The Last Train

About the Book

The idea for this story came to me in Trinidad. For the last 20 years, I have been going back to the island every Christmas. Most of the children know me as Santa for I give out toys and sweets at parties. The look on some of the children’s faces brings tears to my eyes and this has really touched me. After the Festive Season is over, I then become - The Englishman, since I’ve done a quite few performances in the southern part of the island. In March of this year (2011), after Carnival, I visited San Fernando, on Harris Promenade Hill, where “The Train” stands. I stood looking at it and thought, that I could tell some stories about it. On my return, as I slept the following night, I dreamt about the train. In my dream, a young boy came up and stood looking at me and started asking questions. “Do you have lots of train in your country”? I told him I came from England. He replied, “I know. You’re the White Santa”. His mom and dad also noticed me always in deed thought while sitting on the bench. I told them that I was writing a song about the train. We live quite close to the house you are staying at. We know most of the people in the village, lots of the people talked about the White Man from England but only a few know your name”. THAT'S HOW IT STARTED, I WROTE HALF THE STORY IN TRINI AND FINISHED ON MY RETURN TO ENGLAND…

About the Author