Let the bells parang out for Christmas in Trinidad & Tobago and from the Caribbean to the world.
West Indians are all about family and senior members of the community deserve the respect of being called Uncle or Auntie.
And so when you visit Tobago you return with a unique souvenir… no, not the goat you’ve raced.
And in my case that’s Auntie Alison.
Ali and her husband Uncle Kenneth run the Blue Crab restaurant in Scarborough.
And we all got on famously with Kenneth even allowing me to help out cooking the meal, island chicken curry.
Kenneth and Ali are the ideal double act.
While he cooks she entertains the room with tales of their marriage.
With tips of how she keeps their long marriage fresh…
She demonstrates how she keeps her knickers in the bottom drawer.
And she even wiggles her behind to show us.
This old girl has the moves and a laugh that fills the room.
It’s that kind of spirit which underscores Trinidad and Tobago’s special Christmas parang music.
It’s Soca and South American-infused party music with cheeky end-of-the-pier entendres.
And it’s all the better for having the sun, a beach and a steel band at your back.
This is how Christmas should be.
Full of laughter, music and full to the belly with Auntie Ali’s Christmas dinner
