Coincidences

I am always fascinated by coincidences. No more so than this interesting one that happened in Jamaica yesterday.

According to the reports in the Gleaner newspaper, Abdullah Al-Faisal who was deported from England after serving a prison term for preaching racial hatred and violence against non-Muslims, just happened to want to go to parliament on that day. He was however not allowed in as he was not properly dressed.

What I found curious was Al-Failsa's claim that his visit was impromptu as he was curious about the Jamaican parliament and just wanted to see it in action.

Isn't it passing the limits of great coincidences that his curiosity just managed to get the better of him on the day the "terrorism bill" was being debated there?.

Poor God.

Some bible tooters will tell you that the good book proclaims that the love of money is the root of all evil.

I wish to disagree whole heartedly however as our experiences on this earth has shown that more people have been massacred over the love of religion than the love of money. 

The latest reminder of this comes from Nigeria where some 5oo persons, mainly women and children, have been chopped to death this very week, near the city of Jo. These victims were supposed to be Christians who have been massacred by their Muslim neighbours as a reprisal for the massacre of Muslims which took place in January this year.

 History is replete with this type of brutal savagery in the name of religion, something I have never heard happening because of the love of money.

For if its not not genocide in Bosnia or Darfur it is as they say "sectarian violence" in India, Iraq, or terrorism in the United States (what do you think 9/11 was?) and Britain. And who remembers the brutal religious taerrorists in Uganda who kidnapped children and forced them to kill. Their name? ....... " The Party of God."

Poor God. The atrocities being carried out in Her name are really outrageous and one wonders when biblical teaching will be updated to keep up with the realities of life.

Getting the Leasership We Deserve

I don't remember who said a country always gets the leadership it deserves, but in Jamaica's case where it is once again being demonstrated that it is the criminal dons who run things, we are getting exactly what we deserve.

I remember clearly in 1995 when the member of parliament Heather Robinson went to parliament and told the country that the head of the Clansman gang, master criminal "Bulbie" wanted to take over her constituency. She stoutly declared that before she allowed that to happen she would walk away from politics. However, her party, the PNP under P.J Patterson refused to support her. As to civil society, they were no better as her political demise was met with a stony silence from the churches, women's groups and all influential voices in the society.

Similarly, around the same period when Golding formed the National Democratic Movement and renounced garrison politics, he got only minimal support from the country. When he returned to the mire however (traditional dirty garrison politics as practiced by the JLP and PNP) he was welcomed with open arms?

So haven't we brought the situation on ourselves where the government now puts the interest of a don over the interest of the rest of the country?

Another Beautiful Waterfall

I had no idea the Hermitage Dam was so large. On a previous visit there, I thought I had seen it all. But until you go around the bushes to the southern end, you really do not appreciate the huge expanse of this dam, or regretfully, the fact that it is overburdened with silt and almost empty at this time. Thanks to Dwayne for the eye opener. He is a 4th form student at Tarrant High who along with a friend of his who attends Kingston College, take the long trek on foot to Stony Hill every day before they can get transportation to take them to school. In the evenings, they repeat the process.

Dwayne wants to be an engineer and hopes to join the army to start the process. He definitely has the eye of an engineer for as he gave us the tour, he explained that the huge mountains of dirt that the NWC refuse to take advantage of the drought to remove, are going to erode the capacity of the dam to hold the maximum amount of water when the rains come again.

We had arrived at the dam early as Charles had arrived at my home promptly at 5.30 (the appointed departure time from the headquarters in Hope Pastures) and we had headed out slowly, for a pleasant ride while enjoying the cool morning air. We arrived at the dam at 8.16 am and met Dwayne who had accompanied his sisters across the bridge on their way to church, before he turned back.

He told of us of the vast quantities of fish that breeds in the dam and the pleasure and income the local people get from fishing in the dam. His brother is one of the enterprising fishermen who sets his net in the dam and uses a raft as transportation.

