The uncontrolled proliferation of advertising billboards in Trinidad has long been a blight on the landscape. Some of these structures, not all of them but many of them, are not only ugly but because they have been so badly built are in danger of collapse. They represent a real hazard to road users and the general public. Furthermore, they are often in areas where they restrict road visibility and/or distract drivers. Now the same thing is happening in Tobago. The Claude Noel Highway with its well-kept grass verges and, in some places, flamboyant trees along its borders, and the Bon Accord Road all the way to the airport are beginning to sprout a new kind of growth: frames of metal pipe fronted with stretched vinyl, ie, billboards, of all sizes. Downtown Scarborough is already a thicket of peeling, faded advertising signage placed seemingly at random. This unregulated growth is not an indication of development. It is a symptom of urban decay and it expands exponentially. We have seen it happen in Trinidad. Don't let it happen in Tobago. House of Assembly, are you listening?
Another thing: "Tobago green and serene...?" Give me a break. The green is slowly beginning to disappear and as for serenity, I sit in my house in Black Rock and hear the dub and soca blasting across from Plymouth, two miles away. On Sundays, from bright and early, the preacherman regales us over his sound system at full volume with exhortations to prayer or warns of hell and damnation, depending, I suppose, on his mood and the direction of the wind. Cars passing on the road are often no more than amplified speakers on wheels competing with each other as to who can most effectively shatter the quiet with their so-called music. Noise is not conducive to serenity. House of Assembly?
Tobago still has the potential to be all the things it promotes itself as being and, in reality, is not. But time is running out and the realisation of the promise of an island that is green and serene must begin soon. It is very difficult to reverse the process of "is we t'ing an' if you don't like it too damn bad" once it has set in. House of Assembly...listening?
A final grouse: Too often one encounters, especially among the younger folk, scowling faces, off-hand treatment, a sort of studied ignoring of the other. Being of service now seems to be equated with being servile and that, of course, will not do. It appears to have become an unwritten rule that you must not establish eye contact with the person across from you. It is as if one is being viewed (or dismissed) as a nuisance to be tolerated rather than, for example, a customer to be accommodated and encouraged to return. All the tourist promotion in the world will be to no effect if visitors arriving here are faced with that kind of attitude. They will not come back. Blank faces and grumpiness are a 100 per cent turn-off. They will go somewhere else where they are made to feel welcome. House of Assembly, you hear that? And so, while acknowledging the many kind and genuine and helpful people we do encounter here on our beautiful Tobago, I propose a new name for the island, at least until such time as those guilty of scowling and being grumpy change their grimaces to smiles of sweetness and light and their mute glowering to spoken words of greeting. The new name I propose is "Sourpuss Island." Until we decide to be friendly, let us at least be honest.
Alex de Verteuil
Black Rock