Sokah2Soca

The very best Palette used to come to the neighborhood in a box cart pushed by a vendor known as the Palette Man.

Now those palettes were the very best that a young child could get on a very hot day in the Island. The ringing bell was a signal that we needed to scrape every penny (and it was big and round eh – one penny equaled 2 cents eh) and it was races out to the road to catch the palette man before he passed by.

OMG, the peanut and coconut palettes were the very best ones and they were all wrapped in a white paper with that stick jutting out. These palettes were cylindrical in shape and was sweet and easy sucking oui – oh the joys of childhood.

Now every child in the area had one fun thing that they looked forward to after purchasing the palette. We begged for a piece of Hot ICE – what in heavens’ name is this? It is the ice that kept the palette solid – no refrigeration needed her e. By the way that was the standard back in the day eh. The Palette man also had fun with us… “Put out yuh hand…” What do you think happened next? If you were not quick enough, the ice would stick to your hand and give you a good burn… yes it did!

The hot ice was dropped in water and it was ‘smoke in the water’ until it fizzled away – the Good Ole Days Pardna!