The blog today is the full version of the first 'Bago to D Bone, which appeared in Monday's Guardian. This guy is head.

Backhoe Back in Town

My name is Carl Lincoln and I am a backhoe operator.

I born and grow in Tobago. Plymouth. Plymouth was nice but, as times go on, Plymouth change. There are different grade of people, different age of people and the younger people these days, have differences. At least now Plymouth carrying a bad name but, for the years that was there, Plymouth was good.

I born 1950 and I leave Plymouth 15 years ago. I think I did the right thing, of leaving Plymouth! When you look at the world, all about has changed – but Plymouth has changed rapidly. The younger heads call that. They start

You could of go on the beach, pull a little seine and a fisherman tell you, “Take that fish home”. Very rare you could get that now. You have to push the money. Times change. A man would want to kill you for [an iPod], although he don’t know what it is for. He taking it from you

Children, these days, you cannot speak to them, as elder people. They have no respect. As a young boy growing up, I had to respect my elders. Is, “Good morning, this,”, “Good morning, that”, it doesn’t matter who. If you go pass an elderly person in my days and didn’t say, “Good morning”, when you get home, your parents know already. The neighbour want to know what happen between you and them that make your child didn’t say, “Good morning”.

I went to school at Plymouth EC. That was nice. At the time. But I didn’t have the type of education. My head was a little bit too hard. Everybody don’t get the light to keep going forward but I had the intention of going forward.

Three-quarter of the elderly people died out. Now you have younger mothers by themselves, fathers by themselves. So the children cannot get the kind of training. I didn’t have that. I grow with parents. My father died when I was ten years. I grew with my mother. She died about 15 to 20 years ago.

I got married when I was 21. My wife died, so I married again. Anyhow you take it, doing my job, I need to get a companion. I can’t leave my job to go home and prepare meals. And, if you doing a tractor-work, you have to eat. It’s a hard work.

My father was a fisherman. Had his own boat. He took sick. Had a belly problem. He died at the age of 47. One day he came home, wasn’t feeling well. The doctor give him a paper to go to the hospital. When he came home, he told my mother, “Well, I going, but I not sure I coming back”. He told us that. And he went in the hospital and all we got was the message that he pass out. At least he had leave an indication that he would not be coming as he going. That was it.

I have five children. Three of them married. Two single. But we all get together at times. I have about six grands. But the grandchildren not that close to me, because I don’t be home at me. I more on the job. Them children may come by me with their father, my son, Mervyn.  He is a guy learn joinery while at school. Before he got out of school, anytime like now, holiday-time, he start picking up little joinery work on the outside, building on what he learn in school. He was independent from young.

I leave school at 16. I went to trade. I had no support. I had elder brothers but everybody was for themselves. So I had to fight for myself from a young age.

I get to work with Wimpey when they first come to Tobago as a chain man. When they bring equipment, everything get line up. The white man, which was a guy called “Simbo”, he push me on the machine. I got my [backhoe operator’s] licence at 18, which is 42 years ago. There has nothing about these machines I don’t understand.

I do all my training, all the fine work, was me. I work through Turtle Beach.

I went Trinidad when I was 20. I stayed about a year. I didn’t like it. I was staying Prizgar Land. The freedom I had in Tobago was different to what I had in Trinidad. I wasn’t at me, I was at my brother’s home, which I wasn’t comfortable there. I like to be in my own space.

Just after I came back from Trinidad, I got married, built a house in Plymouth, and settled. The house was a board house. Well, you know, you trying. I keep extending it little bit but it was on my father-in-law’s property, so, after a while, I went to Black Rock, which my father had a piece of land. I got the land but there were relatives next to me who wanted the property and we went to courts and I won them. I leave my children on that property because I got married again, to make myself comfortable. Right now I live at Bagatelle.

I was off the backhoe machines for about five years, if not a little more. [My employers] had send back machines and was renting. When they bring back machines, they bring me back.

I was never in fights. I always stand up on the cool side.

