TiCtOc pon di rock LIVE AND DIRECT **TRIP REPORT** On a Zero budget.

[Schuttzie]

Thank you, Tictoc for the explanation...I didn't mean to sidetrack your trip report, lol. Education is so very important here, too.

[TiCtOc]

I never told you what happened with the coleslaw did I? I had planned from before I went to Jamaica to eat lots of coleslaw, I love it, I enjoy it with spicy food to cool it down,
I like the texture and the taste and the nice homemade coleslaw in Jamaica so when I got there for weeks I could not find any decent homecooked real Jamaican food , nowhere had coleslaw which was really strange as everywhere used to have it, I found the food quite poor all over Negril this trip but then I was on a low budget but the food should still be nice whatever the price.Had consistently good food at fatties for 400 j a meal and that was real homemade frehly cooked food for a very low price, never had a bad meal there it was A* food just had no coleslaw.So all trip I wanted coleslaw I would have to read all the pages here again to remember if I actually got any in Negril, I know a few of you told me to go to Chicken lavish but I never got there so I was craving coleslaw by the time I got to our families house.So nobody had any coleslaw nobody had any plans to make any so I made a real effort one very hot afternoon to head into town,I actually walked all the way there on crazy roads and in hot sun.I wanted coleslaw dammit! So I went to a local market and bought about 5 cabbages, a huge bag of carrots, some mayo and anything else we could add would be back at the house.So of course every man and woman selling fruit and vegetables wanted me to purchase from them and I had to explain my situation many times telling them I already had what I needed I just want to make coleslaw which gained many laughs as they looked at me as if to ask was I feeding the 5 thousand as I had about 5 cabbages where some families may just use half of ONE cabbage or one cabbage well I needed 5! You do know we like our food.We like BIG portions full of tasty food not bland mediocre garbage.I wanted to do a huge bowl of it so we would have a lot to share with the curry goat meal.I always like to cook extra even at home incase anyone pops in and then we do not have to start cutting the portions down.So hot sun , walking, market fiasco,carrying it all thought I would give the three teenagers a simple job while they were waiting for that days dinner to be cooked it was a real simple easy job or so I thought and there was three teenagers to complete the task, all they had to do was chop carrots and cabbages and put them into a big bowl, so one of my girls was moaning she could not find a knife then when I found one she said it does not work , then I tried it and it did work she still moaned so my husband sharpened it for her then my other daughter was taking ages peeling ,It went from day to night the sun went down and the veg was still not all cut up , then dinner was ready I was hoping to have a taste of coleslaw with that evenings dinner even though it was for the next day for a big family meal at our sleepover party But the kids still had not finished and I did not want their dinner to go cold so I said leave it until later or tomorrow so my sister in law took it off them and put it in the kitchen,I THOUGHT she had put it away or covered it with water , I did not think to ask what was she doing with it.So the coleslaw fiasco/saga was laid to rest until the next morning when I said come on kids lets finish the coleslaw, so I looked in the fridge..NO coleslaw you got to be kidding me right?Wheres my coleslaw? Looked on the side looked on the table could not find the coleslaw hmmm.Saw a tea towel covering something noooo not my coleslaw? PLEASE DON'T BE MY COLESLAW, Peeked under it, My cabbage and carrots with NO water it was my unfinished coleslaw and after all the memories of hot sun walking, talking with vendors and repeating my coleslaw tale a million times and watching it go from day to night with the kids moaning about knives because they probably did not want to help with it ..as all the memories of what I had to do to actually get the ingredients to the kitchen flashed before my mind I was now looking in the bowl and thought what is that?Oh its just a bad cabbage leaf..pick it out just gone brown thats all ,BUT NO IT WAS NOT just ONE piece of brown cabbage the whole lot had gone discoloured and brown and horrible and no good as it had not been covered with water or put in the fridge so I was like NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO WTH WHO KILLED MY CABBAGE look at my cabbage omg you know what I had to go through to get this cabbage? 5 weeks I had been wanting cabbage in Jamaica not to mention my pre-Jamaica licking of lips and drooling at the thought of it and as I could not find any in the hotels I went through allll of this to succumb and make my own and now this MASSACRE of the cabbage.It was devastation of the coleslaw it was- it was well it was just my bl@@@ luck wasn't it?Only me could go through all that to end up with a bucket full of gone off cabbage so my sister in law said perhaps the under neath may be ok maybe only the top has gone discoloured , she was probably trying to calm me down I REALLLLY wanted that coleslaw bad bad bad lol So I tasted a bit and it seemed ok so I decided to finish it myself in a huff and a sulk I was not waiting until the sun had gone down again to try and get the kids to help me out so I mixed it up made it sort of edible it was better than nothing and put it in the fridge.All I had to do now was to wait for it to get cold.Yummy I shall have my coleslaw at last.I left it there a good couple of hours while we got dressed and waited for our ride to go have the sleepover party where we was taking a big bag of goat and I wanted to take the coleslaw.So I grabbed the coleslaw out of the fridge happy as a smiling ray of sunshine proud of my coleslaw accomplishment and finally I would get a homecooked dinner of curry goat rice and peas and my nice homemade coleslaw at long last.So we got out the car,Counted my kids as they were walking up the mountain , yep kids check we are all here, bags check, coleslaw check WTHHHHHHHH Or rather WTFFFFFFFF is dripping out of the coleslaw dishes bags?OMG don't even joke with me now what the hell is THAT? so we opened the bags and it had all turned into dishes of smelly crap watery stinking smelly mushy gooey horrible brown discoloured messy crap and that was my offering for the family table,Who I had not seen in about two years.JUST MY LUCK i DON'T BELIEVE IT.
To the family they were probably thinking oh its just a bit of coleslaw she bought from somewhere or chopped up "it nah matter" BUT I knew what the heck I went to get through to get that coleslaw there and I was MAD MAD MADDD.
So what the heck had happened to my coleslaw now I wonder?
So then I find out something to either do with electricity or the fridge.If you overload the fridge it does not cool the food properly or freeze food properly .I had no energy to even ask in depth as to why.I feel sometimes that you can just not rely on nothing or no-one to comply with the easiest of tasks or simplest of things that you just expect to be done and take for granted things will happen things will work and be ok .WRONG THINK AGAIN.Nothing goes right,All I knew was I had dishes full of stinky crap as my offerring to the table and I had tried so hard to make it nice.
This was the journey on dangerous roads too where I had no holy s@@@ bar yet I still managed to cling on to the beloved coleslaw even though we nearly fell off a very high cliff mountain edge.As that was our last weekend and we left Jamaica very shortly after I never got no coleslaw.How annoying is that?After everything NO coleslaw and I cannot be bothered to make anything since I got back I am in mourning for my holiday I want it back! And
I WANT COLESLAW DAMMIT

