Ten minutes to six. I haven’t been up this early since the last time I had to catch a flight at an insane hour.

I’m going to Dublin, Ireland for three days/two nights with my Japanese friend Etsu, who has come to Britain for about a week. We’re going on the budget airline Ryanair from Stansted Airport, and we’ve booked a room at a cheap B&B.

Neither of us have been to Ireland before, and it should be a mini adventure. I haven’t seen Etsu since her last trip to the UK a couple of years ago, so it’ll be nice to catch up with her.

No doubt I’ll come back with a few funny stories for your amusement. I’ll catch up with you later in the week.

My cousin Freddy is currently enjoying a two week break in Jamaica. He’s staying at the same hotel where I stayed in May. My friend who works at the hotel mentioned that he’d had a chat with my cousin and his girlfriend.

Later on I had the following conversation with my mum: (more…)

There’s nothing nicer than going out for a walk to see if the local supermarket is open on a Bank Holiday Monday.

It was a lovely day; the sun was shining. The streets were empty, and I traversed the back streets of my neighbourhood on my way to Tesco.

I walked past a house. A UB40 tune blared out of an upstairs window. Music for slow, sexy dancing.

Further down the road a car had paused. Rap music pumped from its speakers, the bass vibrating through me.

On the way back home a woman of my mother’s age smiled at me, and asked me if I was okay as I passed her. I nodded and smiled back.

The peak of the British summer was straddling my shoulders, like a delighted child held up by her daddy at the Notting Hill Carnival. Unlike that child, who will never be so young again, the summer will return; if not tomorrow, then next year.

Now I’m back indoors, but the summer day is reluctant to go to bed. Pale streaks suggest ebbing sunlight along the dark blue sky.

About a week ago my mum and I went to Brussels for the day on the Eurostar. It was a follow-up to the trip we took there last summer for my mum’s birthday. Last time I paid for us to stay at the Marriott hotel for a few days, but this time she paid as I’m rather financially-challenged at the moment.

I prefer taking the Eurostar to flying. I’ve been thinking about going to Rome by an overnight train from Paris. It sounds more romantic to me, like taking the Orient Express.

Anyway, we got the train to Brussels. Then instead of taking the taxi to the centre of town we decided to have an adventure and take the tram. After a few confusing minutes of trying to find the toilet in the station, then figuring out which tram to take we finally were on our way. The trams moved very quickly so we had to hold on very tight to keep from falling over.

So we arrived at Bourse Beurs and found the main shopping road, with lots of clothes shops. We looked around for a while and bought some bits and pieces.

After a while we stopped at a nearby hotel restaurant. We both ordered the 2nd most expensive item on the menu, the small t-bone steak for 16 euros each.

Then on to more shopping. We enjoyed a waffle, some ice cream while people-watching in the square.

Soon it was time to make our way back to the Eurostar station, and then back to London.

When we got to Clapham Junction we were delayed for a while due to a broken-down train. A young guy asked us for money while we were waiting for our train, saying that he was hungry.
“I’m hungry too,” said my mum, sending him packing.

It was nice spending some quality time with my mum. And my wanderlust is stirring again.

Wouldn’t that be a hoot? An actual musical theatre production based on Jamaica’s history… I know I’d see it.

Anyway I digress, I’m supposed to be telling y’all about my recent voyage to the mother ship country. I’d made extensive notes during my holiday to faciilitate this process, but it would be boring for us both to rehash all that Day 1/Day 2 crap, so I’m just going to give you the highlights. It’s still going to be quite a long post anyway, I can feel it in my bones… (more…)

Hi guys,

I’m still in sunny Jamaica for another 4 days. It’s been an interesting trip in more ways than one, but I’ll fill you in on the details later.

At the moment I’m in an internet cafe in Brown’s Town, St Ann. In half an hour or so we’ll tuck into some KFC before heading back to the hotel. I’m planning to go clubbing this evening at the hotel nightclub instead of retreating to my room to read and watch Seinfeld or Friends repeats as usual.

So it looks like I can’t keep away from you guys. I’m in the hotel lobby right now, sweating profusely at their only internet workstation.

As I’m having a low-tech vacation, I’ve been making notes on interesting experiences that I’m experiencing, but I probably won’t be up for a detailed account until I get home (sweet home).

Did I tell you how hot I am? At least my massive room is a cool air-conditioned haven, with American telly and a fridge.

As it’s Thursday (I think - my bodyclock is rather messed up) here’s a quick TT of things I’m looking forward to (and NOT looking forward to) on this holiday.

