of the older, influential persons in the party had been totally against an electoral challenge to the leader Andrew Holness because of their culture of  allowing only the elites in the party to select the leaders, thus opening up of the system to allow delegates to decide was to them totally unacceptable to them.

Their vitriol on the campaign trail even indicated that they considered anyone who supported the challenger as a traitor and we all know the penalty for treachery!

It will now be very interesting  to see who makes the new shadow cabinet and even the senate as that will tell us whether the talk of uniting the party is really genuine.

Now that the process is over too, we look forward to them presenting the country with a workable alternative to the mismanagement and corruption which is the order of the day and hopefully, those who were only roused from their slumber by a leadership challenge though being well paid by taxpayers, will remain wide awake to defend the interests of the Jamaican people. 

The Red Rio Cobre

Someone suggested to me yesterday that I change my name to "Sunday Dropper". This is because yesterday was my second spill in about a month, although unlike the one I took on the "Goat Island" trip, this time I got a mere graze when I fell after my front wheel touched Lisa's back wheel. I hope it teaches me to pay attention to whats in front of me, no matter how animated the conversation but somehow I doubt it!

The ride to Linstead was absolutely great in that it was overcast and the blaring sun which usually discombobulates me quickly, was absent. 

The Bog Walk gorge with its huge rocks was as serene, peaceful and spectacular as usual except we knew from then that with the Rio Cobre running red, our chances of swimming in it would be nil.

As usual, the A riders went over Red hills while the majority of us stuck to the main thoroughfare and by the time Grace and I, the last two riders, got to Jucci in Bog Walk, they were already there.

To get to Winnie's place, we had to ride on the old road from Bog Walk to Linstead which was great as we did not have to contend with the highway traffic. We were supposed to have been joined by some walkers in Bog Walk, but they fell by the wayside. 

To get to Linstead, we passed though a very pleasant village called Deeside and the area, dotted with citrus plants was picturesque and homely.

You know I had been hearing about Dinthill high School for years but never really noticed where it was until yesterday when we stopped at the gate to wait for other riders.

Chuck who had been on the planning trip and had been to Winnie's place in Linstead was our pilot but he took us on a wild goose chase up a steep hill which ended at a dead end where the "Collector of Taxes" is located. (I had been on the planning trip but could not recall where the turn off was either)

 I rode  up that steep hill, no problem but when we had to ride down  then up the right steep hill, it was too much, so I had to get off my bicycle and push up that hill.

Winnie, who is a new rider and someone I knew from when we farmed in Spanish town, has set himself up in a nice business in Linstead with a small hotel and that was our final destination yesterday. It has a section of the Rio Cobre river with even a tiny waterfall  for bathing at the back of his place, but as I said earlier, because the river was running red, swimming at this time was out although some persons did swim in a tiny pool there which 'Winnie said had started out as an aquarium until he decided he needed the water more than the fish. lol.

Breakfast  was ok and most of our time was spent playing or observing dominoes and would you believe that shortly after we ate, Ayatollah was announcing that there was more food for us at Charlemont, a few miles from Linstead.

Incidentally, Mark Richards who has been missing in action for a while and his friend Michael joined us on this ride. They rode back to Bog Walk and with Maurice (RIBI) being absent, no one rode back home.

At about noon we departed but I went with Ayatollah, Neville and two young ladies to pick up the food we had ordered from a lady who was supposed to  meet us at the playfield at Jericho Primary School.

Jericho  is quite a pleasant and well developed district west of Linstead, As we went up a dirt path to the football field, the Ayatollah came out of the vehicle to guide us then we saw him running back saying there was a big bull ahead, looking at him!

 On inspection however, the poor "big bull" turned out to be an innocent little heifer which was even tied with a rope. That's all the Ayatollah wanted to hear to get the courage to become a bull fighter or should I saw a cow fighter.

Ayatollah the courageous bull fighter, faces the enemy! lol

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All I can say it was a good thing that the lady we were waiting for was not the person who was feeding us when we first arrived, for she did not arrive with the food for over an hour but she brought some really good juice which we thirstily  welcomed and carried the food into Kingston .

It came in handy for dinner for those of us who had no dinner at home so  turned up at the Ayatollah's in the evening.

Great day but next time we have to go there during the drought period when the rains are not washing down the surrounding hills into the river.

The JLP Leadership Race

In another few days we will know who will lead the once alternative government (the JLP) to most likely, another  defeat, in the next election. Lead to another defeat I say, since the JLP has become more and more irrelevant  and unattractive over the years, so I really cannot see them ever winning power again in the near future without first going back to basics. But of course I could be wrong for as they say, a week is a long time in politics.

When Andrew Holness became leader of the JLP in 2011, many of us welcomed a bright young man who one would have expected to come with new ideas. Instead he seems to have surrounded himself with dinosaurs whose attitude has kept them miles away from the grass roots while Holness sat back and relaxed, collecting a fat pay as Leader of the Opposition while apparently just waiting on the government to become so unpopular that the people would vote them out.