[TiCtOc]

Our nephew was also grating to make home made carrot or beetroot juice or something like that he worked real hard on it for ages and that went bad too

[Sheba]

Greetings Ms T,
So Wha appen? Yu dash We whey?
I know it's probably all stoosh back in Hengland BUT when Yu a Come Back a Yu Yard?

Hope all is good.
One Love
B

[TiCtOc]

It is my final FINAL, FINAL day here no more top up of fundsinjections,
no more extensions….
no more just one moreday here, there and everywhere, the time has come , my ticket has ran out , mychildren have their final examinations waiting for them at school and we HAVEto go home….OR DO WE?
LOL
What do you think the next step would be if the FINALdecision was up to me if I did not have the childrens schooling to worry about?
There is no way on this earth ANYONE could make me go home!No way!
I would stay and just see what happens , go with the flowand only return back to England if my luck ran out, but it never has andhopefully never will!
I never thought this trip would happen this year so muchhappened this year pre trip that I just gave up on the idea even though it wastearing me up to have to miss my trip and also lose my monies already paid.
But doom and gloom soon SNAPPED into happiness andexcitement the second I printed my boarding pass, and the second we got in thetransfer van to Negril. I cannot even describe how I felt,except WELCOME HOMEonce more.Hooray thankyou Jesus
Lastnight was very strange weather it really rained hardhere for hours and hours and felt cool.It rained well after dark and thismorning felt very cold and I wondered if I was seeing things there was a foglike mist over the mountains hanging real low which lasted for nearly twohours.It was cold cloudy and rainy and it was like natures way of saying tictoctime to go home, easing me back into the weather back home the cold , thecloud, the fog the mist and rain.It is very unusual weather today it is justlike at home in England, perhaps it is better for me this way as if it was verysunny with the birds chirping and I hear one sound system I know it would makeit a lot harder for me to leave so this weather is easing me out slowly!
I really do not want to go home.My childrens education isalmost finished there, We are in January now , my girls finish around May forgood, They could attend college anywhere in the world and my son could easilysettle in to school here.My mother and father are also back home and we see myfather daily who is with us all the time so of course I have missed them butthey can easily fly out here.
I just wish I could stay but know my time is up and I haveto leave and every time I say next time will be for longer or a one way ticketbut in reality the longest I can get away is 5 or 6 weeks over july /augustwhen my children are out of school/college for summer so I will not get toexperience 3 or 6 months or 12 months it can only ever be 5 or 6 weeks until Imake a final decision to up and leave once and for all.Just grab my chance androll with it.
The worst that could ever happen to us is I would be satback in my same old chair in my same old life looking out of that same oldwindow pane watching the rain and the miserable unhappy unsociable cold peoplepassing by from time to time.I would still have a life and a roof and moneyback home.I really do not have anything to lose by just taking a chance andgoing for it as the worst that can happen is I would have to fly to England andjust go back to where my life is at now.Nothing ventured nothing gained.
My main priority is EDUCATION and certificates , degrees andpasses for my kids it seems you cannot get anywhere these days unless you havea very good natural talent or you possess all of these certificates.
So making sure they all have a good education is my numberone priority and they are all doing extremely well so far and I am very proudof them.
I also have to make sure my father is happy, he said hewould come here for good with us if we got something stable and settledarranged.
My mother hopefully would find the courage to fly out forvisits.
I don’t have any other ties at all.I have family but theywould not put their life on hold for me not at all so I cannot do that forthem.I have to look out for my own immediate family.If and when my family get agood opportunity that they have been waiting for it is not like I will beconsulted they would grab it with both hands and go and so will I!
