Tag Archives: travel
FMM 1 12 2024 Going with the Flow
”All night, all day.Angels watching over me.” ~ (Trad). Although I was brought up in the church, I can’t say that the usual vision of heavenly angels was something I actively believed in. Like fairies, elves and gnomes, they seemed to be a little too fantastical to be real. Thus, the concept of life after […]
FMM 12 29 2023 Roads Less Traveled
“If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.” ~ Lao Tzu. When I first returned to Jamaica after an absence of some fourteen years, I had already begun writing, filling unruled journals (I did not appreciate the lined versions, which seemed too restricted, too dictatorial) with thoughts and impressions. […]
FMM 10 27 23 Reconstructing Family
“Little children are still the symbol of the eternal marriage between love and duty.” ~ George Eliot. It seems obscene to say this, but fifty years ago I was a senior in high school (in Upper Sixth Form as we say in the old British system). I had lived most of my life in Jamaica, […]
FMM 8 20 2021 In Tension
“Honor thy error as a hidden intention” ~ Brian Eno. It is almost twenty years since the day we saw the twin towers collapse. It was one of those events that most people can honestly say, I remember where I was and what I was doing that day. Of course, for some the memories are […]
FMM 5 22 2020 Sheet Lightning
“It is not light that we need, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake.” ~ Frederick Douglass. The first time I returned to visit Jamaica after a thirteen-year hiatus, I spent a lot of my time gazing, staring out at mountain vistas, rumpled […]
FMM 8 30 19 Trains and Boats and Planes
“You’ll never find a better sparring partner than adversity.” ~ Golda Meir. In 1963, the long journey across the Atlantic from the UK to Jamaica began with a long train ride from the north of England all the way down to the south coast. As the youngest in the family, my responsibilities were few, so […]
FMM 6 10 17 Fret not, nor fear
“In a time of destruction, create something.”~Maxine Hong Kingston. I have never been fond of scary movies. I prefer to escape into a light comedy, to be amused for a while. I remember accompanying a friend to watch a couple of movies that were outside of my comfort zone (Jaws, and Carrie). For her punishment […]
FMM 4 14 17 It Coulda Worse!
“Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude.”~Denis Waitley. They say travel broadens the mind. There is something about experiencing a place, a people and a culture far different to the one you are familiar with that helps to open […]