I was in the Baptist faith but, when you in that faith, you have a lot of commitments. You’re a working man. Saturday and Sunday is the days for you to rest but, with the Baptist faith, if you go to church 9 o’clock in the morning, you may not go home until 8 o’clock in the night. And my body need the rest, because of the work I do. So, what I did, I ease them off and find a next church. I believe there are different faith but there is only one god.

For relaxation, sometimes I go by the sea. Sometimes I take the wife and we make a nice little drive. But, at present, I don’t get that much in relaxation.

I does work for money. But money, to me, is only to see that my business go right. I don’t want to have money in my pocket to walk down the road. Once I pay my bills, I’m one happy man.

I like to watch movies, take in my little shows, but you always getting a call, so your moral cutting. You cannot finish the show! But is a matter that your body still relax a little bit.

I don’t follow up sports. My concern is to get my job done. Then I could relax.

I doing 32 years with [my present employer]. I could cut off but I have little bills and I think my job should pay me to pay them off, so I think I will stay on a next three years. After that, once God permit life, health and strength, I’ll go.

I drive to the job on the road in the machine. It come like a motor-car to me. If other drivers want to pass, I give them the room, because they faster than me. They have some operators who would hold down other drivers but I wouldn’t do that.

If I leave to go Charlotteville 8 o’clock, I could reach 1 o’clock. This is how I put it: I have no whip behind me. I just cool. I come on my job, I could work from morning until next morning. I do not have a pressure.

The hardest part of this job is, if you come on this job, and from this job you have to go to a next place, and from that place you have to go to a next place. The driving between the jobs. Otherwise you could spend your whole day and whole night just sit down, cutting your trench. You are cool and comfortable. It is a nice job and very satisfying, to see your trench coming. Once you know what you’re about, you have no problem.

I never had an accident with the backhoe. It is a dangerous work, things could go wrong and people could get badly injured, but I so cool by now. Everybody know me now. For the longest while now, nobody don’t call me by my name, “Lincoln”; they call me, “Carl Backhoe”.

I don’t get push around on my job, because I know it. They could send me on a job, once they tell me what they want, they don’t have to look at me. I know my job and I want to do my job but I want my job to finish, so I could go home. Because me and my wife live real good. No problem, no hard feelings.

I was 60 on 23^rd June. In-between, you get a little pain and thing, age, but I going good. The work keeps me fit. Is my exercise. Doctors tell me, “You look real good for your age”.

I never smoked cigarettes. I play the ass at times. With friends, pretend to smoke but I can’t take that.

I drink a lot. If I feel for one, I take one. Offer a friend one and feel good. Just taking one. Not to steady, just to relax a bit. I drink any type of drinks, once it ain’t poison.

I drinking from the earlies, from when I was 18, but I wouldn’t call myself a drinking man. I’m a sipping man. I don’t drink to drunk. If I drinking, I drinking home, so I don’t have to drive anywhere. It’s not a good thing to drive in alcohol. Things does happen. Sometimes nothing ent happen to you but somebody else get kill. Is better you dead than kill someone else. I wouldn’t drink and drive a vehicle. I’d take a sip.

A Tobagonian is born in Tobago, relatives from Tobago, mother and father born in Tobago, grew up and spend actually all their years in Tobago. You can’t come from Trinidad or Grenada and they call you a ‘Bago; unless is a ill-name, a back-name. They will say, “Don’t study he, he is a Grenadian. He pay to come here”. A ‘Bago man, they will say, “He ent pay to come here, he drive to come here.” If I go back to Plymouth, the first thing men going to say, “Ay, Plymouth Boy! That man come from right here!”

If you come to Tobago from Trinidad, after you live a good long time, good long years, real long time. They going to still call you a Trini.

Tobago means a lot to me. If I go Trinidad, is like I missing something. I don’t know if is because I born here and my entire relatives  born here. The time I spend in Trinidad, I get sour. Here, I could walk in a man’ place, cut a bunch of fig; is food you talking about. That man wouldn’t tell you nothing. If a stranger go, he will ask, “Who give you that, boy?” But, you, as a Tobagonian, “Man, cut what you want”. Because you are one of us. Is so we live.