Love is colour blind

It’s a case of who wooed whom. When the blue-eyed British-born and newly married Dr Edward Salter presented his side of the story as to how he met his “very, very attractive” wife, Trinidadian Jonelle Ollivierra, it was interspersed by some gesticulating suggesting “not true, not true!” from Jonelle. At that point “Ed,” as she fondly calls him, winked and Jonelle knew where he was going next. One fact stands — that the two met at bp plc in Aberdeen, Scotland while on a safety walkabout tour of the company. Jonelle, 29, and originally from San Fernando is an Offshore Installation Manager (OIM) at Galeota. She is the first female OIM, specially trained in that field at bpTT. Edward, 31, from Little Hampton, London, England is an Environmental Engineer. The two now work for bpTT after applying for posting in Trinidad.

Thereon, Edward tells the story. “Jonelle was on the same tour and I said ‘this is an attractive woman,’ or words to that effect,” Edward said. “I remember later on going for lunch with two of my colleagues, and I did mention Jonelle to them. Then Carolyn was told, and Carolyn told Monica...” Edward spared a smile. He continued: “...and plans were being hatched and developed. Then ever so often, as the days went by, Jonelle would pop in the office and say hello, at least to everyone but me, which was a direct indication that something was afoot. “I distinctly remember when the office was being redesigned and I was walking past one day, I’m not lying, I can see it! And Jonelle looks over from the meeting room and gives me a kind of look, like a wink almost, and I’m like thinking ‘Great! Something’s about to go on here,’ but I didn’t think anything more than that.” Jonelle had to interject. Here’s her side of the story: “The truth: I came into the office on Monday, October 23, 2000. When I saw him on the tour I said those were the most beautiful eyes I had ever seen in my entire life and he kept staring at me. I didn’t think much of it, I just thought oh! that’s a nice guy.” The name Monica arose again. Monica was the Health Safety and Environment technican at the company, as well as their tour guide. “She told me, ‘Jonelle, you know that new engineer has the hots for you and he’s single. C’mon Jonelle you have to go out with him.’ And I told her I was not going to ask him out, if he’s interested let him approach me.”

Well, the opportune time for making acquaintances and maybe a lot more did arrive at a “Challenge” function organised for members of “The Challenge Programme” arranged by the company. The group of 20, including Jonelle and Edward, dined at The Jewel in the Crown, Crown Street, Aberdeen. However, prior to that evening, Jonelle, “lo and behold!” came asking him for directions to the restaurant known for its curried dishes. It’s a restaurant and a meal they will never forget. Jonelle continued: “I heard about the Challenge dinner and I pretended I didn’t know how to get there. So, hoping he would get the hint and offer to take me, Edward went on the internet and printed me a map of the area, and highlighted in yellow the way from my house to the restaurant and says ‘here you go’ and I said ‘thanks, great.’ So I thought clearly he needs a little more help. “So, Monica, who was supposed to be helping put in a little word for me was going on vacation and Ed was leaving in a matter of days on a two-week trip to Houston, as part of the Challenge programme. I thought if he didn’t get hit with that little pebble that I threw, let me get a brick.” Jonelle had to change plans.

“At the dinner I strategically positioned myself across from him so that we could chat,” she said. However, throughout the evening she noticed that Edward was “quite quiet, shy and reserved. I didn’t know if to interpret his shyness for ‘I don’t like you’ or ‘just shy’.” Whenever would he ask her out? That was foremost among the thoughts going through her head. Jonelle turned to plan C. “I decided to ask one of the guys, Matt, sitting next to him, what he was doing the following night and he said ‘oh no Jonelle, I’m going snowboarding tomorrow and I’m gonna be really tired I’m not going anywhere.’ So I made a concerted effort to look very disappointed that Matt wasn’t going anywhere, showing that I wanted to go out.” Seconds later, Edward trumped up the words: “Jonelle, um we’re going out tomorrow night would you like to come along with us? And I said, ‘As a matter of fact I would.’ I said: ‘Great where are you going?’ He says, ‘um, I don’t know we haven’t decided as yet.’ I said, ‘um, what time?’ He said ‘I don’t know we haven’t decided yet.’ I said ‘you wanna give me a call?’ He said ‘okay I will.’ I said: ‘Do you want to take it down, do you have a pen and a piece of paper?’ He said, ‘ah, I don’t’.”

In the end, Jonelle punched in the digits of his number on her cellphone. She called. He invited her for an evening out. They had drinks at a bar and according to Edward, “it was all very ad hoc, we men are very opportunistic, we don’t plan our evenings carefully, all British men at least.” Then they went salsa dancing at Hoagies. Edward complimented her on “having natural rhythm.” She said that’s a “Trini thing.” Days later Edward left for Houston. They emailed each other. When he returned to Aberdeen, the two began courting. Edward said that the evening out dancing was “the key” to the relationship they would then develop. “I thought she was very attractive, very clever in the sense of bright and being able to participate in a conversation.” Up ’til now, nothing has changed. He added: “She’s a good person to talk to as a friend and lover. She’s cleverer than I am, we never get bored with each other, and that’s very important.” Both had met each other’s parents. Edward’s parents (Robert Salter and Barbara Reid) were impressed by Jonelle and Jonelle’s parents (Alfred and Joan Ollivierra) were fond of Edward. Not once did the issue of race come up since, “Britian is highly cosmopolitan,” Edward said. Add to that, Edward once dated a black Jamaican girl, and one of Jonelle’s earlier boyfriends was white. On the second anniversary of their courtship, Edward planned to propose marriage. It was Monday, January 13, 2003.The setting was Tiki Village Restaurant, Kapok Hotel, Trinidad. After the main course Edward presented her with what she thought was a gift. It was a gift bag, tapered all around with Scotch tape. In it was a ring box wrapped in a pair of swimming trunks. “I was thinking what the hell does he have inside here...but then he went down on one knee. So I started to put together the box and him on one knee and I just started to cry.”

Said Edward: “‘I said will you marry me,’ I didn’t dilute it and it seemed as if she was gasping and crying.” The three-letter word seemed to linger from Jonelle’s lips a bit and “I felt like it was five minutes that I was on my knee.” When Jonelle mustered up a ‘yes!,’ almost immediately she began dialling her friends and parents to deliver the good news. In a true Caribbean setting, the wedding, arranged by Jonelle’s mother, took place at the Coco Reef Resort and Spa in Tobago on September 6. The groom and his groomsmen were donned in white and kakhi courtesy fashion designer Meiling. The bride’s gown and her mother-in-law’s dress were also done by Meiling. There were tassa drummers and dancers in costume who did the jig. Pan virtuoso Len “Boogsie” Sharpe played on pan “Here Comes the Bride” and Jonelle just had to do her dance as they walked over to the reception hall, arm in arm with her husband. Guests flew in from all over the world including England, USA, France, Scotland, Norway, Germany and Barbados.