Category: Uncategorized
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Trinidad Part 5
My room at Mrs Barnes consisted of a bed with mosquito netting over it, a small desk and a small chest of drawers. Mrs Barnes insisted on making traditional Trinidadian meals such as pigs ears and the like. She washed my white shirts by hand but they often came back looking pretty worn-out. Most of…
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Trinidad part 4
Sunday was the day to go to the beach if you we’re invited by someone who owned a car. However, in those days, not many owned cars. Cars were expensive and salaries were low. I was making the starting salary for a teacher which was $250 per month in Trinidadian dollars. The exchange rate was…
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Trinidad part 3
On the weekend in Trinidad you often went to a party and if you knew someone with a car, you went to the beach. The reason I say “you often went to a party” was the that the rules for being invited to a party in Trinidad were rather loose. The essential rule was that…
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Trinidad Part 2
The Trinidadian secondary school system was based on the British: forms 1 to 5 and at the end of form 5, you wrote O-level exams which in those days were set in Britain and marked in Britain. I taught forms 3 to 5 maths and physics. The students were a dream – interested with no…
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Trinidad Part 1
At the end of the orientation in Port of Spain, the CUSO volunteers dispersed. I was the only one going to Arima. A CUSO volunteer from the previous year had arranged for me to have room-and-board at Mrs Barnes place on Green Street so I hopped on the bus to Arima, got off at the…
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The Past
I rarely think about the past, partly because there is no point in hoping for a better one. As it turns out, I can’t actually think of a better one. I was a social misfit but because of my daughter’s and Julie’s personalities, the career I chose, and the few good friends I met along…
