Allyuh ah go mek dis quick, because ah have de 'lau on de stove and I ent know how much punkin vine family so I have turning up dis afternoon
because dey foot geh mash on de road and I is de only one dat living in town, and have a WC fuh dey fren to use.

Is so we does be yuh know, all kinda people jumping up in town and when I look is like twenty people lining up in de back by where de ironer
does cool off. Half ah dem is tourist dat mih niece and nephew invite to come and enjoy de Carnival, and de nex half is creole from Brooklyn and
Atalanta and mih eh know where else Trini take over.

And yuh know dat is how tings suppose to be! And dat is what we lorse long time. Ah suppose tings have to change, but it had a simpler easier
time. Yuh friends did come in town to play in dey band, dey did pass by and drop in. Yuh gih dem ah food, and dey sit a while and ress off
before dey off again. No big ting! Everybody happy like a big family, and half ah dem I ent even know dey name. Jes as long as dey remember to
say a Pleasant Good Morning as dey come in.

Of course yuh know some ah dem ent know how to leave people house until fo-day morning, but dat arrite, we had room for dem to squeeze in, and trute be told, it was safer for some ah dem to stay indoors dan be out on de road wid de grog in dey head.

But dem days only seen in de Exhibitions dat all over town dis week. Carnival come to be ah big business and where it have business it does
have dullahs, and where it have dullahs it does have smartman and ole tief. So now yuh has to check who yuh letting in de yard, and yuh ent
too sure eef yuh really want to leave all de tings out in de bureau fuh all to see, because yuh ent sure if some ah dem so ent go mek ah pass
back come Ash Wednesday morning while I in de Cathedral.

We having all sorta robber talk about a Cultural Centre in de Savannah, and we going and patent de pan. But we done miss de bus, de boat, and de blimp. All dem longtime Carnival is now only on stage fuh de tourists and de middle-age to look at and sigh. It ent go have too much yute who
want to play baby-doll and Dame Lorraine nex year and de year after dat. So de CDC or what ever dey call deyself dis month go continue to put on dey little show and it go have smaller and smaller audience who go say Ray! But what dey really want to see is 'ooman in bikini, and man drunk on de road.

It have a particular image of de Carnival dat now portraying and it long stop being Trinidad Mas. Now we no different to Rio, or New Orleans, or
Notting Hill. Soon it go have de same ting does happen in Rio, only dem big money bands could be on de street. Trinidad Mas did always use to be a chance fuh de people to jump up and play dey self, dat gone. Now dat we have to negotiate fuh foreign movie star to come and endorse a band, we real gone tru.

It had a time when all dem same movie star did use to come here regular, not because dey sign a contract, but because dey could walk de road in
peace. I ent go tell yuh how much time I tek a wine on Mick Jagger, and all dat people had was to say was dat de boy could trow waist like one
ah we. It didn't have no bodyguard, and no autograph session, and no flashing neon light saying ' look de star in de band!' De only star in
de band was de King ah de Band!

So when I hearing how de government want to go to court to get a US patent fuh de pan, ah have to scratch mih head and say after one time is
two yes. Allyuh remember de same foolishness when we did go after Tesoro in de US courts? It have tings dat better leff alone, dey really ent
worth fighting for. De pan is a world instrument now, we wasting we time trying to patent it, nex we it go have some Chinee saying dat he find a
terracotta guitar pan from de Ming Dynasty and crapaud smoke all we pipe fuh we!

Is not no badjohn we want, is support and love fuh de pan. And de only way dat happening is to support de pan all year. Not jes at Panorama,
give dem business man a tax break to employ a pannist in every restaurant and hotel lobby. Always have a pan-side at Piarco, send a
bunch ah Trinidad and Tobago leaflets and flags to Andy Narrell who so desperate to tell de World dat his pan come from dese two Islands.

Anyway let me go before is only bun-bun I have to serve dese people yes!
 

BACKCHAT: Issue 08

i cyah believe dat people still have issues wit' we own dialec'! anyway...enuff ah dat. i jes' wanted to say dat ah give yuh 10 outta 10
for "PlusCaChangelandia". yuh win dem wit' dat one! despers, all stars, phase ii....doh say i eh tell yuh!
enjoy de carni!
//Trinidad

Hey, Tants I am just dropping in to say enjoy your Carnival ! Drink some Carib for me too!
//Switzerland

Salut ma tante!
I see that you caught up with your feedback and published both my submissions. T hanks for the honor.
Most trinis must be too busy to watch the winter Olympics from Torino or maybe it is not that popular when you don't have the freezing white stuff on your front steps and putting out the garbage is as much a feat or as dicey as the Moguls unless you don't mind walking like a ballet dancer on the slippery sidewalks. The City workers are supposed to salt the streets and thoroughfare but when they don't -the Emergency departments is flooded with broken limbs and garages make a fortune as cars are swallowed up in potholes. Your difficulties with your Savannah stadium are miniscule by comparison with  trying to get from place to place in unpredictable weather and the end of winter is not the end of the misery as Spring brings flooding as the ice breaks up and those who live on the riverbanks are devastated year after year. If I could afford it I would return to TnT for the winter and only return in May. I would be able to enjoy the Bacchanal first hand and laugh at it all first hand but then I would miss your beautiful descriptions of it in the Trinidiary.
So keep trucking!
//Canada

Pleasant good day tantie:

ah wanted to address dat feisty one from USA from yuh feedback.
Bredrin/Sistren....doh be pongin eider Holy Name or Fatima on de assumption dat everybody modder or fadder pay fuh dem to get een de
school eh? As a parse-pupil of one of de said schools let me make yuh to understand dat vernacular was as much de standard inside ah dere as it
was wheyever you did find yuhself. Doh get tie-up becaw yuh does hear we talkin speaky-spokey in public, becaw all ah we can drop de dialeck in verbal or written form AND furdermore tun rong and speak de Queen's language when called for. Too besides, when I did sit meh CXC's we had
it was to write a whole essay in dialect, and me? I score a 1....so tek dat in yuh pipe and smoke it yuh hear meh? Doh jealous we because we
teachers did make sure we "bi-lingual"

Look, I fuh one does do battle to maintain AND promote de beautiful language we have created and adapted since our ancestors were forced to
speak the language of the oppressors. Doh get put orf by a misguided few who decide to totally deny dey identity and get stick in a culture of
stress and constipation. Dey not proud of who dey is.

Tantie, on de topic of de new complex in de Savannah, ah only hope dat whatever dey decide to do, dey remember to plant enough greenery to
sustain and even increase de oxygen supply in de place. It's all about the trees, yuh eh fine?
//Canada