BY AMANDA CUMMINS

It’s only weeks before Carnival hits the streets of Port of Spain and other parts of Trinidad & Tobago. Plans for the costumed bands, massed ranks of people bedecked in feathers, sequins and strategically placed pieces of Lycra will have been in place for months.

The two days before Ash Wednesday sees a country en fête.

Of course, Carnival time isn’t just these two days of prancing and dancing. There are calypso tents, where the calypso singers of the day sing their latest – quite often audacious, if not a little contentious – offerings. Steel band contests. Competitions to judge the Carnival Kings and Queens who will lead their band of revellers across the stage on Carnival Tuesday. Not to mention the Junior Carnival King and Queen competitions, with mothers who make the most competitive Fancy Dress parents at a pony show in the UK seem positively…