Reflections on 80.

 The thing about life is that we never know how long we will retain our memory. That is why I am so happy I started this blog about quarter  century ago and record almost everything. (Wish blogs were invented long before though.)

I was reflecting on becoming 80 which sounded so remote up to a week ago.

 But now I will soon move away from that landmark and end up where I wonder?

This is why I am saving these pics to remind me of all who helped me celeberate, from nearby Plantation and Lauderhill to distant Sebring  all in Florida. 

Last year I had big plans with friends to go on a cruise around sections of Southern Africa from Mauritius to Cape Town in 2026, to celebrate this milestone. However, my heart objected, informing me that I have to stay close my cardiologist.

So,  I will be finishing off the celebration next month with my immediate family, on a cruise in the the nearby Caribbean. (Some have school till June).

It is what it is.

To get the celebrations going, we started started in Plantation where my good friend Carolyn hosted a wonderful dominoes session.

 (https://joan-myviews.blogspot.com/2026/05/dominoes-forever.html)

Horace, Carolyn,  uncle Lesly, uncle Ruddy, Hollden at dominoes on my birthday. 

Then it was off  to lunch with my Trini friend Helena.

Not only was the Trini curry goat delicious,  but I have to thank Helena for reomtroducing me to Indian food. For you see, I was in Sri Lanka exactly a year ago, and while it was a great experience,  there they not only curry almost everything,  but the hot spices nearly killed me!🤢. 

I had never met hotter peppers in my life and thus I swore off curry.

But the Trini version was a delicious, gentle reminder that not all curry is hot and my once favorite roti, bussup shut, was most welcome.

Bussup shut.

Next we finished off the celebrations in Sebring where Camille and I drove to,  to spend the long weekend  with my lifelong, bosom friend  Sunshine and my extended family.

Thr Golden girls aka the scrabble ginigogs😁

The octogenerian.

Today (23rd) is Givannis birthday, but that makes him a Gemini, not a great Taurean😁. 

 He turns 13.

Yep it was great to get out of the city and hang around with more "family."❣️💕

Cardiff is extra special too for athough he was born an Adventist so pork has never touched his mouth, he had no problem seasoning and cooking the most delicious pork shoulder for me.😄.

Big up Cardiff.

It was so well seasoned, soft and delicious that I even had some for breakfast next day!

It's been a great 80th celebration.

On to the next big landmark.😉

Home at last😊

 As I flew over Zambia, it was as if I had reached my beautiful home, Jamaica.

The place is absolutely sunny, green and lush and I actually got to see the wonderful Victoria falls from the air. 

It was even more amazing than I had ever thought for as far back as I can remember, I had always wanted to visit that place described as one of the wonders of the world. 

It’s in Livingstone, which is really flat as it’s in a valley. 

I didn’t get a pic from the air, but the pic in my mind is forever etched. 😊

Airlinks lunch boxes are so attractive 

We had left the hiccup in Johannesburg behind and had arrived via Airlink that lovely little South African airline which calls itself ‘domestic’ but it is clearly regional, as Zambia is definitely not part of South Africa!

I think the different feeling I got immediately about Zambia was because of the climate. 

Cape Town is absolutely beautiful but it tends to be bleakly. As I landed in Zambia a warmth embraced as  it must have been in the 80’s. 

Yup, my type of climate. 

Oh how I love my friend Wendy.❤️

She is a Jamaican who has made Zambia her home for the past 7 years but knows the entire region like the back of her hand. 

Without her, we would never have this wonderful adventure as she has directed us every step of the way, (except on how to get left at an airport).

Look at the Airbnb she recommended for us!

I can’t wait to get to Lusaka to see her and meet her family for I really haven’t seen her for about 20 years.

And Ian and Sue who own the lovely Airbnb have been super helpful,  from the past few weeks, long before we got here. 

Ian took us into Livingstone where we got some stuff, tried some local food and walked home.

Interestingly, on our walk home, we saw a lady and her school-age son, walking and eating these grape looking things.

 They offered us some and the young man even went and picked some more. We were warned that if they touch the outside of your mouth it itches.

 It did.

Coincidence was, she works right at the crocodile farm right beside our home.

Small world.

 I feel so at home here that ever since I arrived, the words to the signature song made by the late, great Peter Tosh aka stepping razor, have been swirling in my head.

Don't care where you come from
As long as you're a black man, you're an African
No mind your nationality
You have got the identity of an African. 

'Cause if you come from Clarendon (you are an African)
And if you come from Portland (you are an African)
And if you come from Westmoreland, you're an African

So don't care where you come from
As long as you're a black man, you're an African
No mind your nationality
You have got the identity of an African. 

Amén

I now know the difference between 3 g, 4 g and 5 g. 

