No Berka for Me.

Every now and then when I listen or read the news, I say to myself, thank God I was born in Jamaica.

This is in reaction to hearing about the trials and tribulations some women have to live with because of culture, religion etc.  However, rarely do I reflect on how men feel about some situations, but then,  why should I, after all, I ain't no man!

Anyway the other day I was at the pool with my daughter and granddaughter when Michele pointed out a family in the pool to me.

There were two small kids who meshed in beautifully with every one else, but guess what, not only did the mom have on a Berka, but she was fully clad to from head to foot...... long sleeves and all.

Well I have often seen Arab women on the streets dressed like that but had never considered that they had to go into swimming pools fully clad.

I also learnt that not only cant they expose flesh, but no hair either, so the Berka was tied at the back around the hair so then even when she went underwater, no hair showed. She looked quite happy while there I was  feeling sorry for her. I guess when you are born in a culture and live that way all my your life, it just comes naturally.

That's when I started to think like man at home in Jamaica,  for many men there, go to the beach and pools just to feast their eyes on flesh. 

We laughed as we discussed what Jamaican men would do if a similar dress code applied to women at home.

But it couldn't really because for Jamaican women it would be death before dishonour!

Actually, recently I read where a woman, somewhere in Canada, went to court to go topless, because no one bothers men when they do  that, so she claimed discrimination.

Actually, when I reincarnate, if that is not the law in the place where I am born, I will be going to court  too, to file a similar suit!

You see I already have many plans for my next life all sorted out. lol.

A Lovely Reunion

I dont think aunt Bell will ever forget her 85th birthday on Wednesday 4th July 2012.

Some time ago, talking to my daughter Michele, we decided we were going to stop only seeing family when they got sick or in the coffin. So we would start with aunt Bell in Canada, who was our oldest living relative on my side.

I actually thought she would be 90 years old in 2012 since my late mother would have been 100 this year and I could have sworn aunt Bell was 10 year her juniour .
Anyway, she disabused me quickly.

The plan was for me to travel up to Ontario from Jamaica and Michele and family from Denver and  we would all surprise her for her birthday. One problem was that aunt Bell never stays home as Canada is very old people friendly and for the same price, the bus company sends special vehicles for the elderly. So we had to figure out how to find her at home on her birthday.

Knowing how she just loves mangoes, I called her from Jamaica to say a friend was coming to Canada and I would be sending mangoes for her birthday  I wanted to know when she would be at home on the 4th. She asked me the name of the friend and we arranged for 11am.

On the 4th we got Donnie to call her to tell her he had brought up the mangoes and would be coming over. He arranged to meet at her independent living retirement home at 12 noon.

When we arrived we saw her on the patio waiting but we were about 15 minutes late. While Michele and Devin got out the baby, I went ahead to surprise her but by then she had gone back upstairs.

Madelyn at Red Lobster

Luckily there was another old lady in the lobby and she let me in through the security door and I called aunt Bell's apartment...twice, only voice mail. Apparently she got in just after I left a message saying I was downstairs and not expecting me, she did not even recognise my voice.

 When she got out of the elevator downstairs you could see the absolute shock on her face when she saw me and although she speaks to Madelyn daily, she never met either her or her daddy Devin. So she thought the other people in the lobby were visitors to other residents until Michele greeted her.

 He surprise was overwhelming and I told her that she should pinch herself as we were really there and she was not dreaming.

 When we went upstairs, we discovered that our chatty mouth family, Michelle, my daughter in law  and Bernie, my brother, nearly gave away the surprise. for Michelle had called her to wish her happy birthday in the morning and asked her if we were there yet and Bernie had also called and asked if she had gotten the mangoes yet!

Anyway as she had no idea we were coming, she did not connect the dots and was really overwhelmed to see us.

We then asked her where she wanted to go to lunch and she said Red Lobster. At the restaurant, when they heard it was her birthday, they brought her ice cream with one single candle in it and staff and manager sang happy birthday.

Coincidentally, the manager is from Barbados and we had a long chat. He is also Rhianna's cousin and says she has gotten very snotty since she has become famous and just the week before, another cousin got married and she sent a text message and did not attend. Anyway, he said,  her mom was there he said and apologized for her.

Aunt Bell at Red Lobster

It was a wonderful day all around and one aunt Bell will never forget as long as she lives....and I hope she lives for many many more years.

Niagara Falls.....Again

Although this was my fourth visit to Niagara Falls, Canada, I did not remember it being so absolutely fabulous. Well actually my third visit was to the American side which is far smaller and the park not half as fabulous.

Terrible thing about that trip is that it was before I got a digital camera. I had taken my grandson Shadrach there from Manhattan and would you believe the roll of film I bought there was old so not one picture came out!!!!! I could have had a heart attack.

The first time I went there I was only 14 years old and had gone on vacation with my parents and really don't remember that much about it. The second time was  when I used to live in Canada , many many years ago and again I dont remember much about that trip.

