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Living Room
The Trini living room has always been the life of the house (inside, that is). The best thing is to drop in by a friend, after working a hard day's work, sipping a Carib, and getting into some good old talk.
This has been one of the Trini ways of relieving the stress. Just chilling.
So, here, we are going to chill. Just chill and get into some old talk.
Old talk topics... 
The Woodbrook Park Fruit Licks (corporal punishment) Band Launchings Pitch (marbles) Directions | Galleria hopping Plaza Mario's Pizzeria Theatre Drive-in Hiking | Beats and Rescue |
The Woodbrook ParkWhen I was growing up in Woodbrook, most of this chilling was done in the Woodbrook Park at the corner of Murray and Baden-Powell Streets. Here, in the park, all ages were welcome. As long as respect was paid to the elder and wiser...like Shorty, Whitey, English (Terry), and Neville.
Like true Trinis, the park was everything...pitching marbles, football, cricket, skateboarding, riding bike, flying kite, pelting mango, picking tamarind, band launchings, Christmas parties, Divali lights, the usual playground facilities, and other things that can't be mentioned here. It was not a free-for-all though. Watchman (his nickname) closed down the park at 6:00 pm.
Nearly everyone that I know did their driving test here. Both times...because you know them licensing officers crucial!
To me, this park was, and still is, the best park in Woodbrook.
FruitYou know, I can't understand how, after all those years of raiding everybody's fruit trees, when you grow up you have to buy your fruit.
Is this the law of balance?
We had two kinds of guava trees in our yard. I can't remember when last I ate a guava. The old house next to the park had a lot of fruit trees in the yard...from dongs to mango. They cut them down and put up a Police Station. What?
I remember going down behind John D, on the Port, and in Licensing, to pick dongs. The snatty-nose was the best!
Man, you could be up in the tree for hours and come down with little or no dongs...because you were eating more than picking.
The old Pumping Station, at the end of Wrightson Road before the building of the Foreshore and Complex, also had a lot of dongs trees.
It was hard to grow up in Woodbrook and not know the taste of a dongs tree picker ("thorns" to the foreigner).
Licks (corporal punishment)Man, licks was expected for most of us. Licks, licks, and more licks. Now, they say that you cannot touch people's children. Why? Are they untouchable?
In Newtown Boys', I got licks for coming late, playing, spelling, sweating, misbehaving in class...you name it. And the thing is, I was not a bad boy (as far as I know); licks was just normal.
I mean, I didn't get those grip-your-pants-tight-tiptoe-round-the-room kinds of licks but I got my fair share. Mr. Marcelle, Mr. Sandy, Mr. Belasco, Ms. Gomez, and Ms. Titus were all notorious. The first day of school for me at Newtown, I remember the teacher telling my mother "we don't beat" and as soon as my mother walked out the school yard, she buss one cut-ass on a child. Man, I start to bawl yes! 
I even got strokes in Fatima when you were supposedly too old for licks. Huh?
Band launchingsWoodbrook was the place of band launchings. I mean real band launchings! That means that they were free and in the road. Blockos! Yes man! You know the best thing for a Trini is freeness!
Carvalho, Stephen Leung, Max Awon, and Victor Rique. It's between Carvalho and Victor Rique for the crown.
Those days you didn't have to worry about guns but you had to be a little concerned about bottles and ratchets. Man, that was rough. But the best thing was a good band launching in Woodbrook.
It was something else to see how some people would spend the whole night walking up and down through that tight crowd...going where, nobody knows.
Band launchings were real scenes yes. You had to know what time was a good time to show up, and which part of the launching was the place to lime (hang). The girls looking for a man and the men looking for a girl to wine on. And if you came with your girl, you would like to wine on her for the whole night. Do not go by the bar if you didn't have a pardner covering for you. You could lose your girl yes. Plenty man lose their girls in band launching yes!
Pitch (marbles)Everyone who attended Newtown Boys or Girls has to remember playing pitch. I don't think, even after all this time, you could forget all those "bokies" you got playing "cack for bokie" under the big tree in the Church yard...fren everies, fren helicopter, big tor, snake eyes, slugs. You also must remember playing, running races around the yard, and climbing the belfry. One game that you had to be good at was "slap hand" or else your hand would be swollen for days...especially if you were playing with a line of people.
