Monday, August 07, 2006

Back From Ja.

Back from Yard. Sorry I missed the Bloggers lyme, I wish I had been visiting Bloggersville in the days leading up to my departure from ATL then I would have somehow known of it and squeezed it in. Next time Dr D!
The visit was basically for a neighourhood reunion of sorts, it happens every five years, but since we are all aging quite fast now we are going to cut it to three. We also try to squeeze in a Miami Carnival type of reunion also when we can. Also had to experience my 10 year jinx with the wifey…..but we will save that for another time. The one week itinerary was very tight, lyme after lyme with nuff parties in between. Got to see many old friends, most that live in foreign (the JA ones I see all the time) and only appear during reunion time. Some very successful, others just getting by. Took about 300 shots but unfortunately for the small handful of folks that will ever read this, they were practically all of old friends from the reunion.
My poor 8 yr old daughter, her first impression of Kingston had to be Spanish Town Road! We had to jump all kind of hoops to get a car rental. After the bandoolo yute that was supposed to meet me at Norman Manley was a total no-show I was forced to deal with my wife’s ex-boyfriend (lets call him Mr, Chin) and his own version of bandoolo renting. Chin dragged us out to Spanish Town road from the airport in hot persuit of this vehicle (whose owner was abroad for a few weeks) that could be discreetly “borrowed” by Chin for our one week visit. My poor daughter got to see police & soldier with long gun kicking a desolate yute, threatening anyone that dared to come to his aid, and two separate car accidents as they happened, not to mention the general chaotic atmosphere that is everyday at Three Miles, nothing compared to the serene Atlanta suburbs she has known for the past eight years of her life. I had to keep reminding her that “we soon go uptown, its not all like this doan fret yourself!”.
Got to check out Jamaica’s new highways, they still have a long way to go before they can be compared to even T&T or Puerto Rico, but dem sweet for yard still. They should have done like Port Of Spain and ran some expressways thru the city to ease the massive traffic congestion. We could do with some over-passes above Liguanea, Half-Way-Tree and Crossroads. Even Manor Park. And what about a bridge over the harbour to the airport?? That should be a straight elevated highway from HWT, thru Crossroads straight out to Palisadoes. That Portmore bridge should be an elevated highway going straight out to 3 Miles (with an arm connecting the Mandela highway), HWT (with an arm up to Liguanea ), New Kingston, Crossroads and Downtown, then hooking up with the bridge out to Norman Manley! Those are way more urgent than what they have currently built and would have probably cost about the same money.
Am I the only one dreaming about bringing Kingston out of the pot-hole & crime infested rut it is currently stuck in??