6 May 2007

With Lady of Leisure having exhausted the delights of Kingston trying to keep HRH the Queen Mother happy, we decamped to Portland for the weekend. Our usual haunt of Goblin Hill was unavailable, so we hired another villa, nearby, Norse Hill. A large and expensive property, we shared the cost with Nordy Lass and the Big Man who also have family staying.

Norse Hill is a fine villa with beautiful gardens, and substantial enough to find peace away from the other guests. The food is resolutely Jamaican, which I suppose is good for tourists and does mean that you can be sure the chef / butler knows what he is doing. The butler I found to be a little creepy, constantly lurking like Lurch, only much shorter and a little less eloquent. We offered him Red Stripe to go away, and when the Big Man and myself broke out the cigars to settle down for the evening and put the world to rights, he sat down as if to participate, though obviously didn’t preferring instead to stare.

We did not show off the full range that Portland can offer as the villa and its surrounds were perfect for the visitors, and I couldn’t really imagine HRH the Queen Mother sitting on a cinderblock outside Mickey’s Jerk Hut swilling down a coconut water after pulling a part a quarter of a chicken with her fingers. Frenchman’s had it usual allure and evenings were spent playing cards with plenty of wine.

HRH took to her bed for one of the days with “food poisoning” though strangely none of the other 7 people in the house were afflicted.