Had it not been a leadership challenge to Holness, he would apparently have remained asleep, though equipped with the report outlining the reasons for the losses in the 2011 election but doing nothing to correct the problems.

Then there are the questions being raised about his possible apparent, sudden, immense wealth as being displayed in the construction of an ostentatiously vulgar mansion in Beverly hills which numerous people in the know, claim he is the owner of.

The big questions are , if Holness wins on Sunday, will he finally start to reorganize the party taking into consideration the suggestions in the report or will he promptly go back to bed? And if challenger Shaw wins, will his health hold out considering the strain that Jamaican politics can put on an individual? ( Remember, he had a few health scares when he was minister of finance after the 2007 election.)

Time will tell but it seems Jamaicans who are not stuck on any party but just the welfare of this beautiful country,  have got to start actively seeking out and supporting and building third parties which show the potential to help the country weed out the corruption for which this PNP government has become notorious, a direction from which they will apparently never deviate, unless forced by a conscious electorate. Problem is, no such parties have yet been formned!

Backward Constitutional Requirement

On reading an  article in the Jamaica Observer today that Jamaican born Mark Escoffery-Bey  is vying to become president of the Bronx borough  with its almost 1.5 ,million population, I could not but be reminded of the fiasco in my own country, Jamaica, where persons born in the USA cannot represnt our tiny constituencies without first revoking their American citizenship.

This became an issue in the 2011 election and one would have thought we would have looked at this discriminatory constitutional provision by now, discriminatory because it prevents younger Jamaican born persons who take up US citizenship   (as opposed to the older generation who migrated mainly to England and became English citizens) to return to serve their country while remaining dual citizens.

 On the other hand, commonwealth citizens, even those who have never lived here for more than a year, are welcomed with open arms to become constituency representatives and even prime minister, without having to give up anything.

It is time this 50 year old provision be reworked one way or the other, either to keep out all aliens or level the playing field.

One would have thought that the JLP which was the party that suffered most because of this discriminator constitutional requirement, would have gotten off their bottoms to mobilize the citizens to have this requirement changed to give Jamaicans better a wider choice in candidate selection, but I must have been dreaming to have expected the JLP to really fight for progressive change.

Richmond Ride

In actual fact we spent around 45 minutes there lyming and not only because we were enjoying the food and camaraderie but also because Howie, who never disappoints when it comes to punctures, had his fifth in two weeks but  expertly dealt with the problem while we waited.      Jamaica is such an absolutely beautiful country that sometimes when we journey out into the country and are overcome by the sheer peace and tranquility, we tend to forget that we actually exist in the country which is one of the top five murders capitals in the world. So ofttimes we relax out vigilance which could easily lead to us becoming victims of crimes of opportunity. Crimes of opportunity are defined as those "..... committed without planning but simply carried out because a potential perpetrator sees and seizes the opportunity to commit a crime".

Howie the puncture expert

Sharon, the "almost victim"

     I was seriously be reminded of these facts yesterday as Fun &Thrills members set out enjoy a great day at a river at Richmond in St. Mary. 

We actually set out in time and were at Stony Hill by 6.30 am where we waited until we were encouraged by organizer extraordinaire Ayatollah to take our rest break at Golden Spring where Shamira was waiting to join  us.

After that it was great, easy riding along the heavily shaded, lush and curvy Junction Road as we headed hungrily to Castleton gardens where the best janga and cow skin soup and boiled corn is sold and is always ready and waiting.

It was on the way to Westmorland bridge, that wide 185 metre bridge built between 2012 -2013 by China engineering at Chovey to replace the one destroyed by hurricane some years before, that I was reminded how easy it is to become a victim of a crime of opportunity.

As I rode slowly up one of the many hills along the Junction road, I heard Sharon calling to me and the story she had to tell  when she caught up was really frightening.

She had been riding alone with new rider Ashawri and as they passed a white van with two men aboard,she overhead them talking about kidnapping someone.

Shortly afterwards the same van passed them, slowed down and moved over to the left bank so that Ashawri who was ahead of her, would have been banked as she approached . So Sharon called out to her telling her to overtake on  the outside. As Sharon approached, the man on the passenger side opened his door and invited her to get in but she too took a wide berth and seeing me ahead, called out for me to wait on them at which point the van drove away.

The fact is however, had they had a weapon, they could easily have ordered, not invited,  Sharon in to the vehicle and with no support vehicles around, they would have got away without problem. Thank heavens nothing like that happened yesterday but we have to remain cognizant of where we live and our support  drivers need to be more supportive, especially of the women riders.

Apart from that it was another great outing for those of us who love to discover Jamaica via our bicycles.