We made breakfast in bed for my in laws this morning Isuccumbed to the drawing of tea LOL and had a cup of some chocolatey drink!
I bet my son asks for tea every morning now at home.
We had a bit of a bad sleep as the kids were playing musicalbeds lastnight all fighting for a space and saying they wanted to sleep indifferent places so everyone is feeling a little tired today.My mother in lawmade me laugh, the phone rang and she said hello and then she shouted my fatherin law, because he was not quick enough to come she said you nah come? Well Icyan bodder wit it and put the phone down LOL she said she did not know who itwas and we did not know how to recall the number LOLOL
Our nephew came lastnight after school to say our goodbyesit was sad he cooked up a mean chicken though it was lovely and my girls wereassistant chefs.
The phone has been ringing today, different family fromEngland checking on arrangements saying hi people saying bye its so sad.I donot want to leave.
My dreams lastnight were surreal can a dream even be surrealor is it surreal anyway?
Lol
My dreams were of every single song since I got here , bassspeakers musicians, boardies faces, musical instruments , family time, beachtime, seastar time, concerts, driving, cliffs, Cliffside, chicken , rum, fun,sun, birds, animals, noises and then I woke up, It was like the whole 6 weeksflashed before me like they say it happens before death but it is not the endof my life just the end of my holiday but I sure do feel like wearing all blackand start mourning!

[TiCtOc]

I keep repeating myself and for that I apologize I know I can be a repetitive annoying mo fo sometimes about things I am passionate about and this is WITHOUT any rum!

My liver is one thing that will be pleased to go back home LOL it will have a nice long rest until my next trip.Our driver is coming in the next 30 minutes and we will leave here in just over an hour or so.I have about 2000j LOL to my name so I am seriously hoping I do not have to pay exit tax, I have always paid it before on every single trip but they were on cheapo flights and this was a mega expensive scheduled airline which I heard it was included in.Please let that rumour be right.Because I have no credit card and no-one back home will loan me one more dime/cent/penny!
I really hope there is no drama at the airport.We get fed well on the plane at least and drinks are free.Once we land I have to get 3 long trains and a taxi to get home.It will take me almost 24 hours of messing about but 24 hours from now I will be lying on my bed , if my bed hasn’t been stolen or sold LOL with my memories of my trip and OMG I so need to start planning the next trip because there was SO much I never got to do this trip and so much I saved for next time that I will have to start planning and saving and paying back from the moment I touch down.
Do you think I am crazy for that?
Says who?
Says you LOL?
I know everyone reading this is probably every inch as in love with Jamaica as I.You know you are all as obsessed with trips as me just admit it be honest!
I did not manage to make it to a library as planned all week so I am sorry I could not do live updates and looking back I would definitely buy my own connection which I can just plug in my usb port so I have access to internet at all times.I cannot even check if my flight is on time as I have no phone or internet now so here’s to hoping! As always riding on a wing and a prayer LOL
Please forgive me.
Everything always works out in Jamaica, where there is a will there is a way.If I really want something I will get it,If I really want to do something I manage to do it.Do not let fear or lack of money or confidence hold you back.Everyone has the same opportunities , they are out there just not everyone has the same amount of money to take up those opportunities but if you really want something so bad you will find a way.I was coming here twice sometimes 3 times in a year or less than 2 years at one point.
Where there is a will there is a way.
Everybody’s cases are packed except one.Guess who’s that is?
MINE
I know I

[TiCtOc]

Life can be very fun out here and also very hard I have seensome hardships.

