The Roadside Seaside Baptism

A Revivalist baptism on the seaside along the main road in Boundbrook Port Antonio

It can be said that Baptism is a public declaration that one has repented of his sins and has made a decision to leave worldly things behind. Such a declaration could be no more public than the baptism I witnessed upon entering the town of Port Antonio!

 It was about 7:30 am when I was driving into the town of Port Antonio just near the new Court House located in the Boundbrook area when I spotted a crowd of people some of which were clothed in brilliant white! They were decked in long white gowns from neck to toes and heads wrapped brightly coloured turbans. Two huge flags with a white cross in the centre, one red and one blue could be seen being waved from side to side in a constant rhythm. I slowed down to see what this spectacle could be and noticed it was a Revivalist baptism in full progress right on the seaside along the main road into Port Antonio.

Not wanting to interfere or disrupt this religious ceremony I stopped a little way down to take a few photos. But even from the distance I could hear the chorus of Revivalist hymns being chanted as one by one new converts went from the congregation on the black sand of the beach to be baptised in the sea.

It was certainly a spectacle to see, a roadside seaside Revivalist baptism and a piece of Jamaican culture rarely seen in full view of passing motorists.

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No Water!!!

I am sure by now everyone has heard the saying, "Water is life". How true this statement is! The people of Kingston Jamaica have been seeing the reality of this more and more every day as this unusually long drought drags on. Residents and workers in the metropolitan region feel this more when it comes to piped water.

Since last year a lot of persons, myself included, have been living with water restrictions which seem to be getting even more stringent in the past months. When the first restriction was implemented, water was locked off at 10pm. a few months later it moved to 9pm, then to 8pm and then even to 7pm! Up to a few months ago it moved up to 5pm then to 4pm and now I have no piped water as early as 2pm! This is getting ridiculous now! And at this rate it seems we will be only having water for a few hours per day. I know it's a drought and we as humans have no control over that, but this problem is only compounded by the shortsightedness of the Jamaican governments and the ever worthless National Water Commission (NWC). Both these entities did not see it fit to increase the already inadequate reservoirs for the metropolitan area, which has grown (and is still growing) significantly since these reservoirs were commissioned.

Thanks to both the Jamaican government and NWC, the people of Jamaica are forced to suffer  from the scarcity of this precious commodity. It is true that one never really appreciates what one has until one looses it and I can testify to that. I took for granted the ease of life when these is a constant supply of piped water, but now I can definitely see how precious that privilege was! Now I have to go long periods without the precious commodity much to my discomfort as i don;t have a tank. It's even worse now that I am home most of the time due to this long span of unemployment. This lack of water has now forced me to adjust my lifestyle in so many ways. What do I mean? Well...

• Every day I have to catch water in jugs and pan before NWC locks off the water
• I only get to have a decent shower once per day
• If I need a bath during the lock-off I have to grab one of my 5 litre bottles
• If I have to do a big number I have to make sure I go early before they lock off the water
• The toilet doesn't get flushed often (that's putting it mildly) when I have to take a leak
• I have to force myself to cook earlier in the days before water is gone
• If I have to cook after the water is gone I have to make do with water from a bottle which makes cooking a real chore
• Dirty dishes and pots are piled up in the sink until the next morning
• Doing even the simple things like washing my hands is a challenge

These are just some of the things on the top off my head, but I am sure it will get only worse as this drought continues and the resultant water lock-offs intensifies. If this continues, life as we know it will get even harder and I am sure that cases of gastroenteritis and other poor sanitary practice diseases will surface and increase. We need the rain now, and a lot of it to quench this thirsty land and hopefully the idiots that run this country and the NWC will learn from this drought and it's effects. But then again, they all have tanks and can afford to get water trucked to them, so that's just wishful thinking.

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Mouse vs Stunner vs Trap

I have been having mouse invasions now and then in my apartment. I have eradicated the vicious mouse on each occasion, however I noticed several days ago that one has trespassed in my apartment once again. I came into the kitchen to make my self some breakfast when i came face to face with the evil rodent, who quickly went into hiding. But he was sure to make his vile intent evident by the loads of feces that he left on my counter and in my dish drain. Such blatant disrespect and a clear display for his lack of regard for human kind!

But it will not end this way, as I went to the supermarket the same day and bought several glue mouse trap. However, the evil varmint has not showed his face since!

I just hope he doesn't find any of this damn cheese!

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No JPS! NO!!!

No, is exactly what the Office of Utility Regulations (OUR) told the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) when they attempted once again to extort money from the Jamaican public. Once again JPS attempted a brazen attempt of high way robbery when it applied to the OUR for it's latest increase in its utility charges. The JPS applied for an increase to recover over four billion dollars from it's already burdened customers!

According to The Jamaica Gleaner, the JPS proposed that its customers pay a $4.2 billion dollars over a two year period by adding 6.75  cents per kilowatt hour to their existing high charges. This $4.2 billion dollars is not to improve it's service to customers or to make them more efficient, but to recover money payed out to its employees in a reclassification exercise that was completed in 2002. Now if this is not an outright plot of the JPS to rob Jamaican people I don't know what else is! Can you believe the audacity of this company to come up with a scheme like this, after the stunt they pulled off with the hurricane Ivan and Dean rip off and their recent rate increase?

Fortunately, the OUR  had the balls this time to tell them no, sparing the Jamaican consumers from outright robbery! The Jamaica Gleaner, reports that the OUR said that "the company's claim did not qualify under the z-factor provision, since the costs incurred were as a consequence of managerial decisions, as the JPS had agreed with the labour unions in 2000 to embark on the reclassification exercise." So JPS want us, the consumer, to pay for a management decision made between it, it's employees and their unions, next thing the will want to request a special increase for bonuses to their execs. Thank you OUR for standing up for the Jamaican consumers by telling the JPS no to their latest attempt of robbery! How is it that JPS is always plotting ways to extort more and more money from its customers? How come JPS? How come?

Source: http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20100304/lead/lead2.html

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