Of course, my acquaintance with the term “fair weather fan” preceded my move to the island. But, my understanding of the meanings and strong connotations attached has been altered and deepened by my stay here.  My first encounter with the term was at a cricket match.  I was not, am not and probably will never be a huge fan of the sport, but, I’d gone to the stadium because, well, when in Rome….

Though there were sufficient seats in the stands, many seemed to favour being seated on the grass- so, I too favoured that arrangement. Again, when in Rome…. Once I was comfortably seated on the grass, an elderly fellow to my right looked me up and down twice.  He appraised me a third time before coming to an agreement with himself that I knew very little about the game and therefore required his guidance.

He struck up conversation and was soon impressed by what I did know, but, seemed even keener to “train” me.  Another much younger fellow to his right, who had been listening in, soon thought it wise to pipe in as well. The elderly fellow took very kindly to this new addition. Until... the younger started quoting statistics.  He began fidgeting and setting his mouth tight when the young fellow began stealing his spotlight and spouting his own knowledge about the batsmen and bowlers on the field.

The young fellow moved on to giving his overall opinion of the Caribbean team- inclusive of a minor history lesson on the game in the region and abroad. The elderly man had had enough. He finally exploded, causing a young girl seated directly below us to almost jump her skin.

He traced the young fellow’s lineage- from great grandparent to present and called him something akin to a ‘have nothing-know nothing’. He was more than visibly upset that this same young man whom he’d seen in the late 1990s flying some other team’s flag (Australia or England) could dare to criticize now.

He expressed, quite vehemently, his dislike for dangerous people. (A ‘dangerous’ persons is very much hated by Antiguans.) He received approbation from quite a few people seated near us. This emboldened him to suggest the sort of things which should be done to people who were only fans of the Caribbean cricket team when they won matches. The young man eventually moved into a nearby stand. But, even that did not secure him from the wrath of the elderly gentleman.

On the second or third occasion, I was listening to some nightly talk show.  I’m not the least bit fond of ‘political talk shows’.  But…Rome, you see.  The topic of the night seemed to be ‘foreigners’ and the theme ‘xenophobia’.  Almost all callers had something to say about foreigners who arrived to suck the country dry and then run when things were brown. A few others agreed that there were some born and bred Antiguans who were the same; running away when things got brown, then, returning to the harvest when things got better.

I didn’t think there could be, in an Antiguan's estimation, anything worse than being ‘dangerous’. ‘Dangerousness’ is that thing which every Antiguan and Barbudan seems inclined to preach long and hard about and against. It has to do with a particular person’s great ability to be two-faced and purposely deceptive.  I have since learnt that, to the Antiguan, there are even more deadlier sins.

(V). Damien