大象传媒

Kingston and the surrounding area will be my home for the next two weeks as I cover World Cup Group D for Radio Five Live at Sabina Park. And from my first day here it is fair to say that music is the city's heartbeat. Life goes on to the backdrop of a reggae rhythm or ska beat, particularly downtown which we drove through feeling perfectly safe on Sunday afternoon - although the advice is not to go there at night as Kingston鈥檚 murder rate is not to be sniffed at.

The geography of the Jamaican capital is a mixture of the dramatic and the industrial. It is nestled at the foot of the to the north and its southern boundary is a somewhat industrial waterfront, overlooking the seventh largest harbour in the world.

We are staying in , a ramshackle but quaint relic of the past, situated at the end of a spit which stretches out parallel with the waterfront of downtown Kingston itself. It was once a focal point for the British Navy, and before that the pirate capital of the Caribbean.

The romantic in me would love that to explain the extraordinary shipwreck we happened upon whilst driving back up the spit to the mainland. The beach was full of debris and the waves were still battering the groynes, even on what seemed a relatively calm 30 degree day. It gave us some indication of just how powerful Hurricane Ivan must have been when it struck the island in 2004 en-route to the Cayman Islands. Some of the damage can still be seen around Jamaica.

I flew into Kingston with Arlo White and our first mission has been to navigate our way to Sabina Park to pick up our accreditation and check out the broadcasting facilities. Not as easy as you might think. We have a hire car but maps seem to be unheard of - same goes for signposts.

Arlo opted to drive and did what can only be described as a 'champagne manoeuvre' by performing a u-turn across what we later decided was definitely a central reservation on the main road between Port Royal and Kingston. The curb wasn鈥檛 too pronounced鈥� no damage done!

Like most grounds, has been undergoing a major refurbishment, but they face a race against time to get it ready for the opening game on Tuesday. An impressive 3,600 seater grandstand has been erected which will house the media as well as players dressing rooms but one part of the stand is still missing its seats and bearing in mind the urgency of the matter the stadium was hardly a hive of activity.

You have to understand the laid back attitude here. Infuriating if you want something in a hurry but useless to challenge it. The usual phrase is 鈥淣o problem, man鈥�.

The ground itself has retained its charm, with the old Kingston Cricket Club pavilion still holding pride of place next to a much larger temporary stand. World Cup fever doesn鈥檛 quite seem to have hit town in a huge way just yet. Retailers are cashing in with replica but unofficial and sometimes dated team shirts, and you can buy World Cup mugs, key rings, coasters - you name it (I opted for playing cards in case of rain interruptions).

I鈥檓 sure it will all gather pace once the teams arrive here from the opening ceremony in Montego Bay, which is a four-hour drive away on the other side of the island, or a short flight.

The two main newspapers here are the Daily Gleaner and the Daily Observer. The Saturday Star though had the most striking back page 鈥� 鈥淒ejected鈥� was how it described West Indies fans after the host nation were all out for 85 against India in their warm-up match.

Brian Lara has been keen to point out that qualifiers, only to bounce back with a win against Australia and then reach the final. Noticeable though that on our windy route through Kingston and the surrounds today, we saw three different groups of boys playing football on various patches of wasteland, yet not one impromptu game of cricket.

There is a humid heat here which might not please the Irish team. The mozzies are biting too, so anyone heading out to watch, bring your factor 30, a strong repellent, and if you don鈥檛 like rum and reggae, you鈥檙e sure to get a taste for it by the time you leave.