Why it is Trini doh like to identify deyself an' country? We doh like to push Trinidad, Trinidad & Tobago or even Trinbago as a 'brand' as de folks in marketing would say. Even when we have ting dat supposedly pushin' T&T, it ent really pushin' too hard...yuh go be hard press to find Trini bein'
jingoistic outside of anyting to do wid de Soca Warriors.

Take de jes concluded TIC 2006... eh? TIC? Trade & Investment Convention.
Is why dey stop short? How come dey ent call it TICETT as in Trade and

Investment Conference & Exhibition Trinidad & Tobago? Dey almost come close, wid dey domain name (tic-tt.com), but dey miss. I feel dey coulda do better. Jes de odder day I did come across an article in de Barbados

Advocate by Dr. Basil Springer who was pointin' out dat de Caribbean doh seem to be takin' de Cricket World Cup as serious as dey should. Is not dat dey ent spennin' big money fixin' up de grounds an' ting, is jes dat nobody ent seem to be really lookin' at what it REALLY mean to host de World Cup in de region...what goin' to happen after de las' ball get bowl an' de las' spectator gone back home.

Is jes how much money go be stayin' in de region an' what go be de long term benefit(s) of de billions dat gettin' spend? As he point out, it lookin' like is only Jamaica dat on de ball an' lookin' at more than where dey go put de visitors.

Jamaica is investing US$105 million into CWC 2007. The infrastructure
improvement for the two venues is just over half of this sum. The rest
is being spent by a number of agencies on infrastructural improvements
that have to do with other related physical infrastructure, developing
the business connection way forward into the year 2012, as well as some
additional expenditure by the Jamaica Tourist Board to advertise Jamaica
as a tourist destination.

JAMPRO has developed the Jamaica Cricket Legacy Programme Vision 2012:
Building a legacy for Jamaica, that will capitalise on the huge economic
spin-offs that the mega event will present. In light of its mandate,
JAMPRO has created a legacy strategy titled Vision 2012 Brand Jamaica,
which is designed "to look beyond the closing final match of the event
and is directed towards outcomes in 2012, while leveraging immediate
opportunities around the time of the event".


Ahmmm, allyuh see dat "Brand Jamaica"? Dem lookin' to seriously reinforce de already wellknown Jamaica image(ry), while we in T&T still cyant position "Brand T&T" in we own minds. Look at de Soca Warriors, is how come de BWEE A340 dat not paintup wid de allover Pan Theme like de rest of

planes ent have T&T Soca Warriors on it long time? Yuh could imagine how much attention dat go get every time it arrive in Heathrow or Manchester?

An' dey coulda do de same ting fuh if not all at leas' one of de 737s dat flyin' to Miami, Washington, New York an' Toronto every day. Is jes how much dat paint woulda cost? Compare dat wid a fullpage colour advertisment in any magazine an' see which one gettin' better milage. An' speakin' of which, is why de planes does only say "BWIA West Indies" we really shame to push T&T or what?

De Govt makin' a setta 'right' noises 'bout Vision 2020 an' E-everyting, but I ent know what de population really unnerstan' an' thinkin'...at least I hope dey thinkin' an' seriously too 'bout more than de nex' box of KFC or de lates' Nike, because in time to come dey might only ever see said Nike when dey sewin' an' gluin' it in de factory.
 

BACKCHAT: Issue 20

As you mentioned large cash only transactions, I discovered recently (to my incredulous dismay) that U.S. visa fees paid at TTPost are cash only.
No Linx etc. Only CASH. So if yuh applying fuh yuhself, yuh wife and two chirren...das over $2,500. In cash. At the counter. Wit one poor-me-one security guard.

When I read about people in the newspaper who get rob on the road in broad daylight and lose thousands of dollars, I used to wonder how they could be so chupid in this day and age to walk around with all that cash. I doh tink like dat again. In my disbelief, I ask the cashier what happen to Linx.
She say is de U.S. Embassy dat require it and would not accept electronic transactions. So I leave, went to the bank and come back. Den, when I reach de Embassy 2 days later, I find out I have to have cash on me to pay TTpost a further $30 + vat (each!) to deliver de passports. And no, I didn't find out outside but after everything on the inside.

Just consider the crime situation in T&T and tell me which end you tink dey using to tink with.
//Trinidad