Sure Signs That a State of Emergency Has Been Declared in Jamaica

You're watching the latest scenes from the fighting in Iraq on CNN when you realise that it’s not Iraq you're looking at.

2. If a gunman so much as sneezes in Tivoli, Red Hills Road or Mountain View Avenue you get a dozen messages about it on Blackberry, Twitter and Facebook.

3. The ONLY topic on the local nightly news is the State of Emergency.

4. BBC is showing scenes from "ground zero" of the conflict... and it looks a lot like your neighbour’s backyard.

5. You pass the time by counting the fascinating ways foreign newscasters have found to pronounce Dudus (Doo-dus, Dough-dus, etc).

6. People who've never been to Tivoli in their entire lives are telling you where the "escape tunnels" are hidden.

7. Instead of the mainstream media, your main source of "up-to-the-minute" news is now your gardener Dwayne whose sister lives downtown.

8. The last time the nightly news on TVJ had so many people tuning in was when cable hadn’t been introduced yet, it was still the only tv station in the island and Dallas was coming on right after the news.

9. Jamaican people are even more fearful and paranoid than they usually are.

ThingsJamaicansLove.com encourages you to stay safe, stay informed and do your part to make sure that Jamaica emerges from this crisis stronger, wiser and more united than before.