The other riders eventually arrived at about 9.30 am and happily Fatman had driven to Stony hill and bought the breakfast. And what a welcome and delicious breakfast it was for we were starving as we had depended on our "cane man" having fruits for us to buy on the way but was only able to get a few ripe bananas.

After breakfast, we headed off to Bowden Hill Primary school where we were to meet our guide Mr. Mayne to take us to the waterfall nearby. In the meantime, Charles set off with Dwayne to go to the falls via the river with its slippery rocks.

Mr. Mayne's son acted as our guide to the falls while his father set off to chop down the bushes on the better trail which had become overgrown. This proved to be a 20 minute hike through green, lush country, reminding me a bit of some our treks through the Cockpit Country. Sections of this trail were a bit challenging as we had to climb over huge, slippery rocks in the river. But it was an overall pleasant journey. The extremely high waterfall which is fed by the Motion river which flows all the way from out of Portland is in a lush almost Garden of Eden like setting.

At first touch, the water felt extremely cold but when one jumps in, it becomes pleasantly refreshing once the body becomes acclimatised. Right under the falls is a ledge on which up to three persons can sit comfortably while getting a massage from the cascading waters.

We spent a very pleasant morning there, frolicking in the fresh water, horsing around and taking pictures. The hike back was easier as Mr. Mayne had cleared a much easier route for us to walk back. I can guarantee that this waterfall will become one of our favourite spots for future treks.

We all rode back together except Celia, Charles and Grace who took the easy way out. Penny also went in the support vehicle part of the way as Zuri was not at all enthralled with the numerous potholes that she had to abide in the carrier on the back of Stefan's bike.

For more photographs go to ;http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=logo

Ash Wednesday and all that

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On Ash Wednesday 2010 Fun and Thrills had a real nice excursion to Reggae Falls in St. Thomas. Around 8 or 9 vehicles laden with bicycles and around 40 persons set off in the morning to the round about in Morant Bay where we jumped on our bicycles for the reasonably easy ride to the falls.They seem to be looking at the falls for some type of development there as the National Works Agency has installed a metre to measure the volume of water coming through. Those falls are not natural anyway but are the remnants of a hydro-electric plant which operated there many years ago.

We really a nice frolic swimming, dominoes, barbecuing, eating and drinking (even jankro batty was there!) while the young beauties sunned themselves. Incidentally, would you believe that Fatman and Chin You who we gave 9 love on New Year’s Day gave Stevie and I 6 love? Anyway thats dominoes. If you can give it you gotta be able to take it.

Around 1 pm when the rains started, everyone (who should have already been wet from swimming in the river!) grabbed up their belongings and prepared for the return journey. That’s when Stewie arrived with my domino table. Remind me never to give it to him to bring in the future! Anyway, dominoes is great on any table so we really did not need it.

Quite a number of persons rode back to the gas station (I didn't) and I understand that one of of Marlon's (Michael Chuck's son) friends had a slight spill on descending the hill into Seaforth, but he did not really get badly hurt.His type of spill is not iin the classic realm set by Barry!

Charles provided the excitement for the day by driving out through a deep section of the river (he takes the propaganda that these SUVs’ are all terrain vehicles, seriously I suppose) and getting the shock of feeling his packed vehicle sinking as he got stuck. Fun and Thrills has a number of super fit males however so in a matter of minutes they had him on his way.

The Sunday ride was as usual up to Maryland where Coy cooks that excellent breakfast. There used to be a famous ad in the olden days saying, "I will walk a mile for a camel." In my case, I am now riding uphill for two hours on a Sunday just for Coy's breakfast and it is worth it every time.

Incidentally, Howie, one of role models, took some garbage bags up with him so he could pick up the garbage strewn all around the swimming area. Great move.

As for me, I aint swimming in that cold water until summer comes and the weather warms up. But that did not stop Michelle and Orrel from combing the cold river for my body today. After the long ride up to Maryland, some of my old muscles were feeling a bit stiff so I started to walk to get them back in form. Ended up at the old spot where we used to go before the villagers dammed up the section where we now swim. When Michelle and Orrel arrived and saw my bicycle and did not see me in the water, Michelle said they started to look around to see if I had washed away.. Thankfully, I hadn’t!

