HOW TO PURCHASE TOBAGO PEEPS: ISBN 978-976-8255-22-8

TOBAGO PEEPS—the book by Elspeth Duncan—is available at:

1. Paper Based Bookshop, Hotel Normandie, Trinidad
2. Things Natural, Crown Point, Tobago
3. Time to Wine, Shirvan Plaza, Tobago
4. Shore Things Cafe, Milford Road, Lambeau, Tobago
5. Healing with Horses, Buccoo, Tobago

TO PLACE INTERNATIONAL ORDERS:
1. Please send a message via the Tobago Peeps Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/tobagopeeps) indicating:
(a) your email address
(b) the number of copies you wish to purchase.
2. A Paypal invoice will be sent to the email address you have provided
3. Once payment has been made your autographed book(s) will be shipped to you.

Please note: Tobago Peeps is not otherwise available for online purchase at this time.

ISBN 978-976-8255-22-8

Review of my book, Tobago Peeps, by Shivanee Ramlochan

(Review by Shivanee Ramlochan for Paper Based Bookshop)

 

A collection of Duncan’s columns on living in Tobago, originally published in the Trinidad Guardian, these pieces have at their core a steadily reflective heart. The author, who wears many creative hats — also working as a Kundalini yoga teacher and boutique restaurateur of Table for Two, Made For You — distinguishes herself from a herd of lukewarm, generic presenters, who offer vapid portraits on Tobago as an “idyllic paradise”. There is much that is sublime and magnificent about the island, her people and their particularities: the strength of these assembled columns is that they view the space and its inhabitants from an embracing and inclusive perspective.

Whether ruminating on the inquisitive jaunts of her rehabilitated canine companion, Venus, or sharing the first-hand thoughts of Tobagonians on life, love and the Mystery Tombstone, the centre of each column basks in a generous, good-spirited light. In her “Peace and Love” discourse, Duncan shares the spirit of a timeless message in patience, showing how it resonates not just with her, but with her Kundalini yoga class at Castara Retreats:

“Now with this pebble returning to me full circle, I am reminded of the message that if you let love go and it comes back, it’s yours. I look around the class, sensing that each person has established a meaningful connection with his or her trinket. I don’t ask what their symbolic associations are, but I make my own for each: hope, blessings, insight, luck, more luck, guidance, fulfillment, release.”

From rescued roadside birds reposing peacefully in Heineken boxes, to empowering and rib-tickling anthems printed across the windscreens of idling gas station cars, the vision in Tobago Peeps is of a steady, connected gaze — one that sees smiling dogs, sage rastamen and seven-ingredient health juices in all their limitless, love-strewn potential.

We recommend it for: fans of Elspeth’s short story collection, Daisy Chain, who’re eager to sample her nonfiction style; those seeking a uniquely charming read for their next Store Bay stroll; anyone interested in Tobago’s richness and depth, beyond the brochure signposts.

TOBAGO PEEPS, the book, is AVAILABLE AT:

1. Things Natural (Crown Point, Tobago)
2. Time to Wine (Shirvan Plaza, Tobago)
3. Shore Things Cafe & Craft​ (Lambeau, Tobago)
4. Healing with Horses (Buccoo, Tobago)
5. Paper Based Bookstore (Hotel Normandie, Trinidad)
6. International Orders please request details by messaging via Tobago Peeps Facebook page.

 

PHOTOS OF "TOBAGO PEEPS" READING

Last night was the first public reading of my new book, TOBAGO PEEPS. It was held at Time to Wine (wine shop), Shirvan Plaza, Tobago. Cosy setting, intimate crowd, lovely evening.

 
For more photos of the reading, click here to be redirected to the TOBAGO PEEPS public Facebook page.

The next reading is at Paper Based Bookstore's 'Tea & Reading' event tomorrow, 28 November 2015 from 4:00 - 6:00 p.m. at Hotel Normandie.

