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Trini Teen In The 90s

Teenagers in the 90s would remember this in Trinidad:

- 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 pencils 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 yuh father is a glass maker
if yuh have ants in yuh pants
c) if yuh monkey 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 recite 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 song, 'mangoes...mangoes..'

- if you went to Catholic primary school: prayers, prayers and more prayers.

s The Teen Trini

Name: Jason

Title: Trini Teens in the 90's

Comments: A re-fashioned balloon was called ah "chookoo", a chickey-chong is a kite!