A walk around Liguanea
on George Hamilton (Jamaica), 04/Sep/2011 01:14, 34 days ago
Here are some photos of my walk around Liguanea before it got dark.It was a slow day here apart from the periodic cheers from around the apartment complex as a Jamaican athlete won a medal at Daegu.  One set of cheers was for Usain Bolt winning the 200 metres gold medal sprint at 7:20AM Jamaican time.For all of us rooted in the past, 200 metres is roughly equivalent to 10 chains.  At the end of this posting I have a cricket game picture from the Internet helping you visualize a chain length. This mop has been outside my door for a while - months.  Maybe one day a hurricane will come and wash it away?The cats have become bolder and stake out the garbage area in full view and don't run away when you pass by.This is Hope Road just uphill from the apartment.  The lady 1/2 way across the road is probably heading to the Sovereign shopping centre while the gentleman is likely discussing with a route taxi whether it's going in the direction he wants.Simon Diamond's flowers for sale at the corner by the gas station.  He mainly operates at the weekends. Turning the corner to the right going down Old Hope Road I passed the local police station.That reminded me of the time I went into the station to check if the Flat Bridge road to the north shore was open, or closed for a month as the Gleaner newspaper reported.  The police said it was open and a month or two later I discovered they and not the newspaper were correct.It seems that one government body had closed the Flat Bridge road, but that wasn't convenient for another government body so that plan was vetoed quietly and the road remained open without notifying the Gleaner. When I saw this bus coming the display said City but by the time I clicked the camera the alternate destination was displayed.  In previous days I would have cracked the joke that this bus was a month late as it should now be going to September Town. Not everything is scenic in Kingston.  Here is some garbage waiting to be picked up. A couple of pretty scenic trees above.The pet store on Old Hope road.  There could be other ones further down the road, for all I know but this was the only one I passed. Some ornamental grass.Now heading along Retreat Avenue away from the busy main road.  You can see the lower part of Beverly Hills in the background.Another collection of scenic trees.  You always have to remember though to periodically look down so you don't trip over obstacles on the sidewalk that could send you to hospital.  I took this photo mainly to get the hills in the background.Turning onto Hopefield Avenue, about 3/4 of the way around the block I passed the Indian High Commission.  It wasn't a very windy day as the flag shows.I could tell by the sound of children's laughter and games coming over the wall, that  there was a party going on at this apartment complex so I had to take this photo. Taking photos does not come naturally to me - the top line really says "notice" but the orange balloon obscured the "ice" part so it looks like "not".The neighbourhood is pretty central and has a good location.  New developments are starting to replace old ruins that once were nice houses as a photo below illustrates. Another nice tree.One of the old building that has seen better days, however its trees are great.  I think some squatters live there.  You don't need working double glazed windows to squat comfortably in Jamaica.  Close to here one of the older houses across the street from Campion College now has a sign up saying it was a furniture store.I made it all the way back to the apartment and this map was meant to show where I had been, but it's too small to read and probably all you can make out is Ingston Harbour.  The 25 cent coin represents where humble volunteers live, although in a perfectly fine neighbourhood, while the arrow fashioned from the $1,000J points at Beverly Hills where the richer people in a different snack bracket live.  Usain Bolt resides in that neighborhood at the top of the hill.The airport is down at the bottom of the map and a 20 km drive takes you round the large harbour and up into Liguanea, this is roughly 1,000 chains, but then who would have that many chains lying around?  The next picture throws light on how long a chain is.The lighter colored rectangle going across the width of this Internet picture is a cricket pitch and the distance between the two sets of three things sticking out of the ground near either end of the rectangle is exactly a chain - 22 yards. I apologize to cricket enthusiasts, for the "things"  however I was trying to avoid as much cricket jargon as possible.