The next Tobago reading is on Wednesday 9 December 2015 from 4:00 - 6:00 p.m. at Shore Things Cafe, Milford Road, Lambeau. Please visit the event page for details and to sign up
https://www.facebook.com/events/1099479620076344/

TOBAGO PEEPS is available 

In Tobago at:
Things Natural, Crown Point
Time to Wine, Shirvan Plaza
From me via the Facebook page (international orders in particular)

Available in Trinidad at:
Paper Based Bookstore, Hotel Normandie

Tobago Peeps: Tobago Treasure Map

The art of map reading is a useful skill to have. Some people (myself excluded) are “map people”, easily able to use maps to navigate successfully around new landscapes. A friend of mine, before going traveling in South America, wisely embarked upon a map reading course—something I never knew existed until she said she was going to do it.

As children, one of my sisters and I often created ‘treasure maps’. We would draw fictitious landscapes on pieces of tracing paper, the edges of which we then singed with candle flames to create a parched, antiquated look. Guided by our cartographical artwork, we would go digging in the garden for buried treasure.

I still view maps as treasure maps of sorts. More than simply being practical tools for finding specific locations, they are networks of possibilities leading to unfolding adventures and (one of my favourite words) serendipity—the finding of something valuable or delightful when not looking for it.

Now, with a Skyview map sprawled before me, I close my eyes, circle my hand over the paper expanse of Tobago and, after a while, set my index finger down on a spot at random: Nutmeg Grove. I have never been there—at least not knowingly but, possibly unintentionally, I might have taken a “wrong turn” and passed through in the quest for some other destination.

The name conjures images of groves of nutmeg trees, but because locations often don’t visually match what their names suggest, I can’t be sure what the area is actually like. Maybe it is peppered with small rural houses—and possibly very few because (if my understanding of the map is correct) the area is located somewhere in the Tobago Forest Reserve.

The randomness of selecting Nutmeg Grove brings to mind a story someone shared via Facebook: It is Easter weekend and two young Torontonians, on their second date together, spontaneously decide to go to the airport and hop on the first available, affordable flight—to wherever. Long story short, they end up flying via Westjet to spend the weekend in Tobago, experiencing jazz, beaches, waterfalls and as much “island life” as they can fit in to their three unplanned days.

In a world where so much of daily life is organized and orchestrated, the magic of random or spontaneous acts and moments is often lost. Something about the unintentionally chosen Nutmeg Grove draws me and I sense that the impulse to go there may have little to do with the place itself. The Ralph Waldo Emerson quote comes to mind: “Life is a journey, not a destination.”

Who or what will I experience on my journey to this place? Today is as good a day as any to find out … Skyview map in hand to lead the way.

I peruse the Map Icon Key. The highway, signified by what looks like a red and yellow train line, is short, covering only the distance from Lowlands to Dwight York Stadium. Before and after those points, the route is defined by a yellow line which, according to the Map Key, is a ‘Main Rd’. That one Main Road runs like a frame around the island.

To get to Nutmeg Grove, I can turn off the highway to drive along Providence Road, then on to Northside Road. The map seems quite straightforward. On the right, just after the name Mason Hall, there is a broken white line (“Parishes”, according to the Map Key) that veers off from Northside Road. This, according to the map, leads to Nutmeg Grove.

The day is young and I am free to see where this journey takes me.

TOBAGO PEEPS: CAN'T BUY ME LOVE (Part 2)

Caption: Love Thermometer and ring box

(Last Monday's Tobago Peeps article)

It is 7:15 a.m. I am in Scarborough early, to get easy parking uptown. While waiting for the cloth store to open, I bide time by walking around.

Passing near to the Methodist church, I put my hand out to graze along the top of an orange bougainvillea hedge. A loose clump of about five flowered stems comes off in my hand. Holding the small bunch, I walk back down to the square to wait in front of the cloth store.

Ahead of me, at the corner, a car stops and an older man gets out from the back. As I approach, he sees the orange flowers in my hand, laughs and says: "You selling flowers or wha'?"