Beats and RescueWe did not have any fancy official name but I feel that the American NFL could come to Trinidad to recruit. Playing "beats and rescue" took the same agility, speed, and quick thinking that is required by the professional American football players. Dedication was also required because it was not easy to keep getting licks everyday for sweating after lunch-time was over.
School ThingsWho can forget things like Janet and John/Here We Go, West Indian Readers, Students' Companion (and getting licks for spelling), double-line copy books, big-line copy books, conversion tables and times (multiplication) tables behind the copy books (and memorizing them), green-canvas schoolbags, scrap books, brown paper to cover books, dog ears on your books (and licks for them), pocket protectors from SuperPak, pencil sharpeners, geometry pans, fountain pens, and lunch kits.
It was a difficult transition from Primary school to Secondary school. You had to forget the lunch kit, try to lose the short pants and Bata Bullets or Dorics. That August Holidays you went from "sonny" or "child" to having your own name. That's right...big people now. Or so you thought. Just so...you started to walk with a "bounce" and "hail" out everybody. Suddenly, you were the biggest tailor around...every pants you own turn "gun mouth". No more washicong, only Converse. No more milk and cookies, only "sweet drinks".
August HolidaysDon't ask why but the holiday period, July-August, between the end of the second school term and the start of the first school term is called the "August Holidays". Or was called. Nowadays you hear people saying "summer". What?! Does Trinidad and Tobago now have a winter also?! I think the August holidays were easily associated with no more school work, no more ironing school uniforms, no more cleaning and whitening sneakers, book lists, staying up late to see Dark Shadows, staying by family (relatives), playing, the rainy season, less traffic, picking fruit, sucking plenty mango, going by the sea for a bath (swim), riding your ten-speed, Chopper, Grifter, scooter, or box cart, playing in the rain, etc. Now, when they say "summer" you think of MTV, BET, New York. You can hear them saying "first party of summer, summer camp, this summer, last summer, summer holidays". What?! It hurts the heart... 
Galleria, Long Circular Mall, Golden DoorsThese were the places to be! Golden Doors was the real place to be when you were down in town. Galleria had things going in St. James before the coming of Long Circular Mall. The Mall, however, was the hardest-hard for liming. Man, Friday evening people could not get through the crowd to buy anything. Then, people want to know why the stores going out of business. Every Friday the lime was in the Ship's Tavern for pizza and beers. Them days, them Panther boys use to rule the place until one day the Belle Vue posse run them out and ban them. Who badder than who?! That brings to mind the time they got run out of Covigne Road too.
IntercolIntercol football (soccer to Americans) was the most entertaining football around. Even better than Malvern in the Savannah. School football was played at an almost religiously patriotic level. People would support their side, every season with fanatical zeal...bass drum, chants, picong (old talk), whistles, trumpets...you name it. Of course, the best of the best had a rhythm section. The football really changed when they stopped John D and Sando Tech from playing in the league...and put them in the Industrial league?! So what if a man leaves Compre and goes to John D to play football. Anyhow...back to the football. Sometimes, the other aspects of Intercol were more interesting than the game. The nuts-man was always a spectacle...especially Jumbo (known for his large packs of nuts). A snowcone-man had to be there also. Apart from all the girls (yes), Intercol also had to have a Policeman on horseback. Man, it was a real laugh to see people running back from the line because "the horse" coming down the line. Back to the football...this period produced players such as Lester Joseph, Garnet Craig, the Corneals - Anton, Alan, & Arnold, Ian Clauzelle, Colin Rocke, Richard Chinapoo, Dexter Skeene, Russell Latapy, Marvin Faustin, David Nahkid, and Dexter Sandy, ... to name just a few. National players were people like Leroy Spann and Earl "Spiderman" Carter. West Indies dominated with players like Deryck Murray, Clive Lloyd, Colin Croft, Joel Garner, Vivian Richards, Andy Roberts, Malcolm Marshall, and Bernard Julien...to name a few. Sport was good and life was great!
