Jazz Festival Disappointment

I always look forward to the annual Jazz and Blue Festival on the northcoast, but this year left me wanting,. Its really no fault of the organisers however. You see, every year except this year I have attended every night. I could kick myself for having  chosen Fridays as the day to to a talk show on Power 106, for it really is getting in the place of some of my fun. As soon as we renegotiate, I am going to have to change the day. For now even the Bank of Jamaica concerts which have excellent performers on the last Friday of every month is leaving me out.

But back to jazz fest. I hear Thursday and Friday night were absolutely out for this world. I could kick myself for not being able to see Coco Tea, Michael Bolton and Mary J Blige and Etana. I absolutely love those two guys and I hear the Mary J and Etana brought the house down.

I could  not get there before Saturday night and whereas Romaine Virgo was excellent,  Dionne Warwick was much better than expected and John Legend was absolutely wonderful, KC and the Sunshine Band and Monica should have paid the organisers to have them on rather than the other way around.

It was so bad that KC had to beg the people to stop walking out! Sure he was good in his time  but that was decades ago and he is now grossly overweight  and has nothing new. Further the dancers he brought on seemed more suitable  for  a circus than a stage show! I had seen him two years ago at Hard Rock in Miami on New Year's eve  and he was much better or maybe its because of the environment and his not having any competition at that venue why he was tolerable then. We left during his performance.

I was very, very pleasantly surprised by Dionne as I had thought she was over the hill but if you closed your eyes you would have thought it was the same Dionne of forty years ago, great hits and smooth can't done. And now that her eldest son has joined her repertoire they are really great.

Of course John Legend is incomparable. He is so charismatic and smooth. Boy what a man. Then he brought on Grumps Morgan and Taurus Riley and that just took it over the top.

The problem for me however is that after Celine Dion's performance last year,  there is no possibility of anyone ever surpassing that performance as it took us all to a new high.

But I remain an optimist, so lets hope one day soon she will be surpassed at Jazz Fess. The real high for me this weekend was really being with family and friends.

Fighting the Two Party Stranglehold

As people's frustration with the economic malaise in Jamaica increases and the reality that there is no light at the end of the tunnel possible as long as we are stuck with the stale JLP and PNP which have been fiddling with our lives for 50 years, sets in, more and more people are crying out for alternatives. To make matters worse, the old hope that new blood would have entered those clueless parties to bring about change is nothing but a pipe dream, since the powerful and power hungry love the staus quo and are not about to give an inch in the interest of strengthening democracy in the country.

While the cry for better alternatives is not new and many small parties have sprung up over the years only to fade away after an election,  the call for real alternatives is more intense today than ever before. But is it realistic to think that a third party can break the stranglehold that the traditional parties have on us if all else remains the same?  I hardly think so.

The first problem is that we do not have proportional representation but instead the less democratic winner take all system which consistently, results in parties getting just over half of the popular vote but ending up with up two thirds of the representatives in parliament. So where would that leave a third party that can  muster up even 10% of the popular vote? You are perfectly correct, no where.

While it is true that the Labour Party in England (from which our system is copied) did move from third party status replacing the once dominant Liberal party in the 1920's, the circumstances were totally different so we can't take any comfort from what happened there.

However I think the greatest obstacle to any third party having an impact in Jamaica is the corruption of the local government system which is a millstone around the necks of taxpayers but from which we reap little benefit. 

The fact is the only entities that benefit from the existence of the almost 300 parish councilors being supported by the public purse, are the JLP and PNP. This is because these councilors who are being paid by us are mostly nothing but permanent political fixtures and activists for the two parties year in year out.

On the other hand, they serve very little purpose to the taxpayers, as the usual chant is, we have no money to carry out their basic functions. So why have we continued to pay them for the past few decades if they cant even carry out basic functions? Since the IMF is demanding that we cut the public service, wouldn't it be logical to start with agencies we have learnt to do without for years? Anyway,  most of their traditional functions have long ago been  subsumed by central government or taken over under the Constituency Development Fund.

A few years ago I wrote  a critique of this same redundant local government system and a consultant to the ministry replied that they were critical to the running of the country especially since their main function is town planning. What a joke! Can someone point me to a well planned town in Jamaica today? At one time one could point to Mandeville but even that town is now nothing  but a series of chacka chacka, unplanned and monstrous buildings. Further, residential communities and the roads therein, especially in Kingston, are being devastated daily by illegal commercialization with the apparent tacit approval of the KSAC. So to take this to its logical conclusion, the parish councils are proving to be more destructive than useful!

