ALyuh MEN KNOW THiS True
Child of the 80's and or 90's
If you were a child of the 80s and early 90s in Trinidad, you might remember:
giving someone and receiving a meggie
collecting empty tic-tac containers for the smell, filling them with water then drinking it
you filled empty orchard cartons with air and jumped on it to make a popping noise to scare someone
you screamed at the faintest sound of thunder
getting licks with a guava whip or a wooden ruler with a metal strip on the side
when push point pencils were in style
when stationery on a whole was in style, nice erasers were prized: scented and colourful, sharpeners shaped like hamburgers or mechanical pencils and pilot pens, fine-point preferably
when Bata was not in style but you had to wear one anyway
carrying ah lunch kit with a thermos flask inside
reading Enid Blyton, Nancy Drew or The Hardy Boys, Judy Blume, Sweet Dreams or Sweet Valley High.
wearing VERY ying, very short, very tight khaki pants to school
wearing socks with frills
wearing panties with frills on the back
the Coca-Cola yo-yo craze
how handwriting was a big thing in primary school among girls, you wrote extremely small and extremely neat with care
at some point in time, having to ask someone or be asked: a. if yuh father is a glass maker b. if yuh have ants in yuh pants c. if yuh monkey glands acting up
you loved pencil cases and you wanted a nice one shaped like a giant pencil with a zip on one end
holding hands with a another girl or boy to go somewhere on an outing (everybody, find ah partner!) meant that he/she was your good friend
you were a Brownie or a Cub Scout, no one was quite sure what Red Cross people did except you called them if somebody fell down
having your skin stained for days with iodine after you fell
boys making guns out of paper and shooting each other
saying "ABC, ketch ah crab, put it in ah ! paper ba g" to some First years or Second years
you read "Lucky Dip" and West Indian Readers
pennycools costing 25 cents
getting excited over the sight of three red beans sprouting on a wet piece of toilet paper in an old mayonaise jar
eating condensed milk from the can, tomato balls, paradise plums, chilibibi and planter's snacks
wearing poppies on Poppy Day was a fashion statement
cheese paste sandwiches with food colouring on Kiss bread cut in triangles
playing "in ah fine castle, do you hear my sissy-o", "I lost my glove on a Saturday night and found it Sunday morning.."
the smell of whitening your shoes
in primary school, you methodically collected eraser shavings
reciting time tables
you played catch, red-light/green-light, there's a brown girl in the ring and hand clapping games till your palms stung
a re-fashioned balloon was called ah chook-chook
you made those fortune telling finger toys from copy book paper
having to religiously support some curry-q, bar-b-q or chinee-q for the school
singing parang in a school Christmas concert or a folk song, "mangoes...mangoes.."
if you went to Catholic primary school: prayers, prayers and more prayers.
Teens of the 90s (early to mid) in Trinidad, you might remember:
fellas got an earring too-just one
football limes and Intercol
no matter where you went to school, Trinity College seemed so far away
your identity was defined by your school, there were girls and then there were "Convent girls" (be that good, bad or indifferent)
red band maxis and their hard pong
you hoarded coloured ink pens
you stressed about SBAs in Form 4 and 5
if you travelled home, you had to lime first before you got there
CXC lessons and the lessons' lime
boys hitting school desks to start a chanting session
maxis and maxi conductors were the scourge of Secondary school ! in these days, parents were always complaining about them
you knew at least one girl who was "dealing" with a maxi-man Knight Rider, Street Hawk and Mc Gyver
If you remember any of these, you my friend are a child of the 80s and early 90s in sweet Trinidad!
...........the memories!
