Annabel Wanders

I first met Keith propping up the bar at our beach side hotel. I'd just landed from a ten hour flight, transporting me from the grey clouds of Gatwick to the bright skies and balmy heat of the Caribbean. As I settled into my bar stool and stretched my weary bones, I was eager to start planning my week in Tobago. Keith recommended that I start by relaxing, and having a ginger shandy to cool off before anything else.
Whatever I wanted to do, he knew a man, or was the man, that could arrange it. From a midnight call to watch Leatherbacks nesting on a nearby beach to chartering a boat for deep sea fishing, from a trip to the Nylon Pool, a turquoise watered sand-shelf where you are said to gain eternal youth on bathing in it, to a ride to 'Sunday School'; a late night beach party that shakes up the island with steel drums and reggae boom boxes.
But the most important thing was to relax, enjoy the heat, and get firmly onto "Tobago Time". Keith was adamant; a gentle giant, leaning on the bar, eyelids heavy and a Caribbean lilt in his voice, I could feel time slowing down and the weight of my 9 to 5 releasing its grip on my shoulders.
Two days later I'd meet Keith again, as I climbed into his taxi that would take me and some new travel mates around the island. That day we'd circumnavigate the island, getting a glimpse at deserted bays along the coast, taking in forts, fishing villages and waterfalls. En route Keith demonstrated his knowledge of the flora and fauna of the island, mixing in some history of the battles for land that have ravaged the island over time, and then bringing us up to date, with tales of the Tobago youth, "they have iPads and BBM just like everyone else".
The topic moved to the personal; Keith's own account of his family, now living around the world in London, Trinidad, Canada. He divulged personal details easily and we all shrugged our shoulders, we doubted this information was on the tour, but it's a part of Tobago that's as fascinating; the people, their culture, their lives.
As I looked at Keith in the rear view mirror of his taxi, his rugged Tobago features and his talk of grandchildren, it was hard to imagine he was older than fifty. "Fifty five" he said when we posed the question. "So, what's your secret to staying young?" we asked, perhaps a daily bath in the Nylon Pool? And with that Keith gave me his gentle smile a knowing wink and passed his wisest words yet. "Work a little, but not too hard, that's the secret to staying young".