Cruel things done in the name of Christmas

Case 1 - the miserable santas
Some of the computers in our office are not working properly. So we have called our IT support company, who have sent along 2 of their young male employees to look after us. And both of these y9oung men have turned up wearing red fluffy santa hats. Apparently it is company policy that they have to wear them so as to 'spread Christmas cheer.' But they look so uncomfortable in them that I think they are speading misery.

Case 2 - the annoying elves
Whenever you go near the shopping plazas at the moment, you are accosted by elves. These elves are employed by one of the mobile phone companies to hand out brochures and to encourage you to walk into their stores and 'dance out.' Now all these elves do is get int he way (they hunt in packs), and harass people. Get rids of the elves I say!

Case 3 - dire music
Ok, I like Christmas music. I like carols, I like cheesy songs, I like fab 5's christmas music. But what I don;t get is why does everythign have to be on repeat? Just becuase some people might like 'all I want for Christmas is You', doesn't mean that I should have to listen to Myriah's warbling about 4 times an hour. You don't do that with normal music - why do we have to do it to Christmas music?

bah bumbug

But despite all of that, I'm still excited that it's nearly Christmas!!! The tree is up! Presents are nearly bought! Fun parties are happening! And the sorrel has started!

Nice, pretty, helpful computer, please post this for me?

My computer has been throwing a temper tantrum. I'm not sure why - I don't think I did anything especially bad to make it hate me. When I came to work on Friday morning, it decided that it didn't like me. So I couldn't print, could access any communal documents and, worse of all, I couldn't access the internet. Various people came to look at it, bribery was offered and cleaning done. But all to no avail. and then suddenly, for no apparently reason, it came out of its sulk yesterday afternoon. So I am now back in contact with the world. Now I am being sure to be polite and always say please to my computer and to use CNTL+ALT+DEL as little as possible.

So, since I was last here, I have...

- attended a 3 year old's birthday party. Which was fun. And good for me - nice to see and play with the kids, and good to be reminded that however cute they are, I have no need for one right now! But also good to see the bf looking very sweet with small children... future potential??
- survived the first big Christmas party of the season. It was cold in the hills - but I partied until I had to take my shoes off at 6 in the morning. And more than one person told me that I looked slim - not sure how much they had been drinking but still pleased to hear it!
- been to see Pride and Prejudice - excellent film, hilarious audience (Sorry Guyana Gal for my typo - I've not been to see Bride and Prejudice yet!)
- discovered that my brother is reading this page... need to remember to watch what I say about him...
- not done my Christmas shopping!

The next exciting item on my agenda is to go and buy a christmas tree - hopefully that will be done this evening - if I can escape from my boss at a decent hour!!!

Welcome Home

I went to the airport today to collect a family member who’d been away for a few weeks and was coming back on the Miami flight. The flight was full as it is now the start of the Jamaican diaspora visiting season. Those who are coming down for Christmas all ready tend to be those who are retired and are coming for a month. Some of these are people who have been abroad for many many years but still view Jamaica as their home and want to be here for Christmas. You can see them, emerging from the airport, blinking in the bright sunshine, looking anxiously around for relatives who they haven’t seen for years, hoping that they will be recognised.

If you go nearer to Christmas, then you see the younger people. Those young people who have gone abroad to study, or to get their first job, most of whom go up saying that they’ll come home soon. These are the ones who are travelling in their fashionable clothes with smart suitcases, wanting everyone to know that they are making it abroad, that they are someone. They want to come home to live, but they can’t get… they have to finish their next degree, they have to get legal status, they have to earn some more money, and eventually it turns out that they have found a new life abroad and are too tied into it to come back.

But no matter what is going on in their lives, Jamaicans all over the world want to come home for Christmas. I know – I was one of these people. I saved for ages, took flights through New York and slept on airport floors – anything just to be home for Christmas. To come home for your sorrel and ham, to see the poinsettias growing outside, to feel the Christmas breeze, to meet up with everyone you left behind and hear the firecrackers at night.

