Gone crazy gone mad

Friday, December 15th, 2006

Following the previous post about poor service, I felt I should balance it with a post about how difficult it is to run a small business in Jamaica, particularly when it comes to getting a loan. Shortly after we arrived in Jamaica last year, we considered taking out a loan to buy a car. Our […]

Ye have not because ye ask not

Monday, September 25th, 2006

Last week’s news in Jamaica was dominated by the wage negotiations between the police and government. As with public sector workers elsewhere, the police did not actually go out on strike; instead they used a tactic, and a term, I have not heard of before: the “sick-out”. In effect, over fifty percent of the police […]

No liquids

Friday, August 18th, 2006

Dreading last week’s chaos at London airports, we managed to delay our flight back to the Caribbean until, we hoped, the queues and confusion had died down. We obediently packed up cellphones, mp3 players, laptop, digital camera and camcorder into suitcases padded with a year’s supply of clothes for a family of four. Most […]

Sleeping policeman

Friday, March 31st, 2006

The previous post’s comments reminded me of an amusing photo I’d taken on Old Hope Road in Kingston.
It was the first time I had seen the expression sleeping policeman used in English, although I’d long been familiar with its French equivalent gendarme couché.
The funniest part, however, is that the sign is directly opposite the Jamaica […]

‘Obeah dust’ causes chaos at police station

Monday, February 6th, 2006

A woman constable attached to the Half-Way-Tree Police Station had to seek medical attention last week after she came in contact with a strange powdery substance sprinkled on the court compound. […] Security personnel at the courthouse told Xtra News that on a daily basis they remove strange items from persons seeking to enter the […]