I stop, pick two from the bunch and give to him.

"For me?" he says, surprised. "Sharing! That's nice. The world needs more sharing."

I agree and wish him a good day.

"You have a good day too."

Glancing back, I see him waiting to cross the road to the bank, holding his orange bougainvillea flowers.

Later ... It is now 3:30 p.m. and I am in Bon Accord, across the road from Stumpy's Hardware, sitting on a stool under a tent, surrounded by Valentine's Day paraphernalia. Out of curiosity, I have come to chat with Bev, the woman who has set up this Valentine's table for the second consecutive year.

No one is here but us. I ask: "Do lots of people come to buy?"

"Tobago people laid back," Bev explains with a slight American accent. She has lived in the States for many years. "They will come and watch first and wouldn't buy yet ... but you wouldn't like to see here on the day! Dem man an' dem who ent get nothing yet, dey scrambling!"

Bev is an excellent saleswoman. I end up buying four small $5 bags of little beads called Bio Gel" ... " or Water Babies as they call them here," Bev informs. The coloured beads swell into translucent marble-sized balls when soaked for a few hours in water.

Bev shows me the "hit item" known as the "Love Thermometer", which I hold in my hand to test. "Ooooooh, girl! You gotta lotta Love!" Bev exclaims as the red liquid rapidly rises, filling the heart above.

She gives me a tour of the vast array of Love gizmos, amazingly priced from $5 minimum to $100 maximum because "I give you nice at a pocket price": straw Love-hamper baskets filled with romantic trinkets, hanging hearts, stuffed teddies, large gift bags covered with hearts, ring boxes ("For that person who may want to propose on the day itself"), a red rose that's actually a thong, a rose that lights up and says "I love you" when pressed, a teddy bear that does the same ... and (Bev shows me a small plastic rose bud in clear wrapping): "Two of these roses for $5, because it's the thought that counts."

Anyone seeking Valentine's gifts like these would definitely strike a treasure trove at "Bev's Everything".

The wind flutters red tinsel hearts hanging from the edges of the sales tent. Cars crawl by. Pedestrians amble along the sidewalk, not really glancing our way. I wish someone would stop to buy something while I'm here. I'm curious to see which item(s) they would choose. But, hardly likely this will happen now, judging from the fact that "dem man an dem" scramble on "the day itself." But why wait until February 14th?

Every day is "the day itself" ... and doesn't have to cost a thing.

TOBAGO PEEPS: VEHICLES OF WISDOM

(Last Monday's Tobago Peeps article. I post them to the blog a week after publication in the Trinidad Guardian):


As I'm leaving the gas station, I notice DOH STUDY IT scrawled across the back windscreen of the dark grey Hilux in front of me.

I look to my right to see what vehicles are coming and my eyes meet the message on the front windscreen of the car heading my way: TOO BLES (one S missing) TO BE STRESS.

I swing my vehicle out and head in the direction of the highway, stopping at the traffic lights. The wording on the car coming from the right advises FEAR NOT.

Moments later, on the highway heading west, I pass a car turning right at Signal Hill. On the back windscreen, written in rasta-coloured letters sandwiched between stickers of two praying hands, is: IN GOD WE TRUST.

Clearly a message is being delivered today via these consecutive nuggets of vehicular wisdom.

Messages on the windscreens of vehicles in Trinidad and Tobago are a common and thought provoking sight. Drivers' reasons for choosing particular words and phrases (and commuters' interpretations of them) vary widely. Whether clear or obscure, the only way to find out what these 'signs' mean to each driver is to ask (as I do on occasion).

HIGHER GROUND.

ASK MONEY.

IT DOESN'T MATTER. WHO VEX LOSS.

ONE LOVE.

SHALOM.

Days later, as I drive past the NP gas station in Scarborough, I see a silver station wagon parked to the front of the compound. The windscreen announces in capital letters: IN GOD WE TRUST. This phrase is a popular one.