For more photos at Reggae falls, go to;http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=187234&id=763366822&saved

Its Corruption!

After the article (below) about my Ash Wednesday run in with the police was published, several persons have gotten in touch with me to tell me that this was not an unusual case as some corrupt cops have been using the powers given to them by the state to conjure up all sorts of bogus charges against unsuspecting civilians. They then suggest that they can make these charges go away for a fee.

I have no idea what those police had in mind and since I am unable to contact the Complaints Department of the force which does not seem to have a working telephone and it would not be a stretch to suspect that they do not have email addresses either, I am going to send the complaint to the anti Corruption Unit under Justine Felis. Of course I still wont hold my breath in the expectation that even a slightest investigation will be done, but what the heck all I have to lose is the time needed so send an email!

To Serve and Protect?

After living in Jamaica for most of my long life, on only one occasion was I able to say something complimentary about the police, I suppose because I have been exposed to police officers in other jurisdictions, I have never accepted boorishness, crassness and belligerence as part and parcel of the thrust to "serve and protect."


The exception to which I referred above happened last year when I went to the Papine police station to report the death of a friend and was absolutely bowled over by the professionalism and politeness of the two cops on duty. So shocked was I that I felt forced to publicly comment on it several times. However, my latest encounter with two policemen on Ash Wednesday at 6.45 am , poignantly reminded me why I can never ever like, respect or trust those so-called officers of the law.


As arranged, I had picked up a young man in Barbican Square and was proceeding up Barbican Road when I saw a patrol car which I had glimpsed earlier, on the other side of the road, with its lights flashing. An officer made a gesture to me but I did not respond immediately as I couldn't believe that it was me they were trying to stop as i had done nothing,. The car then came up behind me and the siren blared so I stopped. Within seconds, a policeman was at the passenger window shouting to the young man beside me "Why yu move from behind the steering wheel when yu si wi?" It was with total astonishment and shock that I asked him what on earth he was talking about. He then shouted that he had seen me change places with the passenger and wanted to know why!


I actually thought I was in a movie since that this the only place I had ever seen the type of acrobatics necessary for a passenger and driver to change places in a moving car without crashing!. Shocked, we both denied that any such thing took place. When he turned to his colleague for him to confirm that what he was charging was true, I did detect that the other policeman was a bit reluctant before agreeing with him.


Realising that I could be in a precarious position, I immediately took out my phone and started to dial. That seemed to incense him even more as he shouted that I could always call the commissioner as he couldn't do anything about. Calmly I informed him hat I was calling my attorney for obviously this was a serious matter. On hearing this, he calmed slightly and mumbled that every time some people get stopped by the officer of the law "dem want bring lawyer into it." He then told me to produce my license and I did.


He looked at the license and as quickly as his surprise attack had been, so was his departure at which point I wrote down the license number of the vehicle, MPD 18. I spent the next few minutes trying to figure our what had just happened. Had this been some attempt at shakedown? Was supposed to be so frightened that I would produce some money? No it couldn't be, I decided for the usual approach when they are looking for rent or whatever, is to claim to be doing you a favor by not writing a ticket and expect a reward in return. Anyway, this approach has never worked with me as a I would rather rot in jail than bribe a cop!

Finally, I concluded that we must have just had an encounter with a heavily armed drunk man, mad man or a coke head. Now that is really frightening for I am not aware that the police force does any random testing on these heavily armed people who they send out daily to interact with the public? I suppose they simply dismiss the almost daily complaints by abused members of the public and the friends and relatives of those who they claim are killed or shot up by the police after attacking them with anything from a gun to a toothpick.

I am sending a complaint to the Police Complaints division but of course would never hold my breath in the expectation that this matter would ever be investigated, All l can say to the public is, beware when stopped by any member of this totally out -of -control organization.