THE EDITOR, Sir:I READ an article in The Gleaner of July 23, 2005, titled 'Goodbye to the waving gallery'. This was referring to the waving gallery at the Norman Manley International Airport. I visit the airport fairly often and it is a pleasure to sit on the gallery and watch the proceedings on the tarmac while I wait for the arrival and departure of my family members, who happen to be travelling. I know that many other people do.
School children from all over Jamaica visit the airport as part of their excursions and the waving gallery is a must on their visits. In this way, they can have first-hand experience of arrivals and departures of aircrafts, learn the names of some of the airlines, and see other things that take place on the tarmac. All this they can see from nowhere else at the airport except on the waving gallery.
I have visited the airport since the waving gallery was closed and felt like a fish out of water. I read in the newspaper earlier this year where it would be closed for refurbishing but to learn now that it will be a thing of the past makes me sad.
The article said that the gallery has hardly been used in recent years except to welcome celebrities, but I think one of the things that caused fewer people to use it now, is the exorbitant fee being charged at the car park. People just drop off their relatives and say goodbye, or come to pick them up at the eleventh hour in order to avoid paying parking.
I would appreciate it if the authorities could think this over and keep the gallery, instead of making it be a faint memory for me and others who live with nostalgia.
I am, etc.,
NOVELETTE LOWE
P.O. Box 122
May Pen