If you are a tourist and want lots of fun bring lots ofmoney, if you want to live here come with lots of money and a superb plan ,anything less than a superb plan is not going to cut it.
In saying that if you are a single person with no ties orworries you could always just come here with NO plan and go with the flow andsee where life takes you OMG that sounds quite cool.DO IT NOW while you havethe chance!
What is there to lose.?
Imagine a NO PLAN ~ EMIGRATING PARTY ? WOIEEEEEEE that could be fun.
I am looking forward to reading Gerry and brasis trip reportbut they have failed miserably in locating me and picking me up on motorbikesto transport me to all the shows I have missed you get a big fat fail for thatboys LOL
Hope everyone has been having a lot of fun both at homereading the boards and on the rock having a blast.
So much fun so little time.I have got to fly so far awaynow.I envy those of you who can come 5 times a year or just hop on a plane for200 dollars and come for a long weekend .That must be so cool.
I hope I get back soon to see the family here , I really hope this is not our last visit withthem and we can make it back ASAP.Good bye Jamaica, Goodbye Jamaicans andboardies, and fun , sun and rum and family fun, goodbye sounds, and nature andscenery and sunsets and sunrises and shooting stars and calm blue oceans andreef fish and white sand and swaying palm trees and coconuts and everythingthat grows in the yard.Good bye friends and family and drivers and shops andworkers and patties and jerk chicken and hills and mountains and sunrays andbig bright silver moon and warm rain and cool breeze and swimming pools andJacuzzis and musicians and instruments and huge soundsystems goodbye late nightreggae rhythms flowing through the night air sending me to sleep (umm ok notsleep but you know what I mean!) Good bye adventure, goodbye camping style,andgoodbye my favourite staff at my favourite places, bye bye my rum punch what will I do without you and OMG The buyone get 2 free at fun holiday beach resort that just cannot get better theywere good too.Good bye waterpark I could spend a lot more days with you if Ihad money and good bye to everything I totally missed and didn’t get chance todo this trip.Jamaicans say you should not say goodbye say soon come back
But I will say goodbye to COLD SHOWERS LOL I stink I think Iwill enjoy a hot overflowing bubble bath on my return.I could not find a plugfor the bath here and water is very cool.I think seastar had hot water, can’tremember and fun holiday had a hot Jacuzzi.Must make a list of hot water placesfor future reference!
I think a good all rounder on the beach would definitely befun holiday beach resort.It has everything you need in a good location.Seastaris still my number one Cliffside.You will NOT find anywhere with better customer care here.As usual everysingle thing I asked for needed or wanted and more was provided.I think atourist used my nice coconut tanning oil there I kept leaving it by accidentnear the loungers and then it disappeared boo I bought another but it was creamnot oil and I have not actually ended up getting many days in the sun,Atseastar I was undercover and here in the country I am indoors a lot so thetanning situation is not as good as it could have been if I stayed on the beachfor 6 weeks imagine the tan then woooo that would be cool.
Enough ramblings from me I am off for my final taste ofJamaican home cooked food best throw all of my things in my case any which wayand how, I just hope I am not the family pulled out of the queue for everything getting searched I am NOT in themood yet it is always ME each and every time lol, one time they missed me andgot one of my kids instead,I never have nor ever will have anything I shouldnot have on me I think people who do that kinda thing on purpose are very sillyas they pretty much always get caught these days plus in my humble opinion themules never get paid enough, you know how I am with costs and prices I know thegoing rate LOL its crap and totally not worth it.It is illegal, crap pay notworth it, don’t do it ,don’t risk it.
Bye everyone see you on the other side watching the webcastsdreaming we were back here booooooooooooo
Love yas all hope you all have fantastic holidays and lotsof fun in this perfect little island of paradise.
Bye for now
SOON COME BACK!
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[TiCtOc]