And it felt good today. Good to go to the airport and to be on the receiving side at this time of year. Good to know that I don’t have to fit everything into 2 precious week, that after Christmas, I will not be packing my bags with cake and rum and coffee and memories to last me through the winter. But rather that I’ll still be here in January.

Walking upside down

I am feeling very proud of myself at the moment. I have just worked out how to stick a counter on my blog. For someone who knows nothing about coding or whatever, this is a good achievement.

The next thing that I shall attempt to do is get my phone set up so that I can finally email from it and download my photos... yes, I've needed to do this for ages but haven't had the energy to deal with customer services before. I have tried today - I've spoken to 5 people so far and all of them have talked to me as if I am stupid but none of them have solved the problem! Apparently I now need to go to a shop and get them to do it there for some reason...

Anyway, the motive for finally trying to get this sorted is that I passed a good sign on my way to work that I wanted to take a photo of and share with you. I hardly ever remember to walk with my digital camera so the phone is the only option usually. The sign said:

'Drivers do not parkon the side walk. It is for foot walkers only.'

My brain started to think, if this side is for foot walkers, maybe the other side is for hand walkers. I looked round, excited to see everyone walking on their hands on the other side of the road... but no such luck.

Broader than Broadway...

I went to Heineken Startime on Saturday night. This was a big oldies concert at Mas Camp - an outdoor 'area' for shows. I went, knowing full well that I would be one of the youngest people in the crowd, but expecting a fun time. And it was fun, the old boys all came out and did their stuff - and I knew more of the tunes than I thought I would! For those oldies fans out there, the guys I saw on the show were Leroy Sibbles (good fun), Little Roy (who got flopped!), Ken Booth (wicked!!) and Barrington Levy (too short - could have been better).

But I was thinking about the difference between shows here and shows I've been to abroad. Here, songs are 'hailed' at the start, rather than at the end. So the second the crowd knows what song is about to be sung, they go mad. But at the end of the song, there is no huge applause or anything.

In some ways, shows here almost become karaoke - if you know the words, then make sure you sing along as loud as possible! Shows here are also not a good time to introduce new songs - if the audience doesn't know what you are singing, they won't be pelased. And the crowd shows you in no uncertain terms that they are not pleased!

You also need to ensure that you get your souvenir from the show. At Heineken sponsored events, they tend to do a bucket deal whereby you get 6 beers in a bucket with ice. Now, although I am a red stripe lite drinker, the fact that this really cuts down the time spent queueing at the bar, makes me a convert for the evening. So at the end of the show, we were all joking around about who was going to take home the buckets... and by the time we looked down to pick them up, they'd gone! Apparently they are now the bucket of choice for your stylish window cleaner at the stop lights....

Things to be pleased about...

After my post the other day about what I wanted to have achieved before my high school reunion that I’ve not quite reached yet, I thought I’d be positive today. (After all, it’s Friday. And if you can’t be positive with a weekend ahead of you, when can you be positive?)

So, although these aren’t necessarily things that will all impress my old school mates from my slightly overachieving high school, here are 20 things that I’m impressed with about myself. And I'll remember them when I am surrounded by all the people with the perfect job, house, husband and figures!

