Rain Part 2

We have had a very long rainy season this year, and we are still getting heavy rain at least 5 days each week.

The dampness in the air has been causing black clothes to get a green mould, which I imagine that anyone living outside Florida might not quite appreciate.

There apparently is not a reliable way to stop it, other than to keep the house under full air-conditioning. 

The dry-cleaners must be loving this...

On the positive side. the temperature have been in the low 70's in  the morning, and it feels as if Christmas breeze has come early this year.  My wife hsa been telling me she's cold, but it seems like something has happened to her blood as I was the one dying during visits to DC in the winter when she thought it was just perfect.

Read more!

Fixing the Roads

I'm not too sure if we are supposed to be doing this, but my cycling club is going to help out the authorities by fixing the roads.

I won't say which roads we are going to fix -- as I'm not sure if we are even supposed to be doing this... but the potholes are killing us as we try to do our thing several times a week, at 4:00 am or so in the morning.

Not to say that we are doing something illegal, but we are in a position to help, so we will.  When the job is done, several cavernous potholes will be repaired temporarily, waiting for permanent repairs that hopefully will come before the hurricane season starts afresh next year.

It's one of those moments when you stop waiting for something to happen, and you make something happen -- in the same way that many people in Jamaica do from time to time.  Right outside my gate, someone did the same and covered a massive and growing hole with cement.

Unfortunately, the rains opened it back up, so it is once again growing.

While the rains have rendered the flora beautiful, they have made a real mess of the roads in Jamaica, especially when we get a lot of "Man Rain" all at once.

Read more!

C&W Back on

Well, good things eventually happen if you wait long enough.

C&W finally came through a few days ago and sent someone to fix our home phone. Along with it returned reliable DSL access.

On Aug 19th it went out with Hurricane Dean, to finally return on November 9th.

I was in a cussing mood until the technician told me that thousands were still waiting for phone service, and that the daily rains had only made things worse. It calmed me down a little bit as I realised how fortunate I am to get my service back.

Read more!

Looks Like We Made It

No power, not internet, no phone lines, and water came back today.

But most of us here in Jamaica made it safely through the hurricane.

Hundreds lost their homes and all their possessions, and it was an awful experience for most. Nevertheless, Dean was much kinder on us than he could have been, and did us a favour by veering South.

Now, on to getting life back to some semblance of normalcy before Election Day on September 3rd.

Read more!

Power Going Down

In an hour or so (10am Jamaica time0 we are supposed to lose power -- an intentional shut down for safety reasons.

There is also a 48 hour curfew that is in place.

So you might not be hearing from this part of the world in a few minutes, for what could be a while.

What we will have is decent cell phone coverage, however.

So, here we are , sitting and watching and waiting for Dean...

Read more!

Dean tracking site

I think this is the best site on the internet for tracking Dean: the same one as the Jamaica Gleaner

http://www.go-jamaica.com/weather/

Read more!

Dean Bears Down

As you might know, Hurricane Dean, a monster category 4 storm, is bearing down on Jamaica.

Apparently it is intent on becoming a category 5 storm by the time it hits tomorrow at 2pm.

Here in Kingston at 12:00pm the sky is blue, there are almost no clouds and there is a nice cooling breeze.

Perfect beach weather.

And Jamaicans are standing by ready to proclaim one of two things on Tues morning.

Either
"God listens to prayers and decided to spare us, out of his mercy"
or
"God has sent us a powerful sign, a judgment on our wicked ways"

It's probably just easier for us to accept that God's will is whatever ends up happening, whether we call it good, bad, dry or wet.

It's the first time that I am back in Jamaica for what one of nature's "big events." The weatherman has been particularly excited for the past few days, speaking faster than usual, with a hint of excitement in his voice and the knowledge that many, many people were hanging on to his very words.

Calls are coming from all over the globe from family and friends who are concerned about what is coming.

Flights are filled with people escaping what winds, rains and destruction that is heading this way.

We are fully expecting to lose power, internet, phones and water and that roads will be closed until they are cleared of debris, and until the inevitable looting stops.

So, we sit here waiting, doing the best we can to prepare ourselves.

And it's still a really nice sunny day today, with blue skies and hardly any clouds and a light breeze.

Read more!