Entering Negril, the pavement was bone dry and it looked like the rain which hung over the morass never made it this far West and, if it did, it left barely a footprint to signal its passing. Negril is always so new to me as I rarely spend much time there so looking at all the places both new and established seemed equally as fresh and interesting. I noticed a few names of places I heard people on this board talk about and made a mental note that if and when I ventured out I would have to stop there and see what they were all about.
When we turned onto Breadnut Lane I started to get anxious to get settled in and have something to eat. I avoid eating after landing unless I can find somewhere that serves fresh fish and vegetables as I almost completly avoid meat unless it is all that is available.
Linston swung open the gate and he drove up to the cottage. Rasta Freddy, my good friend, lives at and manages the house but he was not there and instead up in the mountains at his farm behind Red Ground.
A Jamaican "yard" has a matriarch or patriarch who actually or de-facto runs tings and this yard is no different. Miss "Icey" (short for Icelene") runs things here. She called me over to her house and told me Freddy would be back soon and that I could relax on her verandah until he returned. I noticed that her verandah was in sunlight and the cottage verandah was in the shade so I begged we should get together later and went over to the cottage to relax in the shade after unloading my luggage and seeing Linston off.
I slumped up against the cottage wall as my 4:00am wake up was catching up with me and I soon found my chin on my chest lost in some daydream when I heard Freddy's voice in the distance. When I opened my eyes, he was standing right next to me. The distance of his voice was only the relative depth of my Jamaican daydream.
I got to my feet and hugged my Rastafarian friend. It had been too long since we last spent time together so I cherished this opportunity. Quickly the house was opened and the luggage taken into my room just off the verandah. While I was unpacking, Freddy poked his head in the door showing me the contents of the two scandal bags in his hands. Fresh ackee, saltfish, yams, plantains, bananas (both ripe and green) and I nodded my approval. "Nice dinner soon come", he said. Again, I nodded my approval but even more vigorously.
Any plans of this vacation being an action verb quickly dissapated once I finished unpacking. I opened the magnetic closing screen over the doorway and went outside, found a comfortable chair and put up my feet on the verandah wall. The last nine months I have been working seven days a week and up to ten hours a day so the unwinding of my mind was going to take all the energy thay I was willing to impart.