Mario's PizzeriaAfter every football game, Mayfair, October Affair, or bazaar, the lime was at Mario's on Cipriani Boulevard. Many times, a whole group would chip up money because everyone was scrunting (had no money). Then, you were lucky if you got more than one slice and a sip of coke. Meanwhile, you were still trying to look cool because Mario's got girls...real girls. It was real hard to lime (hang) on the wall outside of Mario's as it was one of those broad walls with a peaked top. That meant that you were either sitting on the downslope or sitting with the point up your backside...you were very uncomfortable; but anything for the girls. If you were seen at a match and then at Mario's with the same girl, then she was your "main squeeze" (girlfriend). Mario's was definitely the beginning of the perfect end to a perfect day...of football.
TheatreThe theatre was really the cinema. Cinema was the best. Only doubles were showing (two shows - back to back). Sometimes...only kick up (karate movies) showing in certain cinemas. People would come out of the cinema and everybody feels like Bruce Lee...kicking everybody else, lamp-post, sign-post, dustbin...everything. Globe, Deluxe, Strand, National 1, Rex, Cinema II, and Roxy were some of the cinemas around. Going cinema was a thing then. Many times the crowd was so large the line went down the pavement (sidewalk). Most times you would look for someone you knew who was farther ahead to buy your tickets. Then, there were times they would close the gates and only let in one person at a time because the crowd was so large. Now, it seems ridiculous but that was part of the excitement of cinema. Some cinemas, like Rex, were famous for having patrons of a different persuasion. I'll let you think about that one.
Drive-inOf course, before cinema, there was the "drive-in". The only one in the West was Starlite (and then there came Kay-Donna). Starlite Drive-in was a real exciting trip for us because you got to go in the car, yet, when you got there, you could run around, look for your friends, play on the slides and jungle-gym. Once the movie started, it was another drama to get the speaker to the right volume. You also had to hope that nobody blocked you and rain didn't fall (as if rain could do anything else but fall). These were the best of times. I suppose you can tell that I was younger at that time.
T.V. ShowsWe grew up watching one tv station...TTT (Trinidad and Tobago Television). To some, this was a bad thing but at least everyone was on the same page and the programming was the best overall that a person could ask for. And, if you didn't like tv, there was always something else to do.
These are some of the shows that we grew up with...are your favourites there?
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StormingGoing to parties, fetes, and events that you were not invited to (storming) was a natural and fine tuned talent for many Trinis. Having no money to pay was not always the issue. Using your creativity to gain entrance to entertainment (and girls), free food (draughts), and free drinks provided an exhilarating start to the party...if you did not get caught and kicked out. Not many places escaped stormers...even weddings! Man storming, girls storming with their man, everybody storming! The methods were as numerous as the locations...fake tickets at the door, jumping the fence or breaking down the gate and running in (Panorama?), sneaking in with a group, passing a ticket, stub, or pass through the fence, wetting someone's stamp and printing it on your wrist, boldfacely walking in (weddings?), helping carry stuff in, or just waiting for the door to open. There was no party like a free party!
Directions
You know...the way we give directions is really amazing and it's a wonder we find our way. We go "up the road" and "down the road". Who decides which way is up or down? Yet, we always find our way! "Go get de ting nah?" What are we talking about?
To make matters worse, you have the foreign-based Trinis coming back home and trying to drive on the right side of the road.
Rural directions are the greatest! "Down by the shop on the left." "Make a right after you reach the calabash tree." Well, I only hope you know what a calabash tree looks like! "You will see the house when the road take a dip after the bend. If you go down there, you will come to a yard with some cows. It's the house after that. I don't know the man name but ask anybody down there."
Trini directions - the greatest! 
Hiking
We began hiking during secondary school. Our first hike to Maracas started at a friend's house in Santa Cruz. The road we took was just below the church at the entrance to La Pastora. Even though we were only twelve at the time, the hike only took about two hours. After swimming all day, it hit us hard when we realized that we had to walk back home. Going back over the hills, we dreaded having to spend the night in the bush if we took too long. No matter how much your feet hurt, you weren't going to stop to rest until you were back on the pitch road. All the while you were real hungry because you had eaten all your food at the beach and were even more thirsty! At that age, you had no idea about preparing for such a trip as you felt that it was no big deal. It's strange how people are always willing to do those things while in school but then stop as soon as they start to work. Big people now, I guess.
To be cont'd...please drop in to old talk.