Anyway this time it was with my other gran, Madelyn. She is just one year old and had come over with her parentsas we are all going to surprise Aunt Bell, my last surviving aunt who is 85 years old today 4th July.

It was her dad, Devin's idea that we go to Niagara Falls as he had never been there and it was a great idea. So along with Donna and her kids , we headed out and it was only about an hour and half drive from where we were staying with Diana.



Incidentally, Diana has one of the most beautiful gardens I have ever seen outside of a publicly funded botanical garden. She is quite a workaholic,  not only putting in many hours  gardening but also personally doing major construction work on her home and the results are fabulous.

It was really great hanging out with my favourite granddaughter  and the rest of the family and as I said before, Niagara falls is really fabulous...... really one of the great wonders of the world.

As we had the kids, we never got to go on the Maid of the Mist boat behind the falls this trip but  Shadrach and I had done it the last time. However we did go down 135 feet under the falls and view them all from behind and it was absolutely awesome as the force and quantity of water that you see up close is really beyond imagination.


The kids had a wonderful time not only running up and down but eating and going through all the toys in te3h shops. And we grown up also had a great time.


Niagara falls is worth a visit every time.


For more photographs see;http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151081258576823.489965.763366822&type=1

That Colour Problem.

I don't know when the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) chose the colour green as its party's colour, but it is certainly causing nightmares for the Peoples National Party, its opponent and the  party which now forms government in Jamaica. (It won the election in December 2012.)

You see the dominant colour in the Jamaican flag is green! 

This silly colour problem seeped into the public sphere when the mayor of Montego Bay, Jamaica's second  city, was being sworn in. For that was when some PNP cultists who were in charge of decorating the venue had such a serious problem with the dominant green in the flag, that they changed the backdrop, for they used the flag design, but put only the black and yellow!

Of course this caused a furor nationally and internationally and the foolish and lame excuse from the PNP Mayor did not help, since he claimed that they could not find any green material in Montego Bay, so that is why the backdrop was only in yellow and black!

As part two of our colour problem has emerged, it now surrounds the official song  to celebrate Jamaica's 50th anniversary as an independent nation.

Up to December 2011, the JLP had formed the government and they had started to put in place arrangements for a big bash in 2012 to celebrate the 50th. Among the plans left behind was an official song entitled 'Find the Flag" (in your heart and wave it.)

The  serious controversy was created when the new PNP government paid twice as much as it should have cost, to have another "official"song, "On a Mission" done.

 I had wondered what it was all about until I saw the music video for Fly the Flag, for there is an over-abundance of green in the video as hundreds of  flags are being waved.

This is what the poor PNP cannot deal with once again. It is also clear that they are on a mission to highlight yellow. You see, that is the official colour of the present Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller. For while the official PNP party colour is Orange, when Portia defended her leadership twice, all her paraphernalia was yellow and that  tends to be the dominant colour for them these days.

So when  you see the On a Mission print ads these days, the colour that blinds you is yellow! Poor idiots.

You know we have such petty politicians and their antics are really boring.

But when they seek to bring our important 50th Anniversary celebrations into disrepute over the stupid colour controversy, it is really moves from boring to pathetic. 

What have we done to deserve such idiots as our leaders?

But isn't the bible that says we get the leaders we deserve? I guess it means, we Jamaicans are really a bunch of idiots.

The Jamaican flag.

The Fabulous Cinchona gardens

Chincona Gardens has not changed that much but what has changed, is the road from Mavis Bank to get there. For that has deteriorated badly since the last time we traversed it. Its a shame, for the scenery along that route is so breathtaking.

Those were the thoughts that crowded my head as 19 of us from Fun and thrills Adventure club wended way slowly up through the dangerous circuit of break aways and potholes on our way to St.Peter’s from where we would hike to Cinchona.

I had been to Cinchona many years before but via Westphalia and Halls Delight and this way via Clydesdale seemed steeper to me but just as scenic as the vast colourful mountains loomed protectively around us all the way while the lush green flora and fresh cool mountain air took all tiredness that thought of creeping in, away. So despite the steepness, the two and half hour trek was not all that tiring

At Cinchona itself we had snacks and messed around, taking in the beauty of the trees from eucalyptus to cinchona trees (from which quinine was made to treat malaria in the olden days)and the colourful ferns, lilies cannas etc . We also explored  the two Bamboo walks  with  their velvety moss floor.

As we hung around,  we saw a lone white man hiking towards us. As usual, Charles in his hospitable style, started to question him and we soon discovered that he was from Montreal and this was the twelfth country he was travelling around by all means possible. He had come up from Mavis bank on the back of a bike for $500 and hiked to Cinchona. This was after hiking up to the Blue Mountain Peak the day before. We offered him water and food and soon he was one of us, gratefully accepting the offer of a ride back to Kingston.