I’m looking forward to:

1. The food and drink (kola shampagne, jerk chicken (tick!), the best KFC in the world, patties, ice cream, fresh fish straight from the sea) - everything tastes better in Jamaica
2. Visiting my Grandpa’s grave, it’ll give me a chance to say goodbye to him
3. Seeing various cousins and extended family members and friends
4. The opportunity to try horseriding on the beach, and quad-biking, and other adventurous activities
5. A chance to chill out in the chill-out capital of the world
6. Sunshine
7. The chance to take beautiful pictures of a beautiful country
8. The opportunity to reconnect with my ancestry

I’m not looking forward to:

1. More encounters with creepy crawlies
2. Red dirt - it gets everywhere
3. Humidity
4. The flight home!

I think that’s only 11 things, but my credit is nearly finished so I’ve got to go!

Irie!

As I’m going to Jamaica next week, I thought it might be fun to share some information with you about the land of my ancestors.

1. Jamaica is an island in the Caribbean Sea, south of Cuba. It is the third largest island in the Caribbean, and the most populous English-speaking island.

2. The name of the country derives from the name Xaymaca, meaning land of wood and water, given to it by the original Arawak or Taino people from South America, who settled there between 1000 - 4000 BC.

3. The island’s population is 2.7m. The ethnic groups living there are: Black 90.9%, East Indian 1.3%,, Chinese 0.2%, Mixed 7.3%, White 0.2%, Other 0.1%

4. The national motto of Jamaica is “Out of Many, One People.” Despite the racial diversity of its citizens, they are all Jamaicans.

5. Jamaica was claimed for Spain after Christopher Columbus first landed there in 1494. Columbus used it as his family’s private estate. England seized the island in 1655. Jamaica gained its independence in 1962 and is now a completely sovereign nation.

6. Jamaica’s Head of State is Queen Elizabeth II, who has visited the country six times and officially uses the title “Queen of Jamaica”.

7. Kingston has been the capital of Jamaica since 1872. Former Jamaican capitals include Spanish Town and Port Royal. It’s probably not the best place for tourists, being an excessively hot and dangerous place.

8. Jamaica is divided into 14 areas called parishes. My mum’s family are from St Ann, while my dad’s folks are from Kingston.

9. For such a small country, Jamaica has had a big influence in the world of music. Not only were the musical genres of reggae, ska, mento, rocksteady, dub, dancehall and ragga created there, but Jamaican music has also influenced the hip-hop and garage music created in America and the UK. Bob Marley was a world-famous Jamaican reggae artist.

10. The Jamaican flag was adopted on 6 August 1962, the original Independence Day. The colours of the flag symbolise the following: Black for the strength and creativity of the Jamaican people; Gold representing sunlight and the country’s natural wealth; Green representing hope for the future and agricultural richness.

11. The Rastafarian movement was founded in Jamaica. It is a religion and philosophy that accepts Haile Selassie I, the former Emperor of Ethiopia, as God incarnate, whom they call Jah.There are now estimated to be more than a million Rastafarians throughout the world.

Lenny Kravitz is not a Rasta as far as I know, but I do like this pic of him with dreads…

12. 95% of the Jamaican population has a mobile phone.

13. Famous Jamaicans include the political activist Marcus Garvey, musician Bob Marley, and the sprinter Linford Christie.

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged!

My laptop charger started to emit violent sparks from a section of frayed cabling. It was very scary, especially as said laptop and charger were situated on my lap at the time!

I’ve got loads on at work again. As I’ll be going on holiday the week after next, I’ve been having meetings to discuss how they’re all going to manage without me for 3 weeks. I was starting to feel rather guilty but they reassured me that they’d cope and I deserved the break.

My mum has been hassling me daily about packing my suitcase for Jamaica. It’s what she does before every holiday, and I guess it’s part of the mothering instinct, but it ain’t half irritating at times. I’ve been preparing for weeks, so save it for the night before, Mother!

My dad wasn’t content with the Motorola Pebl that I gave him last year, so he’s changed to a Razr. I’m not to tell mum, as she’d just whinge at him, so I’m telling you all instead.

Bought this cute fat Buddha statue. I like to rub his head for luck.

On Friday evening after work I went to a lovely pub in Greenwich to celebrate Veg’s 36th birthday. I had my usual tipple and enjoyed a nice chat with the wise man himself. He seemed pleased with the card that I’d got him (which called him a fantastic old bastard - which he is, in the best possible sense of the phrase.). It was also nice to see some of the old uni crew. Veg, I’ve gotta say that you’ve got beautiful blue eyes which I never noticed before and your wife is gorgeous! Well done old man!