Anyway, Jamaica is just too small and poor to be having fifteen different governments, (13 parish councils, Portmore municipal council and Central Government.) Fact is we are being smothered financially and practically by super heavy and counterproductive bureaucracy.

It was quite a long time ago that a debate on the relevance of the local government structure was bubbling and guess what? A commission of sorts was set up to look into it. What did they come up with? The concept of County Councils, one for Cornwall one for Middlesex and one for Surrey.

That was a very sensible recommendation but the idea was immediately buried by the politically  powerful JLP and PNP as it would  have put an end to their having hordes of persons on the ground profiling as representatives of the people when they are nothing but party activists being paid by the overburdened taxpayer.

So  now we come back to my main theme, how can a third party ever make an impact with that type of machinery the traditional parties (gangs)  have, compliments of the public purse?

It seems that before we see the next plethora of small parties emerging in time to fight the 2016 election, those so minded should tek sleep mark death and start from now to lead a campaign to mobilize the hapless and exploited taxpayers in this country to rise up and demand an end to the useless  Local government system, replacing it with three County councils made up of no more than an total of 20 representatives with well defined duties. The heads of these councils should be independently elected by voters too.

Of course, it is well known that each new generation likes to re-invent the wheel, so I am only throwing  out this suggestion to those of the younger generation of potential politicians or change agents who are not blinded by romanticism.

No More "Pathole" For Me.

Enjoying the cool clear water at Bob Marley beach

If you have never heard of Fire Saga, you should shortly, as he says he will soon "buss out". I met him at Bob Marley beach this morning as he regaled all who were there with his latest CD.

I was actually the first rider to get there this morning because of a mix up in communication. The plan that I heard was that we would ride out from Charles' at 6.30 am but when I got there, everyone had left to go to a 5k at the airport. So I rode around to Michael and discovered that Alrick, Omar, Gary and Marlon had also been left out of the loop.

Omar and Alrick went riding to Jack's Hill and  I started out with Marlon and Gary for the beach.  That was when I was exposed to the civilized manner of warning riders behind of pitfalls like potholes in the road. Gary and Marlon have ridden professionally and they simply use hand signals when they see some danger in the road. We, the bhuttos of Fun and Thrills  normally simply shout out "pathole". 

Maybe we will all become sophisticated  one day and use our hands too instead of distorting the poor pothole!Anyway, on the way out, Gary and Marlon ran into an old colleague of theirs. His name is Troy and he rode with me for a while on Michael Manley Boulevard. He says he is a stunt rider on both bicycles and motorcycles. I would like to see him in action. After a while I could see he was itching to go race the others and I was riding slowly so I assured him,  I would be ok by myself.

I never saw them again until they arrived at the beach later. By then I already had my first swim and breakfast.

Charles Simpsonsoon joined me for he too had been screwed up information wise and he had ridden all the way up Mountain View avenue to meet us going to the beach,  so of course he ended up riding by himself both ways.The others filtered in close to 9 am and soon the sea was full.

 Ann Marie who had come with Desiree, thought she lost her gold earrings which she had left on a towel on a table on the beach and lots of people spent a good deal of time looking for them. It so happens some perceptive person had seen it on the towel and decided it was not safe so wrapped it in Maurice's socks and put it safely in his shoes. Then not to be left out, Chully started searching frantically for his towel in which his glasses had been wrapped up and left on the same table. Eventually he found his glasses on the table but his towel was never to be seen again. Apparently someone had mistakenly taken his towel and left a nicer, newer one for him, so he ended up being better off.

The beach was not its usual calm self as it had quite a current. Charles Simpson who lives nearby told us they have been having unusually high winds, up to 30 mph sometimes he thought, in the early morning so that could account for the roughness, erosion near the shore and signs of dirt in the water.

It was Jordan's birthday today so Betty brought along a lovely chocolate cake. Betty always rises to the occasion.

T

Penny and the kids joined us later and although she says she is going in to have the baby on the 5th February both Chully (who has a world of experience with babies) and I told her we see it in the stars for this month.

