Trinidad? Panama? Bagels?

While Dance-Nik talks about the Old In and Out, Plotnik talks about the Old Up and Down. He hadn't been out on his Plotkicycle for weeks because of rain and the holidays, but today is Saturday and the sun was shining. So up - and down - and up - and down - and up he went.

By the time he got to the top of Liberty Hill he was pretty sure he was going to die, but he didn't. Luckily, from there it's downhill to the bagel shop and they had his Saturday Six (six hot poppy seed bagels) all ready for him. Then, it's mildly uphill back to World Headquarters, but there is hot bagel fuel coming from the saddlebags which makes it easy. It's like the old carrot in front of the horse, pulling him forward, except it's the smell of bagels and it's in back of the horse, pushing him up the hill.

Meanwhile, Isabella helps grind spices for masala in Brooklyn.

Where else do they use lots of masala? Trinidad.

Grandma Joy, could you tell us where you spend your time in Trinidad? Accommodations are so expensive there that Plot and Duck are starting to think about Panama again -- plus, the guidebooks all seem to be obsessing about kidnapping on Trinidad and Tobago. Usually, Plot ignores that kind of writing, because it's often bogus and feels racially motivated. (One thing that is always a shock to Plot and Duck is that the crowds of young hostel-staying granola-munching backpackers they run into everywhere they go, and the guidebooks they favor, seem to have the same biases as their resort-residing privilege-expecting parents.)

However, it appears that there may indeed be an income redistribution process going on, and tourists and the wealthier Indian population on the islands appear to be the usual victims. Crime, Plottie can deal with. Kidnapping is something else.

Joy, do you have any opinions? I remember your stories about Jo'berg and I trust your instincts.