Dear Nesta,
I always hear people say a li’l change o’ surroundin’s good to help pep up yuh spirits an’ dah is exackly wuh I decide to do de ethuh day.
So I plan an’ went to Trinidad to visit muh good frien’ dat I en see fuh a while. We know one anethuh fuh donkey years, y’know.
A few Friduhs ago, I tek off fuh de lan’ o’ “crab an’ callaloo” (I almos’ call it “flyin’ fish an’ coocoo”) fuh a few days. When I went fuh muh ticket, I had a t’ought dat de cos’ might be only a li’l bit mo’ dan one o’ we bus tickets, ’cause aldoh we might not want to admit it, summuch o’ Buhbayduss now belong to Trinidad – duh even got de flyin’ fish –?it would jes’ be like goin’ from one part o’ dat islan’ to anethuh. We name might get change one o’ dese days to “Bartrin”?
Anyway, as it look as ef REDjet an’ duh cheap flights gone t’rough de edders dis time – a fairy godmuddah en appear yet – de price turn out to be mo’ dan de cos’ o’ a bus ticket, but t’ank heavens, not dah ridiculous amounk it used to be befo’ REDjet turn up.
What a nice surprise I had when I reach Piarco. Wuh, it jes’ like de big international airports wunna got up dey. We en had to get outta de plane an’ walk t’rough no sun or rain nor neffin so to reach de Arrivals Hall. Evuh step o’ de way was onder cover. Too nice doh.
Now, dah is wuh I call a international airport. Po’ we at Grantley Adams still got to brave de elements to reach de aircraf’, an’ den mek dah perilous climb up dem plane steps. I wonder ef dah would evuh change, neh?
Evuh time I hit “Trini country” I enjoy muhself. Trinis don’ “dig no blues”, duh easy an’ frien’ly. To me, doh, it was real hot, an’ one day de heat had muh droopin’, but not fuh long. As $1 Bajan worf TT3$ an’ US$1 twice as much, it good fuh shopaholics. But to me, payin’ TT$60 fuh a bar o’ dark choc’lit wid few nuts in it is goin’ too far.
One t’ing I know, I c’n see muhself drivin’ ovuh dey. I t’ought we had mad people ’pon we roads but I t’ink de Trinis outdo Bajans. Ef I was livin’ dey an’ had to drive, I would know a bariffle o’ psalms by heart ’cause dah is all I would be repeatin’ when I at de wheel. Lord mek peace, evuhbody tryin’ to outdrive de ethuh.
Duh had a turrble accident one mornin’ when t’ree young people goin’ home from a party get kill ’pon de spot, an’ one o’ de passengers in de ethuh car, a big-up lawyer, en’ up in intensive care.
Chile, de crime rate dey high enuff. De killin’s an’ robberies mekkin’ people life a misery. I c’n help smilin’ doh, at de report o’ a recent robbery when it is allege dat a crime reporter – ’e is also a law student – ’e camera man, a security officer an’ anethuh hol’ up a liquor store.
Now tell muh, he head get so confuse wid always reportin’ crime dat ’e try to get in ’pon de action as well? An’ to-besides, ’e studyin’ law too? He really turnin’ ’e brains in de wrong direction. I mus’ hear how dah case turn out.
Well, time always got on skates when yuh havin’ fun an’ I now back home. I hear ’bout de poll while in Trinidad but y’know de sayin’ – “De las’ shall be firs’”. Leh we see ef Mr Stuart gine prove dah to be true.
– Tek care o’ yuhself,
Yuh frien’ Babsie