As usual a number of riders encouraged by Maurice,  decided they needed to ride back. We passed the first set by the Harbour View Round about . Johann who had left out last, was way ahead on Windward road and when we started up Mountain View Avenue, we saw Marlon and Gary in front.

Although the sea was not its usual calm and clear self, I still had fun in the water after a nice ride out.

Photos; compliments of Ms. Elizabeth Williams

https://youtu.be/O4H4Js9esxY

Just Cruising

Boy if I had the money, I think I would spend the rest of my life cruising.  What a great way to travel.
This was my tenth cruise but instead of me getting tired of doing it, it gets better every time. And it was great spending Christmas with my grandson Shadrach who needed a warm break after a year in freezing New York.

The fact that I had been to all the places we visited over Christmas 2012 (except grand Turk) many times, but that did not make it any less interesting.

Really, I am glad I went back to Nassau, Dom Rep and Puerto Rico as I could see for myself how they have improved  much while we have regressed.

What impressed me most about Nassau was how clean and pristine it is. Nassau has nothing more than what we have in Mobay to offer visitors but the difference is when you got there, no one bothers you, so you can walk through the craft market and admire the stuff without ever meeting anyone telling you how hungry they are or how many children they have at home or just plain harassing you.....no wonder they had four cruise ships in port when we got there.

 It is not the type of place I like to stay for prolonged periods as they really have nothing to offer in comparison to what I am accustomed to seeing every day, but it was a nice break. Never got a chance to call any of my friends though for we were not there long enough for visiting.

Puerto Rico  has become much  more metropolitan than when  I was last there about 15 or twenty years ago. It is now just like any city in the the USA, no rural areas anymore and choked with cars. In fact the guide told us  that the population is now is 4 million and the car population  is 2.75 million. Choked is a mild word.

I took a tour of the Bacardi distillery, the largest in the world and was surprised to hear they grow absolutely no cane there anymore so import all the inputs.

They have however become the pharmaceutical  manufacturing centre of the western hemisphere and the stand of living has improved greatly.

Old San Juan is still super to lyme  in . I just love that place.

A welcoming poverty at La Romano

I did not see anything familiar about  the Dom Rep on landing as  I had only visited Santo Domingo before and this time we landed in  La Romano....2 hours  away. We did the historic tour into Santo Domingo and it was excellent, reminded me though of the wasted potential in Spanish town and Port Royal. And I got another reminder of how history is written . For in the English Speaking Caribbean,  Sir Francis Drake is honoured (a British legacy of course) and when we toured the Cathedral in Santo  Domingo which was  built from the 15th century, we were told how he was a vicious pirate who cut off the hands and nose of the priest there before he fled to Jamaica.

At the port in Grand Turk

I had never been to the Turks  and Caicos islands before and was  surprised to discover that the population at the capital, Grand Turk is a mere 6,000, so when two cruise ships landed , as happened when we were there, the tourists outnumbered the residents by over a thousand.

It it just a bigger version of  Lime Cay really, without even a supermarket but the waters surrounding the island are pristine and inviting, making it ideal for all types of water sporting activities. The tourist bus took us to the craft centre and  the driver declared it was downtown. If we were not experienced travellers who went off on our own, we would not even have seen the main street where the government offices are.

Two hurricanes, Ike i2008 and Hannah in 2008, knocked them out, but they are fully recovered and doing well.

I just love cruising for the food and entertainment is worth more than you spend. I must have eaten every possible thing including Alligator on this trip and had to abandon the elevator just to try and keep off the weight, for despite many resolutions, I just never made it to the gym.

I dont think Shadrach went to bed before 2 am any morning either.  Elaine (Perkeins) came with us and she said she had a wonderful time and truly enjoyed it, although we only saw her occasionally as she said she had to smoke and the only place allowing it was the upstairs deck, so she spent most of her time there.

I was disappointed I could not enter the karaoke contest as the only song I know really well is "My way" and because it begins "And now the end is near...." they told me they don't use it in karaoke on the ship! How superstitious can one get?

You know about seventy passengers did not get off the ship when we got back to Miami , they simply stayed on  and did another week, this time in the western Caribbean.  I should try that some time!