1. I managed to pick myself up and move abroad to university when I didn’t really know anything about what I was doing at the age of 17. And I survived!
2. In fact, I more than survived – I had a great time!
3. I have learnt how to accept a compliment gracefully – I no longer go bright red and stutter ‘oh no, not me.’
4. I had a great job which I paid well and that I loved in England, but I had the guts to hand in my notice and head back to an uncertain future in Jamaica – just because I thought it was time to come home.
5. And that it was time to be nearer my family – after arguing with my brother for 18 years, we now get on. So when he came back and left me alone in England, I knew it would be my turn soon. I get on with and like my family – I’m pleased about that.
6. Despite the fact that we hardly spoke for 7 years, I’ve managed to return to having a great friendship with my high school best friend now that we are in the same country – and she’s shared all her friends with me so I now have a great group of people here.
7. I have a very sweet bf. He’s not the richest man around, he may be too old for me, but he makes me pancakes on Saturday mornings. And he gives me butterflies in my tummy.
8. I have a cute car. It’s not big. It’s not bling. But I think it’s cute and I love it and that’s what matters to me.
9. I don’t have to wear suits to work everyday. Or stockings.
10. I managed to discover the joy of cheap flights and have many fab memories of lots of European cities. And I discovered that a nice hotel isn’t important – in fact, the worse your hotel is, the more time you spend away from it!
11. I’ve seen elephants in the wild. I went to Africa and fell in love with the place. Please can I go back tomorrow? Or if Africa is too far for tomorrow, Barcelona would do instead.
12. My job might not be glamorous, or incredibly well-paid, but it is MY job. I got it through my experience and education – not through who my parents know.
13. And it’s in the field I want to be in and I feel that I can make a difference through it. So I’m proud of it.
14. I got my masters degree when I was 21.
15. I wear contact lenses. So I am no longer the girl with braces and glasses that I was at 16…
16. I know how to salsa dance. And for a white girl, I think I can move my arse well!
17. I still keep in touch with several exs. Which is good – after having highs and lows with people, I’d hate to lose contact with them.
18. My English friends liked me soooo much that I’d not been back in Jamaica for a year before they came to see me. (I am sure that they canted to come and see me and not just to have a trip to Jamaica….)
19. I am willing to try any food at all. And I have developed a dislike for fussy eaters. If you won’t try food, then what else won’t you try?
20. And I am also willing to try all alcohol once. But I now know what I like and I don’t care what anyone thinks when I order it.

As it is a Friday, I am now off to enjoy my number 20!

A walk in the north Yorkshire moors

Following cream and various other people, I am now going on a walk from my past... this walk was especially chosen for Guyana Girl so i hope she enjoys it! Next time I head to portland, will take lots of photos and do a photo walk from there.

I used to live in a small, very pretty town called Yarm in North Yorkshire. Everyday I drove down the dual highway to work about 20 miles away in a place called Northallerton. Soon after you left Yarm on the let you could see this strange shaped hill called Rosebury Topping. So one day, soon after I moved there, I took a friend and went exploring…

You turn off the main road, and drive through twisty country lanes, through small villages that look like they haven’t changed in hundreds of years, past trees all in their autumn colours, occasionally overtaking a horse and rider.

Once you’ve parked your car, you head up the path. It starts by going through a kind of open area, with grass on either side of you. Ensure that you shut the gates behind you – you don’t want any angry farmers! The path here is nice and gentle, the kind of place where you can enjoy the walk and look at the butterflies. Then you enter a forest and it gets harder – you start climbing up and up. But the view changes – all you can see around you now is gold and brown, and you hear the crunch of leaves that have fallen from the trees under your feet. The path goes left then right as it zigg-zaggs its way up.

Then suddenly you come to another gate. And once you climb over the style beside it, you emerge from the forest and realise that you have come a long way up. Suddenly the land below you has opened up and you are able to see for miles. But there is still further to go up, so you head on up, knowing that the view at the top will be even more spectacular.

You are now walking along a rocky track, with some small flowers clinging to the edge of the path. It starts to get windy and you pull your hat down further on your head to keep your eyes warm. Then you reach a bit where you have to scramble over some rocks. Well, you don’t have to – you could walk around but scrambling is always more fun.

And then you’ve made it – you are at the top. You stand there for a minute catching your breath and then you start to look around and all you can think is Wow. The view is stunning. If you look to the east, you can see out to sea. Supposedly this is where Captain Cook came as a boy and was inspired to go and sail the seas. Near the foot of the hill you can see the pretty village of Great Ayton. If you look up north, you can see the industrial markings of Middlesborough – but from here, the smoke that comes out just looks like pretty clouds. Then further away you can see the A19, the dual highway, looking like a wiggly line – you can’t hear it from up here. To the south of you, you can see more of the North Yorkshire moors – all different shades of green and brown. And as it is a lovely clear day, you can see some of the Yorkshire Dales over to the south-west.

And although the wind is cold, you just stand there.

And after a while, it gets too cold, so you have your bar of chocolate and head off again – you’ve seen an old stone building down below you so you have to head there and have a look at it…

Now, who wants to take us for a walk next?