My name is Colin Lee and I am a structural engineer in a Canadian basement.
I've lived for 26 years in Kitchener-Waterloo, west of Toronto. But I grew up in Barataria. Even though we lived right next to St George's College, my parents wanted me to attend a "prestige" school, so I went to St Mary's. I won a math scholarship in 1977 to UWI, St Augustine. It seemed everyone either wanted to do engineering or medicine. I never liked chemistry, so that made it easier to choose engineering. That was the "Money is No Problem" Eric Williams era, and Trinidad's building boom meant there was a huge demand for civil engineers.
My mother was an only child from Port-of-Spain, but my father was from Cumuto and had 12 brothers and sisters. And, since he is Chinese, you can probably guess his parents had a shop, which my father had to work in as a boy. My wife Dorothy and I have been married for over 30 years. Our two sons attend university in Waterloo.
About 40-plus years ago, a priest in Saints (said), "There is a horse way and a donkey way to solve a math problem"–the hard, stupid or "donkey" way, taking pages and pages of calculations, or the short, smart, easy "horse" way, in a couple of lines. Today, anytime I have to do anything for the first time, I try to think through and find the best, easiest or "horse" way to accomplish it.
My dad worked with Insect Vector Control (who longtime used to go house-to-house, spraying for mosquitoes). During school holidays, 45 years ago, I used to go with him to check on the men working under him. When he finished, we would catch four-eye fish for bait on Manzanilla Beach, pick watermelon in Plum Mitan field, chataigne in Biche forest, see how cocoa was dried in Rio Claro. On a visit to Trinidad ten years ago, I took my sons to Fishing Pond, thinking I would show them how I used to catch crab. But the mangrove had all dried up.
After UWI, I worked for five years in Port-of-Spain. My master's degree at Waterloo in Ontario (led to a job) designing buildings and bridges. After six years, I left and have been working on my own for the past 20 years, out of the basement of my house.
To relax at night, I play chess on my laptop and set the level low enough to ensure I win. Losing to a computer is not relaxing.
I was always one of the shortest people in class. I don't think it was a disadvantage though. In school pictures, it was easy to see me, as I was always in the front row.
My wife and I try to go back home to Trinidad every year. Now our sons are older, and all their friends live in Canada, they don't want to travel back home with us anymore.
Getting off the plane at Piarco, the wall of heat and humidity hits you. But it's the traffic and the aggressive way Trinis drive that reminds me right away I am back home.
My work day starts as soon as I head downstairs to the basement. I don't have to worry about snow or traffic. Or about wearing long-sleeve shirt or tie.
In days of old, a blueprint drawing was actually blue because of the process by which it was made. Now everybody has laser printers so there really is no such thing anymore. The last time I used a real drawing board would be in Trinidad 30 years ago.
Once you have a computer and (modern) printer, you really don't need other staff.
The best part of working for yourself as a structural engineer is you have more control over the projects you take on, and how they're managed. The worst part is you can't take a three- or four-week vacation.
What I miss most about Trinidad is the spontaneous liming. In Canada, if you want to make a lime with friends, you need to make an appointment a week or more ahead of time.
A Trini is someone who is friendly, easygoing and likes to lime and old talk.
Even though Canada is where I live now, Trinidad and Tobago was my first home. Which I will always want to go back to visit. I could definitely retire to Trinidad and live by the beach.
Read a longer version of this feature at www.BCRaw.com