On the way back, we stopped at a small stream and waterfall just above Clydesdayle but only after my freezing toe told my brain to resist any effort to put any more of my body into that icebox. 

I retreated but Charles, Howie, Thomas the Canadian guy Jeff and Lisa were not as timid however and all seemed to have a whale of a time.

On our return to St. Peters wer were grateful that Charles had had the foresight to order red peas soup, one with fish base and the other with chicken, for the weary hikers.

We headed back around 3pm but took instead the route via Silver Hill, and Section to Newcastle, a far less treacherous corridor than via the Content, Mount Lebanon side. 

It had been a really fabulous day interspersed by discussions on every subject but mainly homosexuality, while the photographers, professional and point and shooters, had a field day.

For more photographs, see:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151043323386823.484803.763366822&type=3

The Politics of Cultiusm

The ridiculous practice whereby new Jamaican governments,  for selfish, cultist reasons, discontinue work  in progress by a previous government, just cannot continue beyond this our 50th year of independence, for it is just too expensive for  it is just too expensive for this bankrupt nation.

As I drove through east rural St. Andrew, the reality once again struck as one saw the proliferation of dangerous break away after breakaway and the myriad of potholes on some of the narrowest and  most dangerous corridors in the country. Yet every couple miles there  were the JDIP signs outlining the retaining walls and other remedial works which had been started over a year ago but which were stopped by this new government.

Yes we all want to know how the JDIP funds were spent and where applicable, we want to see some people go to jail if they stole or misappropriated those funds which the next generation has to pay back. But surely stopping critical rehabilitation of the infrastructure is totally unnecessary, especially in a country where the most basic audits take forever. 

What we have to consider too is the fact that when you stop work such as this, to start it back becomes extremely expensive as all sorts of additional damage is done in the interim which has to be corrected.

The spiteful practice of stopping work started by a  previous administration, has been holding back Jamaica for decades and if we start the next fifty years of our failed independence with such decadent policies, the deterioration in the country will only escalate.

And on another matter, I hope young Damion Crawford  (th Member of Parliament) has plans to open back Chestervale Youth camp to give badly needed training, especially to those of your youth at risk. For this fully furnished facility was closed from the early 2000’s or late 1900’s and is racking up millions of dollars in security costs while young people perish.

Kidnapped!

Now I know what it feels like to be kidnapped and imprisoned! Well maybe that's a bit dramatic since my experience was nothing like that poor Colombian senator who was kidnapped and held by rebels for some seven years during which period she had a child (no doubt the result of rape) for one of the rebels.

So by comparison, my experience was by no means as frightening but it was a form of kidnapping and imprisonment anyway.

It started so simply, for after having a bout of fever and shivers on Friday 25th May and taking the  usual home remedies and having the fever go away, to my  surprise after a great day of riding to Lovers leap in St. Elizabeth from Spur Tree Hill in Manchester on Sunday, when I returned the fever suddenly reoccurred accompanied by chills.

View from Lovers Leap

By Monday morning the stubborn fever was still around, so I went to my doctor at Medical Associates Hospital  to get some antibiotics. Problem was, my doctor was sick so they sent me to his colleague Charmaine Webb who I had  known many years ago. When she heard about the fever going and coming, for some reason she looked up symptoms for malaria and asked me if I had been to any countries where they have the disease.

I mentioned that I had been in south America but had been back for over three weeks but that seems to have set off a panic as according to them Brazil has a serious malaria epidemic.That's when it was referred to a Dr. Kildere Donaldson who is supposed to be an expert in contagious diseases and he insisted that I had to be admitted for observation and the matter reported to the public health authorities for malaria had been eradicated from Jamaica and they were paranoid that it not return to the shores. I had to be admitted immediately they said so the necessary tests could be done.

 Never having encountered a situation like this, I called to get legal advice but was told that my contact had no knowledge of public health law. So I called a friend had been the medical officer of health for St. Ann. His sober advice was that I go into hospital for observation and testing for  if I didn't, the public health authorities could send the police for me and take me into the public hospital  to be quarantined and tested.

 Well that was enough to get me to go back and be admitted to Medical Associates where they put me in a private room, under a mosquito net and all! However, the  net was open at the top so if any mosquitoes were around, they could have flown in and out in wild abandon, so happily, since I am terribly claustrophobic, I quickly abandoned it!!!

For two days, I was put through every possible test and I think they took away at  least half of my blood and would you believe I never even had a temperature or chills for the entire time I was there . 

Anyway, the hospital is not bad at all. The food good and all the staff nice but there is no place like home. So since I had absolutely no more symptoms, I was allowed to go home although the test results from the government lab were not yet not returned. (I hear those bureaucrats down there can take up to 2 weeks to send back the results!)

What a relief all around. No more confinement and no more topless mosquito nets.

One thing I know though, the next time I go south, I will be taking every single vaccine available, from yellow fever to dengue, for I will never be confined again.