Were The Scots Bard alive today he’d be liaising with the West Indians too… I give you Beardie Burns and the Caribbean.
But let’s rewind a second… beardie you say?
Well, the Beard Liberation Front are positing the view that Rabbie was rough aroon the chin.
And the clean-shaven look was manufactured to appeal to polite society.
Whether or not that was the case, we do know Burns was seriously considering decamping to the Windies.
To get out of his financial problems before the release and acclaim for his poetry sparked a rethink.
Jamaica my day
Twas Jamaica that Burns wrote of in correspondence and verse.
He had the offer of a role as a bookkeeper.
But would a beardie Bard have been seduced by the island to the south named the Bearded One after its low-hanging plant?
I know this bearded Bard (Edinburgh Fringe 2002) was, on his trips to Barbados.
I have, in fact, been long intrigued by the Caribbean from a childhood love of cricket and their music.
Caribbeans to my door
My friends in the Caribbean have been throwing their arms open again to us now Covid is easing.
We all know about the new Virgin Atlantic out to Barbados.
And the good people at 02 Beach Club Barbados and the Sea Breeze Beach House and the South Beach Hotel are keen to show us their wares.
As I’ve mentioned here the Bajans’ most common question to visitors is what’s your favourite Caribbean island.
A challenge if ever I heard one.
Island hopping
And with Tobago tucked under my belt and Jamaica and its many Scots links, and 60th anniversary of independence this year, I’m away island hopping.
With Montpelier Plantation & Beach on Nevis (sounds Scottish yes) coming calling.
And Aruba (Aruba, Aruba, Aruba), Dominica and the Central American side of the Caribbean in Belize too.
It’s no coincidence that the Scots (and Irish) left a big footprint in the Windies and continue to do so.
So on today, his national day, we celebrate Beardie Burns and the Caribbean.