The next decade....what's in store?
Musings of a yamfooted traveller still trying to shake off those last 20 pounds as she treks across the Caribbean
Here is a poem I wrote in English class for Miss Leyow. That was third form I think. 1979/1980.
It just highlights that all of my life, my focus has been on how large or small I was. Very poor indeed.
The First Years
A few years back I was always saying,
'Mummy may I have some more food?'
And Mummy would always say,
'Don't you want to be slim and trim?'
But at that time it didn't matter to me
If I was as slim and trim
as my sister, or Patsy Yuen, (NB. a former Miss Jamaica)
And then it suddenly dawned on me,
That if I wanted to be slim andn trim
Like my sister or Patsy Yuen,
I would have to stop eating as much
As I used to when I was younger.
I decided to clean up a book shelf here at home in Jamaica. It was interesting to go back in time. Some of the things I found included past test papers for various subjects, from 1979/1980. I got a D in an English Literature test, probably because I hadn't read the book. I HATED Literature. Now I have come to know the value of reading.
Another thing I found was some books from UWI Nassau. Had lunch yesterday with two friends who I met there and it seemed like just yesterday that we were there sharing a rickety board house on Gregory Street. But it is in fact 20 years! On 20 August 1987, I wrote in my Accounts book at 3:27pm that I was sleepy. That's 20 years ago! (Oh, I misssed quite a few 9am classes because I overslept....didn't hear the alarm!)
Now the Accounts story in Nassau is quite a story, and one which I tell very often to show what luck and determination can do.
I went through first year Accounts at UWI Mona without understanding the concept of Debit and Credit. But somehow, I got a C at the end of first year. I could do Bank Reconcilliation and Cash Budgeting. (I use neither in life today!). When I got to Nassau and we did the first mid term test, I think I got 46%. I went to the teacher and asked him for private extra lessons. He said no. (There was a good reason I learnt afterwards). Tears welled up in my eyes, because I realized that if I didn't understand that concept, I would be forever trying to catch up. I was up a creek!
Now another Jamaican friend was also a bit clueless, and a fellow student who had taken a shine to her, offered to teach her. I tagged along one night, not to be a student, but just to do something. I remember this quite clearly, and he reads this blog so maybe he can say if he remembers this.
I was at the back of the Annex (classroom), sitting on the desk dangling my legs, while my friend sat up front listening to him. Then suddenly, something he explained made me get it. The lightbulb moment people talk about really does happen. The next mid term test I got 76% and my Accounts teacher, the same one who refused to give me extra lessons, wrote on my paper "way to go girl, I knew you could do it". One of my proudest moments.
I ended up with a B+ for the final grade after the exam. The next Accounting course the following semester, I was the only student to get an A! Sweet!
Now in the other post, I will share something else.....
So I was agonizing over the lack of broadband internet. For several days after the power came back, there were only two lights on the modem. There should be four. Kept calling Cable & Wireless but "all our agents are busy serving other customers" was what I kept getting.
Persevered today again, and finally got through. They had a recording saying there was a problem and they were working with the overseas supplier to rectify it. I asked the dude if we were affected, he said no. Then walked me through everything to make sure everything was hooked up okay.
He asked about the telephone cord from the splitter to the back of the modem....huh? What cord? There is no cord plugged into the back of the modem. So there it was, dangling from the splitter...NOT attached to the modem. So, problem solved. I said to the dude that he must get these silly calls all the time. He said he was just glad that the problem could be solved. I then told him that I was sure that after he put down the phone from me, he was going to relate the story to his colleagues, laughing. I wouldn't blame him!
So I ventured out with the kids today. Two things were needed. A loaf of bread and a padlock for Penny's kennel.
First stop Sovereign. Only bulla there....the man said Purity delivered bread but it went like...well... hot bread! No they don't sell padlocks. Next to Tru Value. Dem lock since 4:30! Then to Monarch's. Didn't have the padlock I wanted. Next to Azan's. Although the door was open, the lady standing beside it said "we're closed m'am."
Next to Super Plus. Dem lock too. Liguanea Lane Pharmacy. No bread. Oh, I forgot to look for the padlock.
Now many years ago, we always used to stop by this little shop on Barbican Road, next to where Burger King is now. I stopped and asked a man to ask the shop lady if she had bread. "Mooomy, di lady want to know if you 'ave bread." Yes Moomy....good! Now....did I have enough money?????
I haven't been to the bank since I got here. So I have no Jamaican cash. I didn't even have US cash because I left it at home. Anyway, I parked over at Orchid Village, took my bright orange purse, crossed the road and went to the shop. How much? J$120 for the loaf (US$2 or thereabouts). I count up the money. No, I am short, by $20. But I remembered leaving some coins in the car so I run back for them. (Jamaican motorists are very mean to pedestrians!).