I pull in to the gas station, park a few metres behind the car and observe large letters emblazoned across the back windscreen:

TIK GAL. SOCA. FAT SAUCE.

Interesting contrast to the frontal message. All the more reason to speak with the driver.

The vehicle doesn't belong to any of the men standing around the gas pumps. They direct me inside to a young woman sitting behind the counter. She nods. Yes, the car belongs to her.

"People must be wonder what kind of stupidness on the back of my car," she says. "But they is nicknames. I am Tik Gal. My mother is Soca. My sister is Fat Sauce."

And how does that connect with the front windscreen?

"It's my mother who made me put 'In God We Trust' on the front."

No need to explain. The love of a mother, putting her trust in God in front, for her daughter's safety.

Later ... DR. SCOOB D BILLIONAIRE cruises by at an intersection.

GOD IS MY CONQUEROR follows.

VENOM.

As we are all in motion, I can't stop to talk with these drivers. My next opportunity comes via a newly painted blue flat bed truck parked near the Esplanade in Scarborough.

BUY THE TRUTH AND SELL IT NOT. Proverbs 23:23

I pull into the empty parking space near to the truck. The middle-aged male driver is happy to explain the proclamation which, before committing it to his windscreen, he used to print and offer to the public every Christmas, asking them to put it at the top of their list.

"When Panday got into office and became Prime Minister, UWI offered a twelve point plan to solve crime. But from that year, crime rose!" he tells me. "That text is God offering a four point crime plan: TRUTH. WISDOM. INSTRUCTION. UNDERSTANDING."

He takes a brown, dog-eared Bible from the glove compartment and asks if he may read me two passages. As he simply wishes to share a perspective, I listen.

"It's not only about knowing the Truth," he tells me after. "It's about having the Wisdom to apply it. Remember that."



- Elspeth

TOBAGO PEEPS: End of Old, Beginning of New

(This was my first Tobago Peeps article for 2014):




The last day of 2013: I am having lunch with two visiting friends at Shore Things Cafe in Lambeau. On my recommendation, we’re all eating and drinking my favourite items from the menu—grilled fish sandwich and sorrel. We chat, update each other, discuss old/new year-related topics, have some laughs, then pay the bill.

I bid my friends goodbye and pop into the neighbouring Love & Magic Centre, the recently-opened shop/office for the Healing with Horses Foundation. I chat for a while with Mary-Ann, a visiting Canadian horse vet, who is doing the morning shift. I am scheduled to take over at 1 pm.

First I need to go to the mall to use free wifi and catch up on e-mails. A man and woman are standing near my vehicle attempting to stop a taxi or any willing car. “Which way are you heading?” the woman asks. “

I’m going to the mall.”

They are late for a funeral and can’t get transport. “Could you give us a drop to the highway?”

The drop to the highway ends up being a direct drop to “a Baptist church in Bethel.” Neither of my passengers knows exactly where this church is, so we pull off the road in Carnbee to ask directions from a woman standing in a driveway, holding a black and white cat. The woman points and tells us to take the next right to Bethel, where she says there are five Baptist churches.

Next, we stop in front of two youths standing at the roadside. “We looking for the funeral in the Baptist church,” my female passenger says. The youths casually point up the road.

As we depart, my female passenger laughs and says to her male companion: “Take care we end up in the wrong funeral. It come like we paranging in the wrong house!”

One more stop for directions, then the sight of people dressed in black walking past lines of parked cars. My passengers hop out, thank me and I drive off.

The unexpected diversion from my intended direction feels symbolic. On this last day of 2013, most people will say goodbye to various aspects of life or ways of being, anticipating the new.

The first day of 2014: I am driving out of Buccoo. Two women, clearly tourists, are walking, holding their thumbs out for any passing car. Figuring transport may be hard to come by on a public holiday, I stop for them. They clamber in, smiling.

“Happy New Year!” Their first words to me.

