A curious encounter with JPS and a 10-year challenge

On Saturday I attended a funeral. Garfield drove me to the funeral and picked me up about two and a half hours later when the service was done. It was a good funeral; if funerals can be described as good. Although, I avoided eye contact when the priest joked about those who only attended church on special occasions. You know, Christmas, weddings, New Year's Eve/Sunday and yes, funerals.

I also grudgingly gave more than I planned when he reminded us 'special attendees' that we owed the church big time for all our absences.

Guilt aside, his wit and humour were welcomed in what was otherwise a very sombre occasion.

After the funeral, we grabbed breakfast at Cannon Ball Cafe, and since Jordan was at home with grandma, we took the rare opportunity to dine in.

Then we drove home. As we drove into our driveway, a tall, "strapping fellow" as my mother would say, stood at our door. He had what appeared to be a phone in his hand and was snapping a photo.

I blurted out, "Who the hell is that?"

Garfield indicated to me to stay seated as he opened the door. The fellow walked away from our door.

"Boss, this is my place. Who are you?" My husband asked.

The man did not look up, shrugged and continued walking over to our neighbour.

Garfield repeated, "Who you?"

He casually flipped over what appeared to be an ID dangling from his neck and kept walking. Of course, he was walking, so we could not see what was written on the ID or even tell that it was, in fact, an ID.

There was a very heated exchange as my husband demanded that he properly identify himself.

If you know me, you know, I am not the sort of wife to listen to instructions, so I was long out of the car watching with incredulity as the scenario unfolded. By now, grandma who heard the commotion opened the door.

Garfield marched inside the house, thinking I was in tow.

I was infuriated. So infuriated that I unwittingly marched behind the fellow as he went over to my neighbour's property.

"May I see your ID?" I demanded. He proceeded to show me the ID but covered his name.

"I need to see your name."

"NO, you nuh need fi see mi name. Mi take a picture of JPS property."

"You are taking a photo of JPS' property that is on someone else's property. Of course, mi need to see you name."

Is this fellow for real?

I scanned our street for a sign of what he drove. There was no vehicle in sight.

"In this day and age, you really feel like say you can just walk up to people door, with no uniform, no vehicle in sight, an ID that anyone could make and refuse to declare yourself?"

I was angry.

He kept walking.

I followed him.

"Okay then, keep walking." I took out my phone to take a photo of him and the ID if he would show it to me again.

Upon realising that I did not enter the house behind him, Garfield came back out.

Determined that we would obtain information that would allow us to properly identify this man, we followed him. We would later discover that he drove and parked a marked JPS vehicle a few blocks away. My husband drove to the security post to obtain his details.

THIS IS RIDICULOUS.

This is today's Jamaica where less than 20 days in, we are already past 20 murders. One cannot simply be expected to assume that the big burly fellow (or a small scraggy one even) at one's door, in no uniform, no marked vehicle in sight, with a phone in his hand is a JPS agent. No matter how 'gated' or 'protected' you are, you cannot take these things for granted.

This entire fracas could have been avoided by the fellow simply announcing who he was when we drove into our driveway.

I'll provide an example:

A couple drives up unexpectedly as you take a photo of their meter standing in their doorway. As soon as they alight from their car and preferably before they ask, you say:

"Good afternoon. I am Tom and I was just reading your meter on behalf of JPS. Here is my ID if you wish to confirm."

See how easy that was. Is that too much to ask?

JPS, train your staff or contractors.

And for those of you side-eyeing me right now: No, I do not have a problem paying my JPS bill, no matter how hefty they come.

Podcast of the Week

Listen as Tami, Jonathan and Tessanne tackle the question, is love enough? Is love enough to withstand all challenges in a relationship? Do you see love as sticking to it no matter what? Or do you prioritise self-love above all?

Go check out episode two. It's a bit long (52 minutes), but it will have you thinking deeply about love. Here is what I think.

By the way Tami, I can totally relate to falling into the "passing ships" routine. In our relationship, Garfield is usually the one to call me out.

Keeping up with social media

Since everyone has jumped on the #10yearchallenge bandwagon, here is my favourite photo of ours. Have you glowed up over the years? We certainly have!

Foodies
As you all know, it's the countdown to carnival, and I have again committed to jumping with Bacchanal. To get ready, I have joined Garfield on a combination plan of intermittent fasting coupled with Keto.

I. Am. Dying.

Fasting

16/8 intermittent fasting means you pick an eight-hour window and limit your food intake to that time span. Ours is between 12 noon and 8 p.m.

Keto Diet

According to dietdoctor.com, A ketogenic diet stems from the fact that it allows the body to produce small fuel molecules called Ketones. This is an alternative fuel source for the body, and Ketones are produced when you eat very little carbs and moderate protein.

On a ketogenic diet, your entire body switches its fuel supply to run mostly on fat, burning fat 24-7.

Thinking of trying one or both? Do your research, then come join us!

And just to get you motivated, here's our lovely keto approved (lose the raisins and the dressing) breakfast from Cannon Ball.

Conversation starters

Another scandal is brewing... and, I don’t mean scandal bag.

Tell me more.

An independent audit has revealed that one of our favourite tourist attractions, Dunn's River, is being run with poor controls.

What does that mean?

It means the audit found that between $500,000 to $1M is being lost annually due to poor controls, missing documentation and lack of process.

I bet like me you thought tourists were the biggest fans of Dunn's River?

Turns out, we locals love it even more! According to UDC stats, resident tickets have grown by 67% vs. 7% for non-residents.

Surprising right?

Well, the bigger surprise is that there is no evidence to support the resident classification.

Which means?

Surprise. Surprise! There are lots of opportunities for fraud, corruption, and theft.

So, what is the government doing?

Well, UDC says it has set up a programme management office to implement short, medium and long term actions to fix the problems. You know,  the usual jibber-jabber to shut us up.

We'll continue to watch this one.

Where's the party at?

I'm sure most of you are getting ready for Rebel Salute. Please share and tag me in your pics.

Toodles!