Update on the packing situation - I could not be bothered packing my case and the thought ofall them summer clothes just lying on my wardrobe floor never to be worn againor at least until another holiday made me sad and I thought what a waste. I sawa need for those clothes and I decided to give everything I had away my girlsgave some things too. I kept my sparkly dress and undergarments the rest I gaveaway clothes shoes, accessories etc.
I am an all or nothing kinda gal so if I was to go home tono electric and gas or water on and my cable and internet was to be cut offthen I figured if I was to have nothing at all then I may aswell finish it offproperly and give all my clothes away too no point keeping just a bit of stuffholding on to things when everything else is falling apart around me so it wasall or nothing.Plus I was in need of some karma points !
Keep everything or give away everything. It was my lastlittle gesture to Jamaica we all made quite a few gestures this trip, justchose not to write about them all but I hope the clothes bring the wearer thefun and happiness that I had in them hopefully my happy vybe and spirit will continueto make the person happy.
My daughter gave away her prized possession her mobile phoneand even hubby gave some items away. My son usually leaves some toys but henever brought his little toys this trip.
The flight home which I had started off thinking this couldactually be a good chance to have a jetlag day ON THE PLANE LOL I was laughinginside thinking wait til I tell the boardies I ended up having my jetlag day onthe plane ride home, I had visions of me settling in comfy pillow and blanketmunching on some snacks and watching a few good movies, we usually take it inturns to sit with my son we usually dojust over 2 hours each as he likes entertaining and needs watching the wholeway he always wants to do something so I was surprised when they seated my 3children behind our seats and he settled in right away and was superbly behavedand just wanted to chill watch a movie and go to sleep=RESULT except I then gotsomeone elses 7 year old next to me who thought it would be great fun everytimeI closed my eyes to prod me , poke me , tap me awake or swing the remotecontrol into my leg or have an elbow wrestle over the arm rest space. This wasfunny for about 4 minutes I had another almost ten hours to go. Then he waiteduntil I just nodded off and put the spotlights in my face. THE ONLY SEAT ON THEWHOLE PLANE to have a spotlight on it was my seat typical just my luck my kidsare all behaving and I get stuck with dennis the freakin menace. I started toget mad he thought it was a disco spotlight in my face spotlight off on offkick tap, prod poke. I went and sat near the emergency exit where I hoped Iwould not fly out and tried to make myself invisible and small as you get introuble for blocking the exits so I stayed there for 15 minutes I neededbreathing space. My husband came to get me and said he had sorted the lightsituation out. It was a fairly uncomfortable flight back they forgot to order akids meal for my son so he was hungry eating snacks no meal then they forgot myhusbands breakfast and they only gave us 2 drinks which were just smallgulpsful , you know how much we paid for this flight?? get me a drink dammit!The games channels never worked and there was hard cold metal in between myfeet on the floor which made my sitting very uncomfortable so I was sittinglike I was in labour feet apart and my head on the pull down tray shoved facedown in to a pillow –when dennis the menace was not attacking me of course LOLso my planned jetlag flight did not happen. We got our trains I did not evennotice the climate change like we usually do it was odd. I really think therain mist and fog in Jamaica really helped me ease back in to the weather wedid not feel the cold until evening and usually we all have jetlag andtiredness for up to a week but nothing, nothing at all everyone went to bed asnormal and just fitted straight back into things no jetlag nothing. I do notknow how my body survived with such little sleep but I have slept loads allyear before I came so maybe I was using stored reserves!

[TiCtOc]

On the way home we had totally ran out of all kinds of cashin any and every currency all I had was one single pound coin which wasleftover from our way in. My mother had told me to call her when I got to thetrain station so she could send my driver to pick me up to bring me to my home.So I was gripping this precious final pound coin hanging on for dear life. Thethought never occurred to me imagine if she was on the phone or voicemail cameon? what would I do then lol

Good job these thoughts never occur as I am doing things atthe time as I would scare myself senseless!
But things always work out I pulled out the pound called mymum, the guy was on his way.
I arrived home to a little welcome home committee which wascute and unexpected, my brother and his pregnant partner was in my home, she isabout to give birth any day now and I am very very excited about this and mymum and dad was here and my next door neighbour.
They had all missed me they said awww, they have neverbothered to meet or greet me before , I think maybe they thought I was notcoming back lol
It took me about at least an hour to open all of the bills,the less important ones had to head straight for the trash I am afraid lolpriorities priorities!
Obviously my fambo will be number one on the payback pile.

[TiCtOc]

Pictures of me and my father in law enjoying one of our many chats out on the porch we have been known to spend many an hour out there talking about anything and everything, I think pretty much everything in the world has been discussed with us out on that porch!As you can see I managed to sneak one little rum and pepsi in too!
We talk about poverty, politics,crime, corruption, beauty, scenery, education, government, power, history, the future, the stock market! anything and everything we will sit there for hours and discuss until we watch the sun set over the mountains,then we come in to eat and sometimes we go back out there to chat in almost total darkness with the tree frogs chirping as our little audience.I love our little chats or long chats as I should say.I look forward to them all year.He is a very understanding man who likes to reflect on discussions and debate from both perspectives of an arguement and I enjoy doing that too so thats why some of our chats can take quite some time!
The other pic is of me and my nephew when we was having a 5 minute time out from the water issue that was driving us bonkers!