AT 103 years old, Leopold Simpson is enjoying life in Eden, where life's simple pleasures are not forbidden.
He still has a glass of his favourite wine or brandy, and he eats healthy foods.

Leopold Simpson reminisces on his life during an interview at his home in Mocho, Clarendon on his 103rd birthday two Wednesdays ago. (Photo: Lionel Rookwood)

"Mi care me body," he told the Sunday Observer two Wednesdays ago during an interview at his home in Eden, in Mocho, Clarendon on the occasion of his birthday.

"Me buy good drinks and drink - brandy or wine - and a it me drink and egg. A little drop of food me eat. This yah last time yah now me can't eat no meat. A fish and all a dem something deh me eat," he explained.

His neighbours say he is the oldest person in the rural district and he has his passport - the blue hardcover version - to prove it. But except for the fact that he walks with a cane, Simpson does not look a day his age.

And although his memory and hearing are not as sharp as they used be, Simpson said the fact that time has been kind to him is something to celebrate.

"Me glad me live fi see Christmas," he smilingly told the Sunday Observer as he sat in a chair in his yard.

Simpson has outlived his parents and his siblings. "Mi madda dead, mi fahda dead, all dem pickney dem dead a me one left," he said.

But Simpson's son Irving, who is in his 50s, is hoping he will "outlive" his father.

"Me proud fi see me father live so long. Me wish me could a live fi see so long," Irving said.

Simpson grew up in Smithsville, Clarendon, with his parents. It was not clear whether or not he attended high school, but he said once he reached adulthood he moved to England where he worked as a labourer. He spent 15 years at a car manufacturing company.

"Me work and pick up all the thing dem did a meck and spray," he said. "Yes man, me did love it deh."
After returning to the island, he decided to try his hand at farming.

"Me work ground and plant yam and sell them to the government fi ship it go over water," he said. "Me plant nigga yam and afu, but afterward me just take sick, and I feel bad. Every doctor inna May Pen mi go," he continued.

He was also particularly proud of the fact that he was able to build a second house - where he now lives - with the money he earned in England.

"Me call that seh a England money mek it," he explained.

All in all, Simpson has a clean bill of health and the only medication he takes is one that helps him sleep at nights.

His minor ailments aside, Simpson said he also rears pig and goats, but he gets help from a cousin who lives with him.

"Me can't do nuttin much now, me just have to sit down and look," he said.

The father of 11 children - from three women - is married. He said his wife is Jamaican and that they got married here.

"She come here pon missionary [work] and me see her and me love her and me married to her," he recalled.

"Me nuh memba the date weh me married, brah," he continued. "Me wife deh a England. Him (she) seh him nah come out yah, a deh him a live till him dead," Simpson said.

Sadly, he said he has no intention of going back to England to reunite with his wife.

"Me caan go back up deh for if me go, a dead me a go dead," he said.