Everything, from artists’ materials to automobile parts…

In Caribbean towns, you can shop for almost anything if you know where to look.  To the uninitiated this can be frustrating but to those practiced in tracking things down, it offers some rare finds. 

Years ago on Tortola a drug store by the name of “The Lagoon Plaza” stocked everything from anti-fouling paint to bottles of the finest Madeira wine.  Down the street, stashed away on the shelves of Mr H R Penn’s shop were bolts of sailcloth alongside silks and laces.  It was there that I found a good-looking pair of size nine leather sandals, or rather I found the right foot of a good-looking pair of size nine leather sandals.  When I left the island fifteen years later, Mr Penn was still searching for its mate.

This brings me to Roseau Dominica and a shop along Old Street by the name of “Garraway Enterprises”.  The entire floor space is no larger than the average living room but within its four walls you can find everything from artists’ materials to automobile parts.  As yet, I haven’t got around to sketching the shop’s cluttered interior, where tubes of watercolour sit alongside cans of engine oil.  However, if I do try, I doubt that there will be room for me to squeeze in with anything larger than a 4” x 6” sketchbook.  

Today’s sketch goes back thirty

years, to Road Town, Tortola
and the Georges Store.
In those days, it was another
of those wonderful shops
that sold just about everything,
from oil lamps to navy blue
knickers.

By the way, I did find what I
was looking for today at
Garraway Enterprises...
a tube of ivory black and
a pop rivit gun!