“Dude, you hear how much Curepe doubles is cost these days? Is all kinda $4, $5 people paying for one doubles.”

I don’t know if I can afford to live in Trinidad – and by that I mean, I don’t know if I will be able to afford the same standard of living to which I have grown accustomed after six years overseas.

The extent of the food price inflation is shocking, and I’m not just talking about the fact that $1 will only get you two pholourie these days.

Every time I go home I marvel at the rising cost of staples like bread, milk, chicken, vegetables.

How do people live? How is it that we, as a nation, seem to be able to absorb these price shocks without so much as batting an eyelid or giving up our weekly forays to Zen, Space, insert-name-of-trendy-club-here?

How do we afford all those cars on the road? How do we afford to pay rents that are increasingly being quoted in US dollars?

I don’t understand it. Explanations welcome.