Here is the second Trini to D Bone in the series. It's a scream, I think. 

TRUE TRINI FLAVOUR

 My name is Gregory Wight and I run a flavouring company.

 I was born at home in Goodwood Park, the only child of eight to be born in the family home. I’m the number four child; the special one. I have five brothers and two sisters, none as famous as me.

 I’m married to Kathryn Stollmeyer, Jeffrey & Sarah’s daughter. My three

 Both sides of my family have been in the Caribbean for a couple’ hundred years. The other day, I stood up in the Caricom line at Piarco airport and the immigration officer very sternly warned me the line was for Caricom and locals only. When I gave him my passport, I said, “I’m sorry, I didn’t realise you had to be a certain type of person to be a citizen of Trinidad”. He told me, “Well, we don’t want foreigners to clog up our local line.”

 I went to Maria Regina Primary School. Where I had a ball. Then I went on to CIC for three years and then on to Presentation College, a boarding school in St John’s Barbados, where I had the three best years of my life. I got my only academic qualifications there: five O’Levels, two [grade] fours and three sixes. A friend at the Queen’s Park Cricket Club asked me, “You got them two fours and three sixes in one over?” That’s my academic credit.

 I went to the same university as [TT educator] Anna Mahase Mount Allison College in New Brunswick on a soccer scholarship. I scored one goal against New Brunswick University – somebody actually lifted me up when the cross came across, like in a rugby lineout, and I tapped it into the far corner. I spent two years doing business and got all my credits but, unfortunately, fell in love and got married in Trinidad in 1976.

 My favourite colour is turquoise. Because it’s the colour of the Pope’s cap, and he’s one lucky guy.

 I read every and anything, down to Antiguan and St Kitts newspapers when I travel. I love historical dramas. Also biographies of famous and successful people, like Winston Churchill and Theodore Roosevelt. I read the biography of Attila the Hun. Who could miss that? Not the calypsonian, the real hun. You know Venice was created because they all went into the marshes to hide from Attilla.

 Adolf Hitler was a fascinating man. He made a huge mark on the world. Obviously not very positive. With our world population at seven billion and heading to nine billion in 30 years time, maybe Hitler had some kind of place in the world to keep things on an even keel; as horrible as his actions were. I’m not suggesting we start killing off invalids but at least we only have seven billion today, not nine.

 St Mary’s College was a case of, “Run with the pack”. If you could pay attention and keep up from day one, you did well. I was the opposite: I was in the back row, gazing out at the courtyard. I fell further behind in each of the three years I was there.

 As schoolboys at CIC, we used to bet on which priest would reach the end of the corridor first when they left their lunch room. I once had ten cents on Father Finnegan at 66 to one and, apparently, he had a call of Nature early and burst away from the ferocious pack of priests and I won six dollars and six cents and it was sno-cones for all. One of my best days at CIC. That early success led to a horrible gambling habit that nearly destroyed me. Try and print that as kindly as you can.

 I’ve liked a flutter all my life but I’ve put it behind me now. I get my thrills now by trying to get customers to buy my flavours. That’s almost as difficult as landing a winner on a punt.

 That Spain v Germany World Cup match was amazing. Spain played their possession trick. And then the man who scored came out of nowhere, had nothing to do with the buildup of anything. Typical of life, actually.

 I have the misfortune to support West Indies cricket. It’s just down to discipline. [WIPA President Dinanath] Ramnarine is doing a great job for the players but our cricket is heading south in performance.

 I was ten years old Garry Sobers bat at Queen’s Park Cricket Club. but I’ll never forget it. Since then, I’ve never seen anyone do anything like him, batting, bowling, fielding. He, to me, is the ultimate cricketer others should emulate. He’s a fantastic person, too.

 Obey the law. You’ll be happier in the long run.

 My father told me 30 years ago that there was a certain section of the business community that bribes: a policeman; an immigration officer; a customs man; and a politician. They’re getting ahead of everybody, he said, but one day the rank and file will look at and adopt this behaviour and all Hell will break loose. What he said is happening to a T today.

 I’m a Luddite. I can’t type. I one-finger emails or write them out by hand and get my secretary to type them up. It’s awful. Let all technologically-minded people stay clear of me in case they’re infected. I wouldn’t hire me for IT, I promise you. For most things, actually.

 The lower end of the economic scale is getting a horrible deal in the Caribbean. We have to give them a leg-up, help them get a better standard of living.

 In Trinidad, the minimum wage must move immediately to $14 an hour. My business friends might say that would kill business but most of them only care about themselves. They arrive at work in a car that their workers couldn’t pay for after 40 years of work. Their wives spend in an hour-and-a-half what their workers earn in a month. If we don’t change that, our children and grandchildren will never experience a real moment of peace in the years to come.

 Our commercial template gives the business owner an income of many millions a year and the next-highest-paid person in the organisation gets a few thousand a month. We have to understand that’s not sustainable. We have to share wealth more. It’s as simple as that.

 I’ve been writing letters to the editor since 1976. My first letter was about the [Australian media tycoon Kerry] Packer cricket circus. I’ve been going for 34 years now. My pen will continue until my last breath. If anything ever happens as a result of my letters, it’s very satisfying. I was very strong in opposition to the wastage and the folly of so many PNM policies. I was overjoyed to play a small part in the defeat of the PNM and the Partnership government coming into office.

 It’s a little worrying that there are UNC party groups being developed in Diego Martin, a solid COP area. Hopefully it’s just the enthusiasm of UNC supporters in the area who feel they must have a voice. I would have thought a People’s Partnership supporter in Diego Martin would support the COP there, and not the UNC. It was COP work that took those seats from safe PNM seats to very marginal.

 Mr Manning was wonderful in helping to ensure a Partnership government. I wish him a long and fruitful retirement.

 I submitted my resumé and was made CEO of the flavour company I run in June 1989. I run the whole operation and am responsible for expanding, getting new business and holding on to the business we have. I’m happy to say we’re doing well.

 We do a lot of beverage flavours but we also do household essences and dessert. Mainly ice cream. We develop new flavours all the time. We’re on the verge of a Portugal flavour, papaya, soursop. We’re very close to a coconut water so, as our natural coconut water sources die, we’ll be able to offer a viable flavour alternative. Coconut production is dying all the time. There’s a new disease killing out trees like peas.

 I’m based in Trinidad but travel the Caribbean from Bahamas in the north to Suriname in the south fairly regularly.

 The best thing about my job is the freedom to create new business by being judged over a long term. So many marketing people are judged on the next month or two or three. I have the luxury of being judged over three years.

 The bad thing about my job is having to work. I would much prefer to just relax on a yacht.

 A Trini is someone who innately believes he is lucky to be born and living in Trinidad. We’re great business people, great sportsmen, we care about each other and ultimately watch each others’ backs.

 Trinidad & Tobago means “my home”. I know no other home.