For many Caribbean people, North America has been a Godsend. Many of us have made great lives for ourselves up there, and have rightfully developed an allegiance to their new homeland. The plaudits are deserved, but what we often fail to acknowledge is that North America is not the continuous bed of roses it is frequently depicted as, and for many of us one of the burdens to overcome is the season of winter, now ending up there, when the biting cold descends.
Living in it, we learn to adapt, and sometimes, if we become involved in winter sports, the snowy season can have its enjoyable times, but the length of the winter, and especially the biting below-zero weather, can be a grind. It’s a bit of an exaggeration, but a Trini in New York reflected the Caribbean view when he told me, “This place have 8 months of winter and 4 months of bad weather.”
Everyday things that one takes for granted in the tropics can become times of trauma in a wintry climate. I remember one night in Toronto, after Tradewinds had finished at We Place, driving up the Don Valley Parkway and suddenly realizing I was very low on gas.
I took the next exit onto Don Mills Road where there was an all-night
