These are new pages to catalogue Nigel's "Updates" on life in Trindad - much appreciated by those of us far from home... They are a wonderful mixture of reportage and personal observation and I am really sorry I lost so many of them in a stupid software glitch last year!

I had saved the whole lot, right from the beginning of the Pointe-a-Pierre web site, so if anyone has any of those old ones and would like to email them to me, I'd be really happy! The ones below begin in 2001.

Nigel's own web site (from where these pages are taken) is @: http://www.papmemories.net/

Monday, April 29, 2002 2:13 am Subject: Up??

Hi All,

Just to let you know that I have started rebuilding the page....got a new modem so now getting fairly good connection speeds and no disconnects.....hoping for a smooth rebuild.

Started with the Carnival 2002 series which is now fully up....just have to put in one button to take you back from the last J'ouvert pic to the main page. To get there go http://www.crosswinds.net/~nwent Click on the green and yellow "Trini Links" button. The next page will have a series of buttons including a red and yellow "Carnival" button hit that one...then look for Carnival 2002 and surf through the seven or so pages. Great stuff...worth a visit thanks to pics sent in by Barbara Gillen (Davenport), Trevor Pollonais, and Sophie.

Got some of the PaP pics up as well...this one will take some doing as I have discovered some larger than required pics and some formatting problems that I need to sort out......but check it out anyhow.

The Geocities site is fine http://www.geocities.com/ndarwent

The political situation here is really getting to be a bit much.....with things locked up at 18 constituencies each, the Government by decree is unable to command a majority in the lower house and will not do the correct thing and call an election....power is too important....let the people suffer. But guess what...we are not really suffering...things chugging along pretty well despite the foolishness...thank goodness for the sensibilities of the people.

The public service doctors were on strike last week just as they were when the last government was in power...now all of a sudden their strike is hurting the poor people....the government and the union joined forces and forced the doctors back to work....they feel that they have won.....I think the doctors have made a strategic retreat!!!!....more to come!!

Going in and out through Santa Cruz valley is a continuing pleasure. For a short while two weeks ago, the immortelle trees were still orange in bloom and were joined by the yellow and pink pouis...what a sight.....driving home one evening in a dark brooding sulky mood....looking for someone to cuss-up from the safety of my very swift Nissan Primera 2L, I passed through one of my favourite spots and saw all the trees in bloom up on the hills....in fact they had been joined by a few purple blossoms of an unidentified tree....indescribable beauty.

I stopped and got out of the car, and was soon joined by an elderly Indian gentleman who works on a nearby estate......he was glad that I appreciated the beauty and that we could talk for a while.....his passion for the serenity of his surroundings was great....

the old Dons was surprised to hear me come in through the gate humming a tuneless but happy tune and saying nice things to the dogs...Leah (my secretary) had tipped her off that I was in a foul mood. The power of peaceful surroundings and the beauty of nature.

Super weather....hot but not too hot days and cool nights....just enough rain to keep the grass green to the delight of the pest, and the confusion of the birds who by now would have been stripping the drying leaves to build their nest......bunch of frustrated male birds hanging around......no wonder that they don't like the sprinkler.

Keep well y'all....more to come. Nigel.