Hej från Sverige!

Hey Mon! I am back again. You thought I was lost or detained some where is London, didn't you? Well I managed to get to my destination safely, thanks to Sandra's and David's clear and helpful directions. I am currently in Sweden and eager to tell you about my exploits here! By the way the expression above is in Swedish and it means hello from Sweden, that's all I know, but it dosen't matter because the Swedes are willing and able to switch to English in the blink of an eye. Any way, before I relate my exploits in Sweden I must to continue from where I left off in my last blog posting. I really don't know if doing a blog on this trip is a blessing or a curse, but what ever the case, I can't stop now! I think if I do less talking I should be able to accomplish much more. The saying, "a picture is worth a thousand words" is applicable in this case. OK, too much talking, let's continue with where I left off:

United Kingdom: October 26 - November

The flight to London was a good one. Upon clearing immgration and customs, I was happy to see a smiling Sandra (a fmaily friend) waiting and ready to get me, it was around 8:30 am. We drove for about 1.5 hours from London Gatwick airport to Camberly (in Surry), where Sandra's brother David and her parents live. I stayed with David for the weekend. Sandra lives in London, and had also planned to spend the weekend in Camberly as well. I had a very good time catching up with Sandra, David, Keith and their parents and their friends. The first night David had some of his friends over for TEA. Sandra did the cooking. Here are some photos of David and Sandra of my first evening with them and friends in Camberly:

On Sunday afternoon I attended the Camberly meetings with David, Sandra and their mother. Here are some photos at the Kingdom Hall:

After the meetings, we went to Sandra's and David's parents place for a family dinner. Keith (the eldest brother) and his family came over from another suburb to join the family for dinner. We had a wonderful time toghther at the Joyce's. This is a very warm and hospitable family. Some dinner photos:

The next day I took the trian to London to visit my friend Alvin (from Australia). I took 3 trains and a bus and arrived at Stoke Newington a few hours before Alvin arrived from work, so I spent about an hour in an Internet Cafe checking my email and passing the time. Fortunately I went back to check if anyone of Alvin's flatmates were home and was just in time to meet Gareth entering the gate. Alvin's has four flatmates who are all from New Zealand: Gareth & Kate and Jeremy & Tanya. I had a wonderful 3 nights with Alvin and his flat mates. On the final night I cooked a Jamaican meal for Alvin, his fiance, his flatmates and another friend. Unfortunately I forgot to take photos of our last dinner together in London. However I did take some photos of my day in the ministry with a group from the Islington Cong. I had a very interesting, enjoyable and upbuilding day in the ministry with Patrick Randall who served many years as a missionary in Africa. We worked from about 10:00am to 6:00pm in the field. He is an excellent teacher and conducts a number of studies. The following are some photos I took of us in the ministry with a few others:

I also spent a day by myself looking around London and made a quick visit to the British Library and the British Museum. See photos below:

Alvin and I managed to get a few photos together after dinner was over and everyone left for bed:

In the morning I had to catch an early train to Heathrow Airport. Gareth was going to work early, so he guided me to the right trains to Heathrow airport. Sorry I didn't get a photo of Gareth and his wife, I will make sure to do so when they stop over to visit me in Melbourne in the near future. They are just as adventerous as I am. My next stop is Sweden!

JAMAICA: October 19 - 2

We arrived in Jamaica 8:00pm and cleared customs and immigration very quickly. Br. Dixon (Snr.) was there on time to get us from the airport. I hear from many of my Jamaican friends in the U.S. about the many changes (physical and well as social) that Montego Bay as well as Jamaica as a whole was undergoing at the moment. I was perpared to go with an open mind and to adjust to whatever changes had occurred since the last time I visited (5 years ago) my beloved little village of Lilliput.