I have certainly never been to Richmond and only knew of it as the place where "elite" prisoners are held.

Having heard about the series of hills once one crossed over the Westmorland bridge to head west our destination, I had long decided that I would stop riding as soon as we reached the foot of the first hill and as always I kept my promise to myself, jumping into Charles Simpsons' vehicle which was being driven by Gayle. To my delight, not only was I greeted by cool, most welcome A/c but there was even a cooler with ice water in the vehicle. Not one to suffer unnecessarily too was Charles himself who soon joined us.

We journeyed slowly through some of the most beautiful countryside with green rolling hills to the south and the blue Caribbean sea visible on the n northern side, through verdant and uniquely named districts such as Bromley, Clonmel an Alleppo and you could see the fabulous houses perched on the hillsides around Highgate as wee approached.

The final hill to Highgate was really challenging and I could see why those who insisted on riding all the way, bypassed that hill by turning off at Alleppo.

Unfortunately we did not know they were going to do this so waited in Highgate for about an hour before Simpson decided to drive back to see what happened to them. It was only then he learnt from a villager that they had turned off.

By then we had been joined by another vehicle of non riders, and Pat who had not been riding because she had suffered  injury to her ribs on a previous fall, decided to join Simpson and I on the all downhill 2 km hide to Richmond.

When we got there, just about everyone else was  seated and waiting on us and the Ayatollah to start eating as the food and servers were ready and waiting.

The food was not as good as at Old Harbour  Bay and I cannot recall seeing more dour faced server for years but Kim insists that most of the persons serving in the canteens she has eaten at, have been miserable looking! I wonder why?

 We didn't let her bother us as we shared stories about the trip over and it turns out the road the others had taken was narrower and terrible causing the Ayatollah to lose his balance at one point and JuJu to complain about the toll it had taken on the vehicles. Howie of course who relishes off road riding (read bad, potholed,  unpaved tracks tracks with grass growing in the middle!) thought it was wonderful.

After brunch, we headed to the river which was grossly oversold by the Ayatollah who had  claimed we were going to a place where five rivers converged and you could dive off safely.

Where we ended up was under an unsafe looking bridge and swimming in  water below where some people were washing upstream, but what the heck, we were hot and tired and had a wonderful time.

Not long after, Maurice who deserves to get an OJ next year for  ri-biing, (riding back from wherever we go) took off and although no one else volunteered  to accompany him, insisted he would ride back to Westmorland bridge anyway. Later when  Pat called him he was at Castleton gardens!

 We were the first to leave with Stevie driving Howie's vehicle and as we started on the Junction road the rain started to pour but that did not prevent  us from stopping to get some more of the delicious soup with curb service to boot.

It was not until we started to ascend from Golden Spring to Stony Hill that we found Maurice and prevailed on him to join us in the vehicle and that is when we discovered that he had ridden so fast that he had out ridden the rain and was as dry as ever.


Big up Mr. RIBI.

TOTALITARIANISM RESURRECTED?

I thought totalitarianism was decisively defeated with with the overthrow of Pol Pot in 1979 but clearly some of the crumbs were blown in the wind to Jamaica landed on  representatives Dayton Campbell and Richard Parchment.

For what else could explain their attempt to have government pursue those who use a legal product in the privacy of their own home?  Not even James Otis' internationally accepted  philosophy that "A man's home is his castle' seems good enough for these legislators!

I have not smoked for many years and have absolutely no desire to again be tied to that product, but what possible leg can these men stand on in trying to outlaw the use of a legal product in the privacy of ones home? And what would be the next step, the establishment of a  special police squad to go into people's homes to see if the water they drink has the correct  ph balance or that parents only feed their kids on healthy foods (defined by them of course!)?

Anyway, since I maintain that the glass is always half full, these gentlemen have  probably done the nation a good deed by reminding us of the words of the great Desmond Tutu himself that "The price of freedom is eternal vigilance."

Thank God for those members of the special select committee reviewing the Tobacco Control regulations  who stood firm against the dangerous position proposed by Parchment and Campbell in  the house of parliament recently.

No goats there!

I think that Charles Williams, aka Ayatollah, is just about the best organizer in Jamaica. No if's, no buts about it, for to have carried out the feat of organizing a walk/ride from Kingston to Old Harbour bay for around over 80 people with great and more than enough food and then the boat trip to Goat island without a hitch, took more than ordinary organizing skills.

The great Ayatollah himself

Take a bow Charles and I even forgive you for crashing into me and giving me my first riding scars for 2013!

 It wasn't his fault entirely though. In fact, it probably happened because I was ungrateful for didn't the good book say ingratitude is worse than witchcraft?

I am of course talking about the memorable visit to Little Goat Island by the F&T posse and friends who "walk the hill” on Sunday October 6^th 2013.

