"MANY THANKS"

In March 0f 1982 I went on vacation for a week in Montego Bay, Jamaica on a TNT vacation package with my friend Jim Byrne, Nancy Noveline, and her friend Ann. Ann pronounced her name to rhyme with "on", not rhyming with "can".

We flew out of Logan Airport on a chartered airplane called "Arrow Airlines". There was some sort of delay with this flight as they were checking out the plane so were were delayed on take off. The seats were jam packed together on this full plane and when we finally took off towards Jamaica there was a water leak that kept dripping from the airplane ceiling and hitting is in the head. To compensate for the delay the airline gave us a free open bar so we had free liquor nips throughout the flight. We joked about this old leaky cramped aircraft and said "I shot an arrow in the air and will it land who knows where."

After landing at the Montego Bay airport we were transported to our hotel the Holiday Inn Rose Hall on the beach. Across the street from the hotel was a small shopping area where a lot of Jamaican men would approach us as they wanted to exchange their Jamaican dollars into American dollars. At that time there was a set exchange rate for currency conversion you were supposed to account for the amount of money that you exchanged and only exchange your money with recognized banks or at the hotel. The Jamaican men however, offered a better exchange rate so we clandestinely exchanged some of our greenbacks for the colorful Jamaican currency.

One morning the four of us decided to have breakfast at a small restaurant in the shopping area. Our waiter was a Jamaican man who took our breakfast order. Jim, Nancy, and I ordered coffee; Ann (on) said "I'll have tea." The waiter had to search around for the tea but he did find some and returned with the three coffees and one tea. As he dispensed our beverages Nancy said "thank you"; the waiter said "thank you for thanking me"; Jim said "thank you"; the waiter said "thank you for thanking me"; Ann (on) said "thank you"; the waiter said "thank you for thanking me"; and I said "thank you"; the waiter said "thank you for thanking me"; I then said "thank you for thanking me for thanking you".

Many thanks Mr. Jamaican waiter for your courteous service that day.