So I’ve filled in the gaps from the 8th and 9th. Yesterday after we dropped the group at the
airport, it was still quite early.
Bishop and Mrs. Reddick were kind enough to invite me to wait with them and
Dr. Spragin at the Hilton. I had recommended the Wexford to Bishop Reddick, and
it simply did not meet his standards. He
is very conscious of not spending monies frivolously, but balances that with
the need to restore and replenish himself so that he can continue to lead
effectively. I get that.
So we sat in the lobby of the Hilton. I had loaded up my Digicel card but the data
was almost immediately sucked out of it.
I went upstairs to the internet café, realized I still had a Digical
account and put $30.00 on it. I thought I was good. Bishop invited me to join him, Mrs. Reddick,
and Rev. Spragin as they made house visits to some of the preachers who were
not able to attend conference. I won’t put in too many details, but will simply
say that I am always pleasantly surprised when I see this man of God behaving
as a man of God. First of all, he
adheres to the admonition to not stay too long in any one place. We met the people and any family present,
sang, prayed, read Scripture, heard updates about their conditions, and Bishop
gave a brief update on Conference news and gave them whatever the Conference
had for them (in one case, he was moved to go into his own pocket to give a
caretaker money to help care for an ailing preacher. You just don’t see that very much any
more. At least I don’t. And it wasn’t hamburger money; he gave them
enough money to make a significant difference.) – but we did all that, in each
visit, in from 15-20 minutes. The visits
were not rushed, but they weren’t drawn out, either.
So we visited a couple of people around MoBay, then one person out by Negril. Bishop introduced me to his driver, and
despite my constant data drain, I was able to arrange to go to Peter Tosh and
Negril on Saturday, leaving Friday nite free to go to Luminous Lagoon
(Glistening Waters). I tried to take pictures, but it was best seen in the
dark, and with my long lens, I couldn’t stop it down far enough to get a fast
enough shutter speed to really capture it.
The water has microorganisms that make it light up like those
glo-lights. It was great, and Mr. Elliot Gladstone, the
driver, was good and played great Christian music. However, I think the highlight was going to
the Lilliput Jerk Centre on Lilliput Road in Lillput. Quite frankly, while it
was very friendly, it wasn’t the sort of environment where I was going to pull
out my camera, even with Mr. Gladstone there. I didn’t even want to take a picture with my
iPhone, mostly because I didn’t feel like or want to seem like a tourist. I just wanted to enjoy it. I do believe, though, that I might get a
little jerk and bammy tonite, as well.
OK, so the Wexford. I’ve
stated how Bishop Reddick didn’t like it, and when I showed it to Mr. Harris,
he didn’t seem to impressed, either.
Which is fine; their purposes are different than mine. But all that was playing in the back of my
head last night when I got in line to check in.
So there are two people at the checkin desk. One is on the phone; the other sees me
standing and THEN picks up the phone to make a call. When she finishes and I tell her I am there
to check in, she directs me to the guy who’s on the phone. After 20 minutes, he finally got me checked
in, but not until he had answered two or three additional calls (while he was
waiting on me. I felt like I should have
just picked up my cellphone and called rather than standing in front of him),
received some used towels, taken them to the back and folded them up (yes,
while I’m watching and waiting), searched for his pen, and I don’t know what
else.
FINALLY got me checked in, only to find that I didn’t get
the oceanfront room I’d paid for.
Thankfully I had enough data left to pull up my reservation and show
them I had paid for an oceanfront room. So they of course blamed it on
Orbitz. They brought the owner out, and
I told her the issue. They decided to
upgrade me to a junior suite, which is still not ocean view. She said I could
come downstairs and sit on the veranda if I wanted to see the ocean. Which is true, but misses the point that I
paid for the privilege of doing it from my room. The room is a junior suite. It is in the new block of buildings, the one
my room last year looked out on. IT’S A
SECOND FLOOR ROOM IN A HOTEL THAT HAS NO ELEVATORS. I don’t get how you build a hotel that’s
already up a hill and you don’t put elevators in it. But that’s what bellhops are for; it just
increases the price of the room. There
is a Jacuzzi in the room, which would have been nice had I not been so
exhausted last night. I will try it out today.
Aside from not overlooking the water and not having an elevator – ok, it’s
a room with a Jacuzzi. It could be
anywhere in the world. So I’m sitting
out here on the veranda writing. My driver is spozed to be here in like 90 minutes. I should probably call and make sure I can
get into Dolphin Cove Negril…it seemed much smaller than Ocho Rios.
More later. Pics from the day are in the next and previous posts.
No comments:
Post a Comment