If you were a child of the 80s and early 90s in Trinidad, you might remember:
* giving someone and receiving a meggie
* collecting empty tic-tac containers for the smell, filling them with water then drinking it
* you filled empty orchard cartons with air and jumped on it to make a popping noise to scare someone
* you screamed at the faintest sound of thunder
* getting licks with a guava whip or a wooden ruler with a metal strip on the side
* when push point pencils were in style
* when stationery on a whole was in style, nice erasers were prized: scented and colourful, sharpeners shaped like hamburgers or mechanical pencil and pilot pens, fine-point preferably
* when 'Bata' was not in style but you had to wear one anyway
* carrying ah lunch kit with a thermos flask inside
* reading Enid Blyton, Nancy Drew or The Hardy Boys, Judy Blume, Sweet Dreams or Sweet Valley High.
* wearing VERY ying, very short, very tight khaki pants to school
* wearing socks with frills
* wearing panties with frills on the back
* the Coca-Cola yo-yo craze
* how handwriting was a big thing in primary school among girls, you wrote extremely small and extremely neat with care
* at some point in time, having to ask someone or be asked:
a. if yuhfather is a glass maker
b. if yuh have ants in yuh pants
c. if yuh mo nkey glands acting up
* you loved pencil cases and you wanted a nice one shaped like a giant pencil with a zip on one end
* holding hands with a another girl or boy to go somewhere on an outing
* (everybody, find ah partner!) meant that he/she was your good friend
* you were a Brownie or a Cub Scout,
* no one was quite sure what 'Red Cross' people did except you called them if somebody fell down
* having your skin stained for days with iodine after you fell
* boys making guns out of paper and shooting each other
* saying "ABC, ketch ah crab, put it in ah paper bag" to some First years or Second years
* you read "Lucky Dip" and West Indian Readers
* pennycools costing 25 cents
* getting excited over the sight of three red beans sprouting on a wet piece of toilet paper in an old mayonaise jar
* eating condensed milk from the can, tomato balls, paradise plums, chilibibi and planter's snacks
* wearing poppies on Poppy Day was a fashion statement
* cheese paste sandwiches with food colouring on Kiss bread cut in triangles
* playing "in ah fine castle, do you hear my sissy-o", "I lost my glove on a Saturday night and found it Sunday morning..."
* the smell of whitening your shoes
* in primary school, you methodically collected eraser shavings
* Netball, Rounders and cricket was serious business!
* reciting time tables
* you played catch, red-light/green-light, there's a brown girl in the ring and hand clapping games till your palms stung
* a re-fashioned balloon was called ah chikey-chong
* You been to Cleverwoods at least twice for a class outing.
* Who had the most and prettiest Barbie dolls used to run tings
* you made those fortune telling finger toys from copy book paper
* You used to recit the National pledge everyday, "I solemnly swear to dedicate my life to the service of my God and my country..." But you cyar remember it now!
* having to religiously support some curry-q, bar-b-q or chinee q for the school
* singing parang in a school Christmas concert or a folk songs "mangoes...mangoes....."
* if you went to Catholic primary school: prayers, prayers and more prayers.
Teens of the 90s (early to mid) in Trinidad, you might remember:
* fellas got an earring too-just one
* football limes and Intercol
* no matter where you went to school, Trinity College seemed so far away
* your identity was defined by your school, there were girls and
* then there were "Convent girls" (be that good, bad or indifferent)
* red band maxis and their hard pong
* you hoarded coloured ink pensyou stressed about SBAs in Form 4 and 5 if you travelled home, you had to lime first before you got there CXC lessons and
* the lessons' lime boys hitting school desks to start a chanting session maxis and
* maxi conductors were the scourge of Secondary school in these days, parents were always complaining about them you knew at least one girl who was "dealing" with a maxi-man Knight Rider,Street Hawk and Mc Gyver
If you remember any of these, you my friend are a child of the 80s and early 90s in sweet Trinidad
