The last day of any year is usually one filled with reflection on things good and bad, on the highs, lows, accomplishments, and regrets.
This year the Newsday reviews the previous 12 months visually by presenting the photos depicting the newsworthy moments of 2018. TT, this is your life.
Within the first ten days of 2018, a community and the nation felt shock and turmoil when a schoolboy was brutally murdered.
January 8, 2018. CRIME SCENE: PH driver Devon Hernandez's car on Pelican Extension in Morvant shortly after he and three schoolboys were ambushed and shot by gunmen. Hernandez and Joshua Andrews died at the scene. The other shot students were taken to the Port of Spain General Hospital. Photo by Roger Jacob.
We said goodbye to a president.
January 18, 2018: FAREWELL TO MAX: The coffin bearing the body of the late president George Maxwell Richards at NAPA during his state funeral. PHOTO BY AZLAN MOHAMMED.
And welcomed a new one.
The swearing-in ceremony for the sixth president of the Republic of TT, Paula-Mae Weekes, took place at the Queen's Park Savannah on Monday, March 19. Photo by Sureash Cholai
We finally got a new Commissioner of Police.
Commissioner of Police Gary Griffith received his letter of appointment on 3 August 3, 2018. Photo by Azlan Mohammed
There were protests at schools.
NEW SCHOOL NOW: Students walk by as Lachoos Road, Penal residents call for a new St Dominic’s RC school to be built, blocking roads to highlight their cause. PHOTO BY ANIL RAMPERSAD. January 30, 2018.
And protests over roads.
March 10, 2018: A resident of Lengua Road in Moruga protests for repairs to the road, which is in a dilapidated state. PHOTO BY ANIL RAMPERSAD.
UWI students protested over safety issues.
During a UWI Guild town meeting after attacks om students on campus, students of UWI, St Augustine decided to block one gate of the campus. The protest ended with two students being arrested. Photo by Enrique Assoon
We were on display to the world for Carnival
TOURIST LEGGO: A tourist gleefully interacts with two moko jumbies after 6,500 passengers arrived in Port of Spain from cruise liners MSC Fantasia and the Island Princess to be greeted with colourful Carnival characters at the Port of Spain Port. This photo was posted on Tourismtt’s Instagram page.
Canboulay re-enactment. February 2018. Photo by Azlan Mohammed
Kiddies Carnival. February 2018. Photo by Rattan Jadoo
Yuma masqueraders on Carnival Tuesday. Photo by Jeff Mayers
The earth gave a lot of feedback.
Hindustan villagers Richard Bissoon and Yoge Deochan, right, near the sea of mud left behind after the mud volcano at Devil’s Woodyard erupted on Carnival Tuesday. PHOTO BY LINCOLN HOLDER
March 10, 2018. The Prime Minister, a geologist, inspects an area where houses collapsed when the land caved in during a visit to Bamboo Village, Cedros. PHOTO BY ANIL RAMPERSAD
March 10, 2018. Major works: Minister of Works and Transport Rohan Sinanan, from left, engineer Dr Derek Gay and acting Director of Highways Navin Ramsingh look on as an excavator works on a ridge on Lady Young Road after a landslide. PHOTO BY AZLAN MOHAMMED
June 17, 2018. Dead fish lie washed up all across Carat Shed Beach at La Brea. PHOTO BY CHEQUANA WHEELER
August 2018. President of the Los Iros Hillview Farmers Association Reshinand Ramraj points to the unpassable road, which was damaged by that month's major earthquake. PHOTO BY ANIL RAMPERSAD.
Staff of the Ministry of Works along the North Coast Road just before Maracas Bay, where a huge section of the roadway slipped away after heavy rain earlier in the week. Only one-way traffic could get through. PHOTO SUREASH CHOLAI
There was disastrous flooding.
HELPING HANDS: Poonan Sukhdeo being rescued following devastating floods at the Greenvale HDC housing development, La Horquetta on October 19, 2018. Photo by Lincoln Holder
STRENGTH AMID DESPAIR: These children hug as they walk along a mud-stained street in Greenvale Park, La Horquetta which witnessed a massive clean-up operation following major flooding in October. PHOTO BY LINCOLN HOLDER
November 16, 2018: Flood waters along Batchia Village, Penal on the SS Erin Road. PHOTO BY ANIL RAMPERSAD.
We celebrated a Tobago-born celebrity.
ON DUKE: THA Minority Leader Watson Duke, kneeling, centre, poses with students from ten Tobago East schools who were taken to see the movie Black Panther in Tobago. Tickets for the hundreds of children were bought by the Minority Council in conjunction with Duke and his family.
We celebrated victories.
Ainsley Armstrong, back centre, holds up the Atlantic National Primary Schools Football trophy as members of the victorious Arima Boys' Government team, coach and principal pose at the school compound at King Street, Arima. Photo by Roger Jacob
TT's Dylan Carter reacts after placing second in the Men's 50m Butterfly final at the Commonwealth Games at the Optus Aquatics Centre, Gold Coast, Australia.
TT’s Michelle-Lee Ahye wins gold in the 100m event at the Commonwealth Games at Carrara Stadium, Gold Coast, Australia.
Jereem Richards poses with his gold medal a day after the men’s 200m final during the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games at the Carrara Stadium on the Gold Coast, on April 13.
And we celebrated holidays for six long weekends.
April 1, 2018. Members of Spiritual Baptist churches greet each other with offerings of water and flowers at the National Congress of Incorporated Baptist Organisations of TT's Shouter Baptist Liberation Day celebrations at Eddie Hart Grounds, Tacarigua. PHOTO BY SUREASH CHOLAI
Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar performs aarti at her Siparia constituency office’s Divali celebrations. Photo by Ansel Jebodh
August 1, 2018. Emancipation Day parade in Port of Spain. PHOTO SUREASH CHOLAI
A woman gives praise outside the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Port of Spain. during the Corpus Christi celebration. May 31, 2018. Photo by Sureash Cholai
August 31, 2018: Police form a pyramid on motorcycles during the Independence Day parade. PHOTO BY ANGELO MARCELLE
We signed a natural gas deal with Venezuela.
Energy partners: Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro happily welcomes the Prime Minister to the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas where the two leaders sealed a deal for TT to process natural gas from the Dragon field. PHOTO BY AZLAN MOHAMMED
We shut down the Petrotrin refinery.
File Photo: OWTU president general Ancel Roget in a sombre mood outside the Office of the Prime Minister, St Clair after a meeting on August 21 with the Prime Minister about the future of Petrotrin. PHOTO BY SASHA HARRINANAN.
We decriminalised homosexuality. Sort of. Government appealed.
April 12, 2018. A member of the LGBTQI+ community celebrates the judge's ruling outside the Hall of Justice, Port of Spain. PHOTO BY AZLAN MOHAMMED
There were kidnappings.
Mother of three Natalie Pollonais was kidnapped and later rescued by police in September.
The Prime Minister had a moment with Queen Elizabeth II.
Your Majesty: the Prime Minister greets Queen Elizabeth II at a dinner at Buckingham Palace, on April 19, one of the formal events of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. Photo courtesy Office of the Prime Minister.
The Galleons Passage completed what seemed like a never-ending journey.
Minister of Finance Colm Imbert shakes hands with Minister of Works and Transport Rohan Sinanan, in front of the Galleons Passage at the Port of Port of Spain. Photo by Xavier Sylvester
There was a by-election.
July 15, 2018. Supporters of the UNC and PNM meet at Piggott’s Corner in Belmont during motorcades by their respective parties in the lead-up to by-elections for Belmont East and Barataria. Photo by Roger Jacob
We won the CPL.
August 11, 2018. CPL Trinbago Knight Riders' Colin Munro on the attack against the Jamaica Tallawahs.
We said some more goodbyes.
Nobel prize-winning author Sir Vidia Naipaul died in London on August 11, 2018.
The late Jennifer Cassar, Carib Queen died on July 19, 2018.
Ken "Professor" Philmore passed away on September 30, 2018, six days after a horrible accident on the Solomon Hochoy Highway.
The Original De Fosto Himself died on November 2.
Winston “Shadow” Bailey, 77. died on October 23.
Chef Joe Brown died in an accident while cycling along the Beetham Highway on November 10.
Andrew ‘Lord Superior’ Marcano died at New York’s Mt Sinai Hospital on November 24, 2018.
FRED MITCHELL, better known in the calypso world as Mighty Composer, died on December 5, 2018. at his Barataria home
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"2018: The year in photos"