They are going to Scarborough, to the port, to Trinidad, to return home to French Guiana. Along the way we chat, mainly in English, sometimes in French. One woman is a social worker, the other a teacher. Their first time in Tobago: lovely place, friendly people, fun at Sunday School, wonderful beaches.

We draw near to the Port. The woman in the passenger seat asks me my name.

“Elspeth.”

“Elspen?”

“El-speth.” I repeat slowly, accustomed to mispronunciations of my name.

“I’m Mary Ann.”

“I am Laila,” the other traveller pipes up from the back.

I stop and they disembark. As Mary Ann closes the door, she says: “Thank you so much. I wish you the very best...of everything!”

Her tone is so sincere and pointed that I feel the words ignite something new in me.

To you, reading this, I also wish newness and the best for 2014.

Original link in Guardian Newspaper:
http://guardian.co.tt/news/2014-01-06/end-old-beginning-new


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Tobago Peeps: Free Public Wifi Consultant (FPWC)

Pavilion at Scarborough esplanade, Tobago

http://guardian.co.tt/news/2013-12-16/fpwc-free-public-wifi-consultant-reporting

I sit here at the table in my “office” taking time out from uploading some photographs to take in surrounding sights, sounds and scents: the echo of children’s feet as they scamper toward KFC, the grind of a blender, piped mall music, low buzz of voices, smell of disinfectant, young man cleaning tables, chairs scraping as he moves them aside, idle squeaks of rubber soles on shiny floor as bored child in blue school uniform waits for mother to make purchase in nearby jewelry store. 

I look back down at my laptop and observe: a mere 45.06MB of 93.14MB, uploading in more time than it would usually take. The free public wifi (FPW) is crawling today in Lowlands Mall. Two tourists, seeing me working at my laptop, come and ask what various people in the mall have approached and asked me on occasion: “Do you get free wifi here?” Of course. Their faces light up, possibly anticipating the pleasure of uploading sunny beach photos to Facebook to tease their city-dwelling friends back home.

When I moved to Tobago in October 2012 and went to live in Goodwood on the southeast coast, I didn’t know I would become an expert in sourcing free public wifi. Goodwood, approximately 20 minutes from Scarborough, heading in the direction of Speyside, is peaceful and unhurried, except for cars that often screech perilously around the bends.

My apartment, perched on a height  at the edge of the Atlantic and nestled amidst trees, came naturally equipped with constant surround-sound waves and birdsong, a front-seat view of sunrise and an impressive chandelier of stars that had little or no light pollution to compete with their brilliance. Such a place could make anyone feel that they are on an extended retreat...not only from the “civilised” world but, often, also from the virtual world made accessible by the Internet.

It was the unpredictable, sometimes non-existent Internet signal in the area that drove me to seek and discover hotspots that were oases in the internet desert. For those who are ever seeking free wifi in Tobago, below are a few points on my two most-frequented FPW locations—Lowlands Mall and the Scarborough Esplanade. The mall...ideal for rainy days or for those who enjoy air conditioning.

Wifi availability and strength: A selection of reliable internet connections, all password-free: bzone, Haagen Dazs, Linksys, Digicel. Sit anywhere in the mall and send/receive e-mails, surf the net and conduct Skype meetings with few or no glitches. Signal strongest in/near the food court. Ambience and amenities: Pleasant tropical décor with a modern twist, air-conditioning, consistent but generally undisruptive mall noises, variety of fast-food outlets, clean washrooms, diverse shops and  MovieTowne.

Seating: High or low chairs at small but comfortable round tables. Parking: Large car park, few cars. Finding a spot is always easy. The car park/pavilion at the Scarborough Esplanade...ideal for those seeking an FPW experience with an outdoor flavour.
Wifi strength: Consistently strong for general use, inclusive of Skype—but wavers and sometimes disconnects during calls.  

Ambience and amenities: Ocean view, refreshing sea breeze, various creole food sheds for an assortment of eats and drinks, constant but undisruptive hum of traffic and, sometimes, wafting background music or amplified religious conventions.