A Close Call

Phew. That was a close shave at around 10 this morning. Here I was enjoying an exhilarating ride down Shortwood road and as I started going through the green light at 4 roads, this jackass is a red susuki swift made a right turn into Barbican Road, right in front of me  nearly outing my lights!
Only good breaks and the grace of God saved me. The idiot ended up having to make a sharp turn which put her face to face with the oncoming traffic on Barbican Road. I hope she heard the expletives I shouted  at her!

A Charah Watson photo

And to think it had been such a great morning up to that point for I had ridden out at 6am to meet up with my amigos from Fun and Thrills in Manor park where some were marshaling a 5 k . I had signed up to walk.

Actually this is the first time I have ever walked in a 5 k. Chuck and Charles set a great pace but by the time we got to Norbrook Road, Charles had  had turned on the turbo and left us way behind so Chuck and I walked together after that.

Chuck said we were walking at about 4 miles an hour. (back off tortoises!) We had done a lot of warm ups at the training camp and actually I felt quite good after the walk. I think I will leave marshaling behind with 2012 and continue walking in these events.

After the event we went to Lisa's home for a great breakfast and wonderful hospitality. Between walkers, runners (Maurice, Howard, Bernadette, Kim , Lisa and Charlene, all ran) and marshals, we had a turnout of in excess of 30 persons.

Great camaraderie as usual.

No Alligators There!

It was really a great day....for everyone but Dr. Kim, I guess. For as she descended the hill to Alligator Pond, a wasp attacked her knee and in her haste to get rid of him before he had done too much damage, she catapulted over her handlebar and damaged her left wrist badly as she tried to break the fall. 

Dr. Kim with wrist in sling

When I got there she was writhing with pain, but the would be doctors in the Fun and Thrills group soon eased her pain with cold water, Reiki (compliments of Stewart) and Excedrin . The greatest moment of it all however was when Chuck arrived with two large Poinciana pods and about 20 feet of rope to make a splint  for her aching wrist. Oh for a camera at moments such as this!

Kim was not the only one who had a spill however for as I descended the hill , I saw Orrell (aka GM) coming out of the bushes at the side of the road and thought to my self that he had found a flush toilet! How wrong I was, for when I stopped to assist and commiserate with Kim, he rode up and admitted that he was emerging from the bushes because he had picked up a skid and landed there.  Luckily, nothing but his pride was damaged however.

Maurice too had his bout of bad luck for as he started to ride from way back at Jucci patties, his bicycle gave out so he spent most of the trip driving. Poor Maurice, for he is the one who does not want to only go on long rides but he would ride to hell and back if possible!

As I said earlier however, it was really a great day...a wonderful ride, the last long ride of the year, and it was orgainised by Thomas, Omar and Theresa. What was absolutely amazing from the very beginning is that we drove out only 5 minutes later than the designated time, to ride to Clarendon Park from where the A team would ride.

Being a permanent B teamer myself, I started riding from Williamsfield, Manchester, thus avoiding the miserableness of Melrose hill. As I took off up the Royal flats hill, I was quickly overtaken by Rose and Charles the first, who I did not see again until they made a wrong turn and had to double back and we rode together after that. It was amusing that they had taken a wrong turn so early, for organiser Thomas had drummed it into us before we started riding,  that we should keep left at the Y junctions and they went right at the very first one and nearly ended up in Mandeville.

The route from Williamsfield was really great, gently undulating all the way.

Then we got to  an intersection where if you went right you would have to climb this huge hill leading up to Northern Caribbean university. That hill was so intimidating that I could not wait to remind my fellow riders that Thomas had insisted that we keep left at all Y junctions. By then we had been joined  by the Ayatollah, Fatman and Sheriff  and heard that Chuck and Bernadette had kept right and ridden up the hill. They were phoned and  the Ayatollah browbeat them, for I suspect, the same reason as I, into returning to join us.

 I was even more convinced  and adamant that we had taken the correct turn, for I had spent many of my youthful days in Knockpatrick where I had an aunt and I have no recollection of that big hill. Actually, I had never returned there since 1967, about a week before I got married, for my dear aunt Gwen was dying from cancer and I will never forget her screams as the pain wracked her body. Yesterday I could not even find where her house had been, for the place had changed so much. More importantly,  I had no recollection of that huge hill leading up to Northern Caribbean University, which had been West Indies Training College and which my cousin Betty had attended.

