Jamaica green list? Why not? The Caribbean has got the go-ahead from the UK but Reggaeland has been given no respect.
Imagine if everywhere in your neighbourhood gets lifted from curfew and you stay locked down.
The case for Jamaica
Well, that’s what’s happening to Jamaica which was slated to be back on the roster with a case rate of just 14.4.
The first question you’ll be asked by anyone you meet in the Caribbean is what your favourite island is?
To which, of course, you say the island you’re on which won’t be difficult.
The islanders are fiercely proud of their dots in the sea but equally they know that their fortunes are forged by their geography.
West Indian unity
West Indians come together, of course, most famously at carnival and on the cricket ground.
But also when Mother Nature shows her displeasure and batters their islands.
And that was evident again this year with the joint effort to help Saint Vincent after La Soufriere volcano erupted.
So while each Caribbean island who got back on the green list will be celebrating our return there will be sympathy for Jamaica.
Jamaican independence
It is as we all know a big year for Jamaica next year, the 60th anniversary of independence from the UK.
And I’ve got missionary work to do, spreading the Jamaican word back here.
About how independent Jamaica is forever linked to Scotland.
You see that thread run through the Caribbean and I found it in Barbados (green 😊) and Tobago (red 😢).
Island hopping
And I’m making it a life’s mission to check out for myself in Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Bermuda, Dominica, Grenada, and the Turks and Caicos Islands.
I’ll see the tracks of the Irish there too and nowhere more so than Shamrocked Montserrat.
Of course, it’s a cause for celebration that some of the most welcoming islands in the world are open again.
But it will only really be carnival time until they all are.
So again I ask the question… Jamaica green list. Why not?
MEET YOU ON THE ROAD