Seating/accommodation: Option of open-air concrete seat and table sets (minus umbrellas), shady pavilion with benches and (for those who come with and stay in their cars) padded seating, air conditioning and personal music selection
Parking: Secure (guard on site) and small but, in my experience, always an available spot.

The first article of my new newspaper column

Today the first article in my new column in The Trinidad Guardian (one of the 3 daily newspapers) appeared. My column is called "Tobago Peeps" and (now that I live in Tobago) will feature little 'peeps' into random events and encounters in my life there, often featuring the 'peeps' (people) that I meet along the way.

This first article features random snippets of experiences:
http://guardian.co.tt/news/2013-12-09/never-dull-moment

The articles, which will appear every Monday, are little 'bites' of no more than 600 words each, with an accompanying photo.

(Article in text):

The ferry lurched on huge waves as we left Tobago. The Baptist-looking woman sitting across from me said calmly, “Tobago waters always rough, yes.” In the background a man (who had been guzzling puncheon in the aisle with his friends before we sailed) clung tightly to a pole near the cafeteria. A man nearby shouted to him, “Yuh holdin’ onto dat post like Jack Warnah!”

****

Sitting in the Gulf City Lowlands Mall. Smiling man in ethnic garb comes and sells me a laminated A4 sheet with a poem called Love.
Man: “Yuh looking like a cultural lady. And yuh have spiritual eyes.
(Gives me poem, takes donation): “Stay loving.”
Here is the poem:
LOVE
The love of God must dwell in the Heart of Humanity
Love thinketh no Evil
Love does no evil to anyone, but only Good
Love bears no Malice, Envy or Grudge
Love does not take advantage of other's Weakness
To advantage its own self
Love Boasts not, nor puffs up with Pride.
Gentle not Rough, Helpful not Lazy,
Love does not behave in an unreasonable manner.
Love is not easily provoked, impatient or fretful.
Love rejoices not in others’ misfortunes
But rejoices in Truth.
Love seeketh the Wellbeing of others also
And not only Me, Myself and I.
Love is fair and just, not biased or prejudiced.
Love does Violence to no one.
Love does not lose control of its Temper and do harm or injury
Or curse its fellowman and say it was a mistake.
Love has self-control.
Love does not encourage anyone in wrong doing.
Beloved, if God so loved us
We ought to love one another.
LOVE IS A CONQUEROR

****

I was on the grounds of Healing with Horses. A guest appeared holding a small puppy that had been hiding in the garden. Shortly after, she returned with another pup. Both female, seemingly abandoned. Two children, there to ride horses, became fascinated with the pups. The little boy began “massaging” them while his sister stroked them.

 At one point the boy yelled: “Ouch!” The girl turned to me and whispered: “He just got bitten on his privates.”

****

Behind a line of trees near the fishing depot at Fort Granby is a wooden house with a wide verandah. Upon first seeing it I wondered who lived there. I found out early one morning after a beach walk, when I took a friend to see “this fantastic wooden house.”
The owner, who was on the verandah, beckoned for us to enter, dipped inside and resurfaced with three bananas.

Introductions:
Carl. Elspeth. Barbara.
As we munched on our bananas, Carl told us that he had built his house and, as a boatbuilder, had also trained most of the young men in the area to master the craft. “They are like my sons. I am like a father to them and they look out for me.” He laughed when asked what he does now that he no longer builds boats. “The last person who asked me that, it took 30 minutes to answer them. I do everything.”

“Everything” included the CD he subsequently slipped into his CD player for us to hear. His latest release: Christmas in Barrackpore—a festive parang mix currently enjoying local airplay. “Are you from Barrackpore?” “No. Tobago.” So how come Christmas in Barrackpore?” “That’s just what came.”  As one who doesn’t believe in the divided notion of Trinidad and Tobago, of course he could be from Tobago and sing about Christmas in Barrackpore.  “All of we is one.”