By way of a change dear things, not a ‘Letter from Grenada’ but a ‘Letter from Trinidad’, where I currently spend far more time than I do in Grenada. Now I don’t remember reading that in the small print when I signed up for this on our grand adventure! Well you know what they say, if you want to give the gods laugh… tell them your plans!
Now, if anywhere on this blessed planet of ours needed the silky skills of an ad man to execute a perception makeover, it’s poor, benighted, Trinidad. Let’s start with its nickname…Trinibad! It’s an easy joke I’ve made myself on numerous occasions… and it doesn’t help. Note to self – just stop it!
It really isn’t anything like people think. Several people, for example, have asked ‘do they give you a bodyguard?’ No they don’t... whoever ‘they’ might be. People (me included until I went there) seem to know very little about Trinidad other than the lurid tales of kidnapping. Happily the kidnapping fad has passed. Actually I’m not sure kidnapping can be described as a fad? Categorizing it along with collecting Tamagotchi or skateboarding doesn’t seem quite right somehow. Anyway it’s passed, ably assisted on its way by the police systematically wiping out the kidnappers in a hail of bullets. Well, that would do it.
The trouble is that the kidnapping was never as widespread as the global press made out and it was some time ago now but somehow it has remained etched bleakly in the psyche of world citizens. Perhaps not surprisingly, as it is such a heinous and unnerving crime, especially to the middle classes who were the victims. It meant people never felt safe in their homes, let alone on the streets.
Let’s not kid ourselves - of course, Trinidad has its problems. You have to be careful about where you go but then it wouldn’t be too smart to walk down the backstreets of Brixton or Toxteth at two in the morning. There is corruption and politics with both a big and small ‘P’. Partly because of that… because this is fundamentally a wealthy, oil rich country… there is a lot of poverty too, with children who can’t get to school because their parents have no car and can’t afford the bus fare. There are beggars, people do go hungry, some live in what are effectively shantytowns… not on the huge scale of those in South Africa or Brazil, but they are there. There is crime.
But here’s the thing. When you are there, the place just buzzes. It is one of the most vibrant countries I’ve ever visited. I love it. It’s like a mini New York with palm trees. The people, when you meet them one on one, may not quite match the easy charm and smiles of the Grenadians but they aren’t far off. They are charming people. This is a highly creative environment which is alive with great art and music and poetry and culture. It is a country where you can get things done. Optimism is in their blood. Suggest a brave business idea and they’ll give it a go. It’s so refreshing after years of the terribly sophisticated business/ marketing approach of the developed world where they take an idea and then worry it to death with research and reasonableness and intellect instead of emotion and end up with a neutered, pale, thoroughly safe version of the original idea.
And talking of blood… yes we were talking about blood, keep up… blood, yes blood, it’s only 5 lines back… this is also the most multi racial society I have ever seen. I know Toronto claims to be the Mosaic of the world but there, although just about every ethnicity is represented, they tend to happily co - exist rather than intermingle like they do in Trinidad – more like a melting pot. This lot know how to mix because they are also a very sexy crowd. The girls are, in the nicest possible way, the best flirts in the world, everyone is outgoing, everyone wants to have a good time, so it’s not surprising that this melting pot knocks Toronto into a cocked hat. There are Indians and Chinese and Syrians… as anyone from the middle East is known… and those of Portuguese and Spanish extraction, a few whites and of course the negro population. Now all my middle class chums in England have just fallen of their chairs and choked on their chocolate digestives. “He just said ‘negro’.” “Did he? I don’t think he did dear”. “Yes, yes he did, it was there quite clearly”.
Well I admit I still find it odd but that is what they say in Trinidad, not ‘black’… which earns you faintly strange looks if uttered in meetings. Anyway the point is here they like to mix it up so you end up with the most wonderful combinations of ethnicity. Some of these mixes are known as ‘Reds’. Don’t ask me why, they are not in the slightest bit ‘red’, rather they are pale and stunning to behold. The girls look almost Thai but they are tall and slim.
Well the whole nation is a great advertisement for inter racial breeding. It is the instant solution to racism. Just make sure everyone has a good smattering of several races in them and it stops stereotyping at a stroke. You can’t hate Indians if you also have Indian blood coursing through your veins can you? It’s so simple it’s brilliant and rather gives us hope for the future. If we can maybe just mix everyone up a little more rather than a little less, it might just stop the wars. Uh oh - hippy alert. Sorry! However, it is a nice thought to leave on, that little Trinidad, something of a Cinderella on the global playing fields of politics, might just have something to teach the world rather than the other way round.
Sorry this has somehow ended up more of a social diatribe than a jolly blog. Next time I’ll tell you all about the fun stuff of life in Trinidad, like limin’ and shooting lots of commercials, spectacular sister island Tobago and fun trips DDI… ‘down de islands’ and the spectacular food here. Man, the food! Which reminds me it’s time for a cuppa and a chocolate digestive!
PS - Kitty here - click this link to see Russ' latest work for Mackesons Beer (takes you to YouTube): Mackeson Hard Man and also Mackeson Bar
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