$30 more dollars in hand, I skipped back to the shop. Oh no, is white bread. We don't do white bread (even though when the Lucky Hardough bread was the only one in Sovereign yesterday, I snapped it up!). She said the whole wheat was not sliced, and worse.....it was $125! "Di whole wheat a likkle dearer miss" piped up the lady in the background. I searched the purse again and thankfully I had the extra coin. Yes!!!! So now tomorrow, I will go to the supermarket first thing.
But when the big guys fail, the little shop is a lifesaver.
Me still deh 'bout. A few limbs down, but nothing major.
Water came back today. We are hopeful that light will come back today because some other places in our community have electricity already. We don't have any ministers of government on our road, so you know how dat go!
Mad Bull, wha bout you? Oh, I guess I could read your blog, but my laptop battery is about to die and dial up is bl$#^^y slow!
Well, after toiling and helping the brother move stuff, I am finally going to bed now. I have company in the room tonight. Di dog!
This is really the calm before the storm. If you had just awakened after a deep sleep which lasted more than a week, you would not know that in about 5 hours, we will start to feel the effects of this hurricane they call Dean.
More anon.....
1. Got collected at airport around 1:15pm. The ride over wasn't too bumpy. The pilot had to fly north of Puerto Rico and Hispanola to avoid the bumps. Usually they fly south of those islands. Did errands like buying fruits and coconut water.
2. Went to the hairdresser. The hairdresser?????????? Yup. I had made an appointment for Monday but who knows what Monday will be like and the tough nigger head needed to be relaxed.
3. Driving around St Andrew today, everybody was walking with shopping bags in their hands, showing some sign of preparedness. But I passed a shack/shop on the side of Barbican Road who hadn't yet started to take down his stuff. I guess he feels he has time. The radio station reported extended opening hours of some supermarkets up to midnight tonight and from 8am tomorrow morning up to 4 hours before Dean is expected. Not sure they should open.
4. When you looked up into the sky earlier this afternoon, it looked like a typical Caribbean weather day. Blue skies, some clouds, not much. By the time I was leaving the hairdresser at 6:20pm, there were just a few dark clouds but nothing to suggest that something so catastrophic is looming less than 500 miles east of us!
5. A friend called me from Grenada tonight. He asked me if I was crazy to have left Grenada to come here, knowing Big Dean was approaching. He wasn't the only one. When I was putting my suitcase in the car at the airport this afternoon, a man walked by me, looked at me and muttered "so why you come here for...yuh nuh see si hurricane ah come?"
They don't understand the concept that for me, it's better to be with my family, knowing what is happening with them, than me being safe far away.
6. Arrived home to a very hot house. Oh, the hurricane shutters are up. Bloody hot. A/C tonight for sure! That is until the lightening knocks out the electricity.
7. As I type, am waiting on a call from the Brother. He who lives at the top of a high hill, was planning to pass the hurricane up there! His sensibilities returned and he is toting his valuables down to an apartment we have nearby, just in case his roof goes and the greedy village people decide to loot. The valuables include the dog, who will be sleeping in our house tonight (while my dog Penny has to sleep outside, boarded up in a kennel!!!!! 'Life is not fair', I hear her barking when she finds out!)
Here is a picture of that dog....
The flight took off from Grenada as scheduled, after a whole night of rain. But I'm a bigfoot....I wasn't afraid!
Am in Barbados airport waiting to board Caribbean Airlines. I just checked and see that I will experience a Category 5 hurricane for the first time.
Ah throwing some things in the suitcase, for my flight up to Jamaica tomorrow. But am I going anywhere? Is BWIA Caribbean Airlines going to be flying? Waiting on a call from a friend who works there. I guess I should book the taxi for the ungodly hour of 4:40am.
....Jamaica achieving First World Status!
Do you think it's possible? No more Majesty Gardens, no more Gold Street, no more lawlessness and disorder?
From the GM's secretary's desk at a hotel in Trinidad, I wrote my first blog entry for you.
Some of you were here back then, four years ago. My....it seems like just yesterday.
You can go down memory lane and read the entries for that August month. I particularly liked Zee French Dentist one!
I think I will be moving to Word Press. But check here first.
Me thinks y'all will prefer this one....
A few things to note...
1. The upright bike in the entertainment area, right opposite the wet bar!
2. The piano.
3. The fish tank in the formal living room.
4. My guests will not have to walk far to use the shower room (there's no bath in it, so can't call it a 'bathroom'!)
5. There are sliding doors leading to the laundry both from the kitchen and from the entertainment area....makes it easy to replenish the ice and hors d'oeuvres.
6. If this house were being built in Grenada, the entertainment area would have grill around it rather than walls. In Jamaica, then walls, windows and grills.
7. Big Kitchen....
8. Toilet off laundry for the helper and gardener to use.
9. The measurements are (32 x 30) + (4 x 20) = 960 + 80 = 1,040 sq feet approximately. Nice and cosy.
10. The TV room would be air conditioned, although there is also a window leading to the entertainment area.