With 3 g you can do almost nothing on the internet. With 4g It takes forever to upload pics so g although this blog is written on 24th March, I really don’t know when I can publish it 😡. 

They say you don’t miss something until you lose it. Well I really miss 5 .

Jottings

 As I sit in the airport waiting on flight to Livingstone, Zambia, I have been thinking about some things I learnt in Cape Town.

This beautiful building is a mere pizza place

This city is full of fabulously designed buildings built by backbreaking slave labor but because history is written by the victors, most of the Black people give the colonial/slave masters credit for them.

I got angry with a tour guide who kept thanking the British, so at a stop, had to pull him aside and read him the riot act.

His commentary changed after that but mental slavery will probably take centuries to be eliminated.😡

And did you know that when Rhodesia got independence and became Zimbabwe, whites born there could move to South Africa, be granted citizenship immediately and given access to all the privileges whites automatically get here?

I didn’t!

Even now, this country has so far to go. For example, no matter how rich a black person becomes, to get a child into what had been a private white school, they must go on a long waiting list while white children are immediately accepted. (Education is supposedly free up to high school but there are private schools which offer better facilities).

And although the white population has shrunk from 20% to 8%, they still control commerce. With unemployment among blacks at 18% the exploitation of workers is sickening as those who have a job must accept anything to hold on to it.

 Working and living conditions are still in the pits for blacks.

On a more pleasant topic, our Usain Bolt is so loved that a taxi service to compete with 

Uber was established using his name. While Uber is popular with tourists, Bolt is popular with locals.

And my personal favorite, the late great Peter Tosh was given special credit at the slave lodge, for his militant songs decrying oppression. 😊

I was a bit miffed when South African after South African kept telling me that Jamaica is in America though, until someone explained that it means we are in the Americas just like how the island of Mauritius which is in the Indian Ocean, is considered Africa.

A bit upset still but understand the complications of geography better😊.

I was quite surprised to see so many mixed race people, having read Trevor Noah’s “Born a Crime.” 

As interracial sex was a crime, in public his mom had to pretend to be his nanny not to get arrested!

His Swiss father was never in any peril though,  I suppose because sexual exploitation of black women by white men was part of their perks under apartheid.

Many people are upset because the South Africa today supports Russia in the Ukraine affair. We must remember though that the USA ‘empowered apartheid‘. When  the UN called for sanctions against the apartheid regime in 1962, the US resisted until the late 80’s😡

Memories are not short!

On a lighter note; 

South Africa is the only country in Africa with nuclear power and I was intrigued to discover that you can buy your electric service at the corner shop where you buy bread. 

All you need is a pre-paid meter and the shop transfers power supply from its meter to yours. And it costs no more, as the shops are agents of the power company. 

Neat eeh?

To get to Zambia we took Airlink, one of the 3 South African owned domestic carriers. We had to fly through Johannesburg and would you believe that although it was only an hour and half we got breakfast?

The beautiful box in which breakfast was served on Air Link

We could fly for hours in the USA and even internationally to Jamaica and those darn airlines would not even give you a bottle of water!

My wandering thoughts😏

Edutainment

In my book, there is no better way to learn about a country than through its museums. 

Art museum 

With our trip to Roben island being cancelled because of the rough seas, we therefore reversed our itinerary to take these in today.

While I did an entire blog on the Iziko Slave Lodge which is the most fascinating museum I have ever visited in my short life, the others I visited are mentioned below. 

The Natural Science museum and planetarium 

The Art gallery was excellent, the Planetarium educational and entertaining but I was a bit disappointed with the Natural Science Museum , considering the diversity of animals on the continent and it's role in the evolutionary process.

 Remember these are my views😊.

The walk to these museums was beautiful as we had to tread through the lush, beautiful Company Gardens lying below the ever-present Table Top Mountain.

Although I absolutely love Table Top Mountain which hovers lovingly and protectively over every angle of Cape Town, not being a lover of heights, the cold or cable cars,  I was not excited about going to the very top, but my cousin Anette was, so we separated.

Anette at the peak

 She sent me some great pictures  from above which is good enough for me.

So back to the museums.

Walking around Cape Town is pleasant and easy as every block has working pedestrian lights, the drivers are super-polite and careful and one feels safe as there are uniformed security people all over.



These are not armed guards and they don’t even appear obtrusive. On the contrary, they are extremely helpful, pleasant and knowledgeable but their presence is clearly effective.

At the museum gallery, I was particularly fascinated by the role stone art plays in improving knowledge of our history. 

Never thought about it before!

This entire display was made from empty bottles 

The icing on the cake was running into a free jazz concert on the way home. For Cape Town is famous for jazz.

This was held at Green Market Square to commemorate the public holiday, Human Rights Day (21st March).

Pictures from Annette’s trek to the peak.