I’ve spent a lot of time on Grenada from honeymoon to holidays. And when I got laid off from the car industry I spotted an opening for a diving instructor on Grenada’s little sister island Carriacou and ended up there for a bit. The dive shop was 10 yards – no less than that, five yards from the beach where a TV ad for the drink Malibu was filmed – it was that pretty. My room was above the dive shop overlooking that beach.
The good people of Carriacou were happy just to sell a few flip flops made out of the tread from old car tyres, maybe a bottle of the local firewater Jack Iron rum, and a handful of sand dollars – the shells the kids used to collect from the beach.
If you greet them with “Wha de vibe, how is the la vie?” they’ll be very impressed and should respond: “Pork a’ pork”…pork and pork = no beef, I’ve nothing to beef about, can’t complain. The dive boat skipper used to teach me the patois and I used to teach him cockney slang. We’d entertain the divers by holding the most bizarre conversations. Mention Grenada and I can’t help smiling. B.R.
The Grenadians are also smiling at the moment with the news that Suzanne Gaywood has again won a coveted Gold Award at the Royal Horticultural Society’s 2012 Chelsea Flower Show for the island. This year’s display, vibrant with colour from heliconias, gingers, musas, anthuiums and orchids, showed a rustic pavilion set amongst the flora and spices of the rain forest. Suzanne has now won, one silver, four silver-gilt and 10 gold awards at Chelsea. The plants and spices were grown in Grenada. Visit www.grenadagrenadines.com