Henry Lindo is an educator by profession but he may have missed his calling as a comedian.

He is one of the many individuals who passed by Frederick Cox during our visit, but he took a seat to shoot the breeze with us on the capital. In between his jokes (like the one where Ray Charles was planning to go into photography before he died), he made some thought-provoking comments.

"There's been a lot of development in Port Antonio. We have an improved marina, shopping centres and a plethora of cottages to augment the lack of formal employment," he said. He lauded the resourcefulness of the Port Antonio people, noting that the formation of the cottages was an example of this. He doesn't join the chorus of others who believe young people have a poor work attitude.

"It is an indictment on the education system that produces these youngsters to be job seekers and not job providers," he reasoned. Being an educator himself (he teaches at the College of Arts, Science and Education), he believes he has the authority to speak. But the jokes were never far away and he seemed to come up with them on a second's notice.

Di real story

"A di fus mi see somebody bring three foot a shoes," he said to the slight embarrassment of one young woman. "A di real story dat; a three-legged woman!" We ask him what he thinks was the best thing about the capital.

"The friendliness of the people," he said quickly. "They are very warm and they radiate the natural beauty that surrounds them. They are part of the whole mosaic," he expounded.