My friend Gary, a Methodist minister in Tandragee (Northern Ireland), has just posted some photos of his harvest festival.

This particular carrot caught my eye!

283 Upper Street, Islington, London, N1 2TZ

La Petite Auberge is a little rustic anomaly on Upper street of fine French fare, attentive service and a warm and cosy atmosphere which together creates an atmosphere of intimacy and all at a very decent price. Its laid-back, unpretentious attitude makes it ideal for a casual dinner date.

Le Petite Auberge website

Call me unpatriotic, call me evil whatever but just don’t call me impressed with what I see day to day in Trinidad and Tobago. I haven’t been gone for that long, only three and a half years but I feel like it’s been decades. Unlike many Trinis who leave, and then try backseat drive by reading newspapers online and leaving their “informed comments”; when I left, I left. I never looked at a newspaper, after carnival never listened to a radio station, nothing…and I’m paying for it now. I can no longer relate to “my people”.

Now that I’m back home, for a while and not just for vacation, I’ve found myself being more and more upset by the mentality of our people. While away I was never ashamed to say that I was from Trinidad. When people asked where I was from I answered. When they actually knew that the country existed I was always interested in seeing what image we portrayed to the world.

Typically they knew of some sports personality or would mention something about how great the weather is or how beautiful the beaches are (which makes me realize they heard when I said “Caribbean” and not “Trinidad” because our beaches are terrible). But the thing I heard the most was, “Oh Carnival, you guys know how to party.” Life must be so laid-back there. I’d usually reply, “It is, and it’s great up until you actually want to get something done.”

Don’t get me wrong, I’m about as laid-back as they come. But I don’t need my bank teller to be so laid-back that she’s texting her friend to ask where they’re going tonight while counting my money. I don’t need my grocery clerk to be so laid-back that she laughs when she swipes a sealed pack of 14 items, 14 times and then calls her manager to fix the error who then jokes that she doesn’t feel like coming back because she’s been making mistakes all day…neither of whom apologize.

I don’t think that we should be so laid-back that upon completion of a flyover, we stop in the middle of it to crack open a few beers and admire. Why do people come to a complete stop around the Savannah, halting traffic only to peer at the National Academy for the Performing Arts’s (look out for my next note on this place coming soon) pretty water fountain with lights? This isn’t being laid-back, it is arrogance and dare I say it, stupidity.

Yet this is something on which we seem to pride ourselves. We know how to have fun. We’re not as stuck up and anal as the Americans. True, but if we’re so cool, calm, and collected, why is it that everyone feels the need to race to on the nation’s roads, weaving in and out of traffic, driving on the shoulder and breaking red lights as if they’re a mere suggestion of road courtesy? Why is it that when I’m in a party I’m petrified to step on someone’s shoes because they may shoot me on the spot? Why do we barricade ourselves in our homes at night fearful to step outside until the sun rises again? Why is it that we claim to be so loving and tolerant but we’re quick to drop slurs like nigger, coolie, bullerman? If I was truly lax and fun loving I’d be too busy having fun with you to care if you were Black, Indian or Gay.

I read an article dated 07 March 2002 by Kevin Baldeosingh which stated:

“I don’t think anyone could truthfully describe Trinidad as a successful society. The gung-ho patriots always point to our harmonious race relations as a lesson we have to offer the world. But that success is relative only to worst-case scenarios of official racism (like the Indesh state once recommended by our more bigoted Indo-Trinidadians) or racial killings.
To besides, I’m not sure if we can take any real credit for having avoided these extremes. That would imply a moral and ethical sensibility which Trinidadians do not display in any other facet of national life. Rather, I think it is our small geographical area and oil wealth which account for the relatively peaceful co-existence of the races on this island.”

So not to go against David Rudder, but maybe I’m not “Trini to de bone” because I don’t believe in many of the things our country stands for and exhibits on a daily basis (which is when it really counts). And before you rush to call me an unpatriotic citizen, realize that all I’m saying is that I am simply not that narcissistic to believe that this country is the greatest, most flawless country in the world, just because I was born here.