My very first visit to Trinidad in 1967, to try and launch Tradewinds in the Caribbean, was a whirlwind affair – a lot of hustle and hurry. Although I had known many Trinis casually in Toronto, I didn’t know the culture well, and there was little time for that on the first trip. In 1968, with Honeymooning Couple a hit, it was different. I was interacting with a host of Trinis, in all sorts of circumstances, and I began to get more of an insight into Trinidadian attitudes, mores, social behaviours, styles, etc. I remember an occasion on the beach at Chaguaramas where I met a middle-aged man – we were practically the only two persons on the beach – who turned out to be a genuine communicator, and we ended up in a long interesting gaff, with me mostly listening, about the island and its people. At one point, in the middle of relaying a convoluted episode to me, he said, “Look, padna: Trinidadian people not easy, you know.”
At the time, while I was amused by the comment, it didn’t carry any great weight for me. Now, some forty-six years later,
