Oops I did it again 🤷♀️
I averted a diplomatic incident 🤓
If you ask me what I think, I will tell you exactly what I think.
In this case I was chatting with Sir Paul Altman, real estate magnate who, upon learning that I lived in Tobago, broached the contentious subject of maritime territorial disputes between Barbados and T&T.
Listen, we have enough disputes in the Caribbean region at the moment with the Presidents of Guyana and Venezuela meeting this week in St Vincent and the Grenadines for mediation talks about the Essequibo.
Not to mention, Suriname has an ongoing dispute with Guyana and France (by way of French Guiana).
Let’s not forget Belize and Guatemala also have an ongoing border dispute in Central America.
You might be wondering why I refer to Guyana, French Guiana, Belize and Guatemala when speaking about the Caribbean.
All the aforementioned countries have a border with the Caribbean Sea and form what is referred to as the Wider Caribbean Region as defined by the Caribbean Sea Commission.
Guyana, Suriname and Belize, though geographically situated in South and Central America, are full members of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).
But I digress…
On Sunday morning my colleagues and I were invited to a breakfast meeting at Café de Paris in the Limegrove Lifestyle Centre, Holetown, Barbados.
That was the scene of the feisty flying fish exchange.
Sir Paul contended that Barbadians have cracked the DaVinci code when it comes to preparing flying fish fit for an Oistins Friday night fish fry.
I contended that Tobagonians have secret recipes shared only with selected guardians who prepare the fresh herbs we use to flavour the bland flying fish.
In the end, we agreed that the flying fish, one of the national emblems of Barbados, are actually global citizens and digital nomads who navigate the territorial waters between our two islands.
After calling a truce, the goodly gentleman was kind enough to take me on a guided tour of his beautifully designed courtyards in search of pre-packaged flying fish seasoning so that I could take some home to marinate the Bajan fish which moonlight in Tobago’s waters.
All is well that ends well.
Flying fish fight averted ‘de justesse’ as the French would say❗❗
And as a lagniappe peace offering, we parted ways with French pleasantries.
On ne sait jamais quand est-ce que le français sera utile 😎 Learn French, you never know when it will come in handy to peacefully resolve a war of words!
#caribbeanconnection #caribbeanbusiness #caribbeanlife #caribbeanrealestate #languagelovers #languagematters #flyingfish #nationalemblem #barbados #bajan #barbadian #openforbusiness
