Do I want to follow the events at COP27? Lymp asked herself, sitting on the rear deck and watching the dolphins ride the yacht’s wake. She shuddered at the sheer tedium of endless scripted speeches from insincere mouths and chose, instead, to slather herself with her specially formulated moisturising oil. It was a heady and pungent mixture of almond oil, neroli, cedar and citronella essential oils which she had personally formulated 10 years ago, during her fad for aromatherapy. The perfume was now infusing virtually everything she wore and always reminded her of past erotic encounters in exotic locations.
Being filthy rich is such a bonus, she thought to herself with more than a smidgeon of the old Olympia smugly resurrected in her personality. The yacht grazed by the gorgeous coastlines of numberless Caribbean islands and attracted the attention of curious birdlife. I deserve this and so much more, she assured herself as she sipped on her pineapple smoothie and scrolled information on her iPhone.
Monserrat for lunch sounded utterly fascinating. According to Wikipedia, Montserrat is a British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean. It is part of the Leeward Islands, the northern portion of the Lesser Antilles chain of the West Indies. It is only about 16 km (10 mi) long and 11 km (7 mi) wide, with roughly 40 km (25 mi) of coastline.
It is nicknamed "The Emerald Isle of the Caribbean" both for its resemblance to coastal Ireland and for the Irish ancestry of many of its inhabitants who were mainly indentured slaves brought over to the sugar cane plantations by Oliver Cromwell’s decimations of the Irish population in the 17th century.
Apparently, on 18 July 1995, the previously dormant Soufrière Hills volcano, in the southern part of the island, became active and the ensuing eruptions destroyed Montserrat's Georgian era capital city of Plymouth. Imagine that!, thought Lymp, a whole city just gone!
Between 1995 and 2000, two-thirds of the island's population was forced to flee, primarily to the United Kingdom, leaving fewer than 1,200 people on the island in 1997, but the population recovered to about half its previous numbers in spite of the fact that the volcanic activity continues, mostly affecting the vicinity of Plymouth, including its docking facilities, and the eastern side of the island around the former W. H. Bramble Airport, the remnants of which were buried by flows from volcanic activity on 11 February 2010. Lymp was fascinated to see this from the safety of her yacht.
An exclusion zone, encompassing the southern part of the island to as far north as parts of the Belham Valley, was imposed because of the size of the existing volcanic dome and the resulting potential for pyroclastic activity. Visitors are not permitted entry into the exclusion zone at all, it is far too dangerous.
Khan had been to Montserrat several times because he was interested in helping with the reconstruction. His previous experience building Cancún was his most valuable CV asset. He said that planning began on a new town and port at Little Bay on the northwest coast of the island back in 2015 but there had been delays, including Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017 and the COVID-19 pandemic. Consequently, it was not until June 2022 that Little Bay Port Development Project, a £28 million project funded by the UK and the Caribbean Development Bank actually got started.
However, Khan also pointed out that the island needed a lot more investment than had been procured and he remarked that everything there has a temporary and deserted feel to it. To see the truth of the place, an aerial view helps:
It is going to take years to resurrect the tourist trade but after seeing what had been achieved in Cancún, Khan felt sure that Montserrat had a potential future, provided that experienced construction labour could be attracted there to begin building a port suitable for cruise ships.
“Why do you care so much about it?” asked Lymp as they gazed at one of the black basalt beaches, glistening like fragments of ebony glass in the midday sun. A stark contrast to the usual white sand beaches of other islands.
”Let’s say it is in the blood!” Khan commented and was greeted with a quizzical look from Lymp. “Ah, the blarney gives us away, to be sure!” he said, with a distinctive Irish brogue accent. “My name is Khan Patrick Kilkenny, descended from a long line of displaced and indentured Irish farmers. Ask the people about the history of these islands, Olympia. It is not quite as clean and tidy as you might find online. Irish people put their blood, sweat and tears into farming this little island for centuries and that volcano buried half of it beneath 60 feet of lava and mud. I can help rebuild it and I will.” Khan smiled and went to advise the Captain of the safest route through the choppy windswept ocean to Little Bay Port.
Olympia and Khan took the tender from the yacht at anchor in the bay and went ashore. They managed to find a young man who was about to drive to Brades, the new, but tiny capital of Montserrat and they begged a lift. Khan asked what had happened to the ferry from Antigua and the young man launched into a long explanation about the dire state of all transport links to the island. “Everything is down to the people now,” he said sadly. “Even the small plane service from St John’s has folded. Last month all the Eastern Caribbean political leaders met in Brades, but they had to hire a charter flight to get here!” and he showed them a local newspaper story which spelled out the problem.
https://www.nationnews.com/2022/10/20/lack-regional-transport-high-oecs-agenda/
Khan whistled through his teeth as he read the headline article. Things were deteriorating badly. The plans for the port had been scaled down too, due to lack of funds, the young man told them. Olympia was looking out of the car window and noticing how neglected everything was looking. She didn’t say anything, but was thinking Geez, these aren’t houses! They are shacks!
Khan was directing the driver to an address where he hoped to find some friends, but when they arrived, the house was boarded up and appeared to be abandoned. A neighbour hailed them, saying that Khan’s friends had moved away but she couldn’t be sure where they had gone. “Maybe England!” she guessed.
Khan and Olympia accepted an invitation to join their driver for a drink in a nearby bar where the conversation was mainly about cricket, the national sport of Montserrat. Neither of them were able to contribute much to the conversation, but they fed the old fashioned juke box with a few coins and then made their way back to the yacht’s tender tied up in the bay.
Khan was very quiet on the return journey. He grabbed a beer and searched You Tube for a film to show to Olympia. It explained the Irish connection to Montserrat.
Chapter 1 - https://francesleader.substack.com/p/the-daily-grind-of-lymp-duhdashyan
Chapter 2 - https://francesleader.substack.com/p/lymp-duhdashyan-at-the-spa
Chapter 3 - https://francesleader.substack.com/p/lymp-duhdashian-kerching
Chapter 4 - https://francesleader.substack.com/p/lymp-duhdashian-disappears
Chapter 5 - https://francesleader.substack.com/p/lymp-duhdashians-reality-shock
Chapter 6 - https://francesleader.substack.com/p/the-olympians
Chapter 7 - https://francesleader.substack.com/p/lymp-duhdashians-education
Chapter 8 - https://francesleader.substack.com/p/lymp-goes-down-the-rabbit-hole
Chapter 9 - https://francesleader.substack.com/p/all-the-world-is-a-mine
Chapter 10 - https://francesleader.substack.com/p/the-olympian-population-reduction
Chapter 11 - https://francesleader.substack.com/p/awol-in-the-caribbean
Chapter 12 - https://francesleader.substack.com/p/frying-big-fish-in-the-caribbean
and Chapter 14 is here - https://francesleader.substack.com/p/tempest-in-creole-heaven
Kamala Harris:
https://patriots4truth.org/2019/07/18/kamalas-white-irish-slave-trader-roots-exposed/