Saturday 22nd March 2014

After a long night of catching up with my friend that I’ve not seen since we were both 17 years old, it was past midday before we sat down to the delicious brunch of salt fish, cabbage, plantain, yam, dashine, and dumplings that she had prepared.

During our meal her husband received two calls from friends who had previously lived in England. They agreed to come over for drinks and it felt like we had an instant party.

We sat out on their veranda unaffected by the overcast and occasionally drizzly day outside and soothed by the gently swaying of my friend’s fish. It’s one of the great things about living in hot countries – rain does not equate with cold.

After a life time of drinking my rum with coke I was introduced to a new mixer. Ting is a Jamaican grapefruit soda which works remarkably well with Wray and Nephew white over proof rum (70% by volume) and lashings of ice. Slipped down way too easily, and very moreish.

It was a meeting of Directors and CEOs of diverse organisations such as transport, University, power and shipping. These were people at the top of their game who had travelled extensively, and the one thing they had in common was their love of Jamaica. We talked about the unique blend that can make this island (for some) the worst and (for others) the best place to live. While some are desperate to leave, others are queuing up to return.