I was actually the last rider to leave Kingston as the Ayatollah had asked Winnie to bring in his panel van to help transport back bikes and riders. Winnie, who lives in Linstead, does not know his way around town too well, so I had to wait till he came to my house then take him to Sean's to get Gary to drive the vehicle. By the time we got ready to ride out, it was almost 6.30 am. 

By then, we saw no one from F&T until we got to Dunrobin Avenue where Orrel, Johann, Nicole Brown, Alrick and Maurice were waiting on us. In no time however I couldn't even see their tail lights, but Sean stayed with me and I discovered why quite soon, as he was not feeling well and had to go into the support vehicle. So I continued riding alone, happy anyway since I was going at my own pace with great Sunday music coming from my earphones.  

When I got into Jose Marti, I saw Ayatollah, Barry, Fatman and a couple other riders and support drivers but didn’t want to break my momentum so did not stop. It was not until Ayatollah crashed into me further on that I heard they had been waiting on me on his insistence, hence my comment about ingratitude!

Actually, I was partially to blame for the crash for riding along the highway between Jose Marti and the train line, I thought I heard my keys fall and not realizing anyone was close behind me, stopped and dismounted. It was only then that I saw the Ayatollah barreling towards me at about 90 mp and with no escape, I had to accept my fate. 

When I did manage to overcome the pain in my knee and get up, I went searching for my keys but recalled that I might have put them in the bag in the support vehicle and there I found them. That crash had therefore been totally unnecessary but having once lost those same keys on a ride along the Junction Road and not realizing it till Michael found them, I was not taking any chances. 

All is well that ends well for I did manage to ride into Old Harbour under the watchful eyes of Winnie Charles and Fatman at various legs of the journey.

At Old Harbour I decided to join the walkers who were all gathered there and loaned my bike and gear to Lisa (Larry's sister) however, after plodding for about a mile in the sun and seeing support drivers driving by and enjoying great air condition, I could not resist, so joined Bobo in Betty's vehicle. We saw Betty White further on and she too opted for A/c over the pelting sun as did Daniel Morrison. 

The long, winding breakfast line

By the time we got to old Harbour Bay, just about everyone had arrived, the grace had been said, a long line for breakfast was in place and some people were even playing dominoes already.

Luckily , I had met the owner of the place on Tuesday when we had gone down to make final arrangements. so I was able to bandoolo him into getting me some breakfast without having to join the long line,to the chagrin of many of my friends who though starving too, had to wait patiently!

The food was great though and well worth the wait I would think.

The trip over to the island was well organized with three boats adequately equipped with life jackets and carrying between 8-12 passengers, pulling out like clockwork to take the eager passengers quickly and safely over.

Little Goat island is no Lime Cay.

It has very little white sand which is quite coarse anyway and while the water is pleasant, it tends to be cloudy (read polluted) and the bottom is mucky and clayey, not sandy as at good beaches. 

It seems the trip I made to goat island many years ago was to Big Goat island as I recall a nice beach with a reef where we had gone spear fishing. 

So this time I opted to return on the 2nd boat going back to try and get in some dominoes on the mainland before the impatient one returned to say "we have to leave now."

As we headed out, we saw Stefan, Penny and family going over in a boat and it was wonderful to see them as it proves that they have not abandoned us although they have migrated to Mobay! In fact, Stefan told me later that he is organizing ride in the west for us and I am sure he will be held to it.

Dominic the great domino player

You know, although Alrick insists that he is not a domino player, we certainly held our own against Stanford and Chris (support drivers) and in fact, the closest we came to getting 6 love was when Dominic nagged me into giving him a game and he and Chris took us to 5 love. I had to remind him that his birthday was coming up soon and he would not get a present if he gave me 6 love, to save the day. lol

Anyway it was a very nice day although I think the beach by Old Harbour bay is one of the worse kept fishing beaches in Jamaica. It so bad that on entering the boat, some people did not even want the water to touch them.

According to Grace, one person at the market,

The water is really dirty there!

on seeing a Chinese couple among our group, entreated them to quickly take over the place as the black people were keeping it so nasty that even maggots were running wild on the beach. 

That is a profound statement and although I don’t know how widely held that sentiment is in the area since the Tuesday before, the people who I spoke to all claimed they were against the Chinese takeover, but I am now having second thoughts after seeing how we have polluted the area!

By the way, Maurice and Johann lived up to the MTR label by riding off in the blazing sun. They seemed to have had some luck though, for when we got to Kingston at 2.30 pm, it was very overcast and Maurice had already reached Kings House gate and was riding alone as by then Johann had turned off to go home. Incidentally, Johann says he is training to ride for the first time in the Jamaica Cycling Association's annual Kingston to Negril ride this year and I have no doubt that if he does not win, he will at least come in the top 5.

Go deh Johann.

And no, there are no goats on Little Goat Island, just this one about to take the boat over!

Some photos purloined from David's collection.