Anyway, back to the ride. At first, Chuck fiercely resisted our interpretation of the route, because he said if that is where Ayatollah had gone, it was the wrong direction as the Ayatollah has an unenviable reputation of leading us astray. So the Sheriff called Thomas and he confirmed that we should indeed have turned left so we laughed the detractors to scorn.

After a short rest, we rode off and the first local person we saw on the road, we queried if we were heading to Newport. "No" he told us, "You have to go up the hill. " In disbelief we sought a second opinion from a man hanging out clothes in his backyard. He too confirmed that we were heading to May Day which would not take us to Newport. Despondently and after much argument we turned back to take on the horrible hill. I saw a support vehicle coming and immediately waved it down and asked a man walking on the road to throw my bicycle into the back of the pickup.

I was not the only one who shied away from the hill for we saw Chuck ahead holding on the back of a support vehicle ! True, he had ridden up before but for all I know, he had held on to something the first time for he has that penchant, as displayed many years ago when we first took on a ride to Newcastle!

When Thomas caught up with us and we challenged him for giving us wrong directions, however  he laughingly retorted "Good". True I guess, for what would a ride with Fun and Thrills be if some of us did not go off on the wrong track?

"Photographer" Omar poses in front of a windmill

Thomas then compounded his mischievousness by telling us that once we got to Newport, it was downhill all the way. It certainly was not for we kept climbing until we got to the PCJ operated Wignton wind farm which has an elevation of 2,126 feet.

Going downhill from there would have been absolutely wonderful had I ridden my mountain bike which has shock absorbers in front,  for the road was quite bumpy.

However the breathtaking scenery minimized the torture on my hands. The mountainous terrain below, the blue  sea and the Lover Leap cliff from above, were was absolutely breathtaking.

Lovers Leap cliff in the background

The Alligator Pond  river is not one of our best rivers however but I couldn't wait to jump in to cool off.
Once I had cooled off  however I had no inclination to return and since the sea there has a reputation of having a dangerous current, I avoided it, although some of the  more daring ones went in.                                                                                                                                                                      The area itself is not particularly attractive for the collection of hurriedly put up food shacks are just that, shacks.

Breakfast/(lunch) was  delivered shortly before one and this was when Richard nominated the food at Dressekie, St. Mary, at the ride in November arranged by arranged by Alric, the best food of all rides for 2012. I had missed that ride as I was at Silver Sands at a party, but as far as I am concerned, when I am starving as I was yesterday (despite Michelle smuggling me a cup of her delicious soup)  every food is the food of the year!

Regardless, I was too hungry to care and after spending some time enjoying the great camaraderie that comes with Fun and Thrills rides. When  the time came to leave, I displaced Howie from his own vehicle and slept almost all the way home.

Can't think of a better way to spend a Sunday.

Ps. Incidentally  there are no alligators at Alligator Pond or any where else in Jamaica. 

Photographs, compliments of Omar. (I hope!)

Banana Republic Forever

I guess Jamaica is doomed to remain a banana republic forever. Why? Those things called bureaucracy and red tape which is designed to stop progress forever. Look at this latest case of red tape and bureaucratic madness.

Orthopedic surgeon Dr. Sean Thompson, whose parents are Jamaican migrants, has been working with the Ministry of Health and the hospital to come down to Jamaica today and do, free of cost, hip replacements on 6 indigent patients who could not otherwise have afforded orthopedic care at the Cornwall Regional Hospital in Montego Bay.  The implants which cost US$15,000 each are donated by US medical firm Stryker.

Would you believe that now that the Stryker rep is here and Sean is in flight, they are being told that Customs is holding on to the implants as they want them to pay for them!!!

And this is the type of madness that occurs when a government agency, ie. The procurement division of the Ministry of Health, is assisting!! Can you imagine what the bureaucracy does to ordinary persons when no officialdom is not involved?

Jamaica cannot afford to provide any level of proper health care for its people and guess who suffers most? The poor. We are supposedly blessed in  having a prime minister who "loves the poor", yet this is what happens when those who can, attempt to help the poor!

No wonder investors are shying away from doing business in Jamaica as the latest international report indicates that we have now been downgraded 5 points, from 85 to 90. ( See doing business report 2013)

Is there any doubt that Jamaica will forever remain a banana republic.