When we arrived at the house in Lilliput, we were advised not to unload our luggages as there were some unscrupulous individuals lurking around the area waiting for some prey to relieve them of thier valuables. As visitors, we would be ideal preys, so we had to leave our luggages in the car, go into the house empty handed and turn all the lights off, then get back to the car and carry our luggages in the dark into the house after which we could turn the lights on again. I was a bit disappointed in the kind of welcome I received in my beloved little village of Lilliput. I was later to discover that it could no longer be called a little village any more, because it had grown to become a massive community with a dual highway passing through and with major tourist attractions being developed in the area. Among other things that disturbed me about my little village, was that the local villagers no longer had access to the public beach that had always been one of the main source of recreation for the locals. I noticed also that most of the beaches along the coastal shores of Lilliput and Rose Hall area were not longer accessible to the locals as they were now set aside for foreigners and for the rich and famous. Even the local recreational areas where the youths used to play soccer and other games are now out of bounds. This was most disconserting to me. No wonder the society had become so decadent! Does it sound like I am a bit upset? Well, I feel much better now that I have expressed my feeling, even though it won't make a difference. Ah Ha! So my blog has turned out to be a blessing after all :) By the way, didn't I promise to curtail the talking? Ok, here are some photos of my house, Lilliput and its environs:

The city of Montego Bay is about 11 miles from Lilliput. I commuted to Montego Bay and other place via taxi, the main source of public transportation. These were some of the most wreckless and lawless drivers I have ever seen! At one point in my travels, I had to get out of the taxi before it reached my destination because the driver was going at a speed of up to 140 miles an hour for a considerable distance on a narrow 2 way lane and around steep corners putting all the passengers' lives at risk. No one said anything, either because they were used to this kind of wrecklessness or because they were afraid to say anything to the driver, but I was paralized with fear! I was also afraid that if I said anything to him, he would probably go faster. When he made his first stop, I got off before my destination and would you believe, he had the unmitigated gall to ask why I was getting off before my stop. I was too upset to give him an answer, so I kindly payed him and regained my composure, hoping that I wouldn't have encounter the same predicament with the next taxi. Fortunately, the next driver was a much safer one. This incident was certainly not an isolated one. This was a common attitude among many of the young dirvers and sad to say, there has been many accidents in the past due to such wrecklessness. Apart from these negative experiences, I had a wonderful time catching up with some of my relatives and some great friends and former co-workers (teachers) whom I haven't seen for many years:

During the final day of my stay in Jamaica, I travelled to Nigrel which is about 3 or 4 hours drive from Montego Bay. On my way to Negril I stopped over in Savanalamar and had lunch with Christine, Lennie's neice and Mike's cousin. Negril is Jamaica's most favourite tourist resort with the most beautiful beaches in Jamaica (7 miles long white sand beaches). The purpose of my visit was to see my sisters and brothers and my nephew and neices some of whom I would be meeting for the first time. I also intended to go to the beaches in Negril, but unfortunately, I was to busy visiting family that I didn't have enough time for the beach. I stayed with my sister Dainty and saw my brothers Jack and Steve. I was not able to see my other sister Chantelle and my other brothers Stanley and Jason (they were on a Fishing tournment in another parish). I was only able to get a few photos of Jack and his children at home and at school the next day. Also a few shots of Nigril shore line:

Well, I have come to the end of my short stay in Jamaica. I am looking forward to the UK now! There was no direct flight from Montego Bay to London, so I had to leave from Kingston. I had intended to travel by road to Kingston a day before my departure to London so that I could visit some of my relatives in Kingston, but after my encounters with the wreckless drivers on the road, I decided against this is plan and arranged for a connecting flight to Kingston the same day of my departure and had to spent around 5 hours at the airport in Kingston, good think I had an interesting biography to pass the time. While at Montego Bay airport preparing to depart to Kingston, I ran into one of my nephews who works at Air Jamaica. I was glad I had a chance to catch up with him even though it was brief (he was on the job) because I had tried without much success to catch up with him and his family days before. The weather was really good throughout my stay in Jamaica. I was able to get some a lovely photos of the sunset from the plane before I departed Kingston airport for London: