Farewell to Jamaica

Cameras click in the hotel lobby this morning as a bride and groom, both dressed in white, stand on the main staircase.
 
 
“They are renewing their vows,” whispers another guest.
“They have been married twenty-five years.”
 
I refrain from making facetious comments about them still speaking to each other after twenty-five years because Americans take ceremonies like this very seriously.
 
At breakfast I help myself to my customary glass of orange juice when I see bottles of champagne in buckets of ice. People are making themselves Buck’s Fizz for breakfast.  (All drinks, along with water sports are included in the hotel price).
 

Well, today we leave this island paradise for Scotland, except it may not be such an idyllic world for most Jamaicans.  The average wage is 45 dollars (£30) a week for those lucky enough to have a job for the unemployment rate is 35 per cent of the population.


Bu it is an island of tremendous potential. Here is Harry Belafonte  singing  "Farewell to Jamaica".