28th – 30th March

Happy birthday Jesse! 9 years old today. Hope you had a good time on Saturday.

Saturday evening , rain still, I was mistaken about it being the end of the monsoon season, well, the worst of it may have gone, the rain remains.

I’m bored, which is better than I’ve been feeling all week. I’ve got a batch of bread rising, to make in the morning, Mary Coughlan playing in the back ground, a much overlooked Irish blues/jazz singer. Love me or Leave me album is a good compilation of hers to start with. She has one of the better versions of Ride On other than Christy Moores solo with bodhran version.

I gave up at work this morning, internet kept losing the connection, usually at the 50 – 60% download stage, so it became a constant re-connect restart, download 60% disconnect. Got the Nursery plan done for Will, which is good, and made a start on the lesson plans and assessments.

It’s surprising how many people use the Gardens during the day, there are always people walking through using the track to get to the houses on the ridges, or just meeting people away from Honiara. A lot of teenagers, meeting girlfriends/boyfriends, or just hanging out there. There’s a small amount of graffiti, but not what you’d see in Auckland or other places I’ve been. I usually wander around saying hello, by the time I’ve explained where I’m from, what I’m doing there etc, they tend to respect the gardens a bit more. Hopefully it will all pay off in the longer term with less damage and rubbish left around.

Something you get used to here eventually is how much people hold onto you when you’re talking to them, or just being with them. Not between sexes, but male/male, or female/female. I see a lot of the crew in town at weekends when I’m shopping or at the markets, it’s always a shake hands thing, then they hold your hand while they are talking to you, it takes some getting used to. It does come in handy though, everyone around then knows that you aren’t on your own, and it’s a bit of a deterrent to any pickpockets at the markets. I caught up with Kennedy the carver the other day, it must have been 10 minutes we’re standing there talking holding hands, coming from a different culture it takes a bit to get used to. And more so when you’re like me and have an aversion to people touching me. So it’s learning/teaching from both sides.

I missed the second hand bookshop, left work too late and it was shut. Probably saved myself a fair bit of money anyway. It’s got a good system though, you pay by the kilo for books, $7, no matter what the books are. Eric said he picked up some quality books there, for a pittance. With my luck I’ll be stuck with Spiderman comics and Mills and Boon heart throbbers.

Sunday.
Power went off, along with the water, so I thought I might as well be at work as sitting here in the rain. 2 ½ hours of frustration. All I managed to do was answer 1 email, which took me 3 attempts. I reset and restarted several times, kept losing the connection, I still haven’t managed to download the manual for the Shredder. I made it to 35% downloaded once, after that it barely started downloading and failed.

Hi to Chip, out of hospital and hopefully on the mend. I’m having second thoughts about going to a barbque at your place.

Hi to Makayla, in Melbourne, so good to hear from you at last. I keep asking Valerie after you whenever I talk to her.

There are a wide ranging lot of people reading this, Ireland, France, Portugal, Australia, New Zealand, America

I hope it’s interesting, or something. Mostly true, only the facts have been changed.

The guys who do security for us at night and weekends have the worst job. All night and weekends there in the building, in the middle of the Gardens, with a torch and mobile phone for back up. I took a few magazines out for them today, National Geo, Australian Geo, Garden and Nursery, so they have something to read when they’re stuck inside.

Mentioned to Les on Friday about putting a couple of guys street cleaning, he came up with the same idea last month and there are now people doing that, when he finds them. I’ll wait a while as he said, and then check back to see how he thinks it’s working. We may still get it eventually.

I’m going to wait for the dry season to start, then go back to Turtle Beach for a try at fishing, the water gets really muddy with the rain washing off the land, and the tidal currents sweep it along the coastline. Although by the time you get to Turtle beach it’s clear water again. Shirleyta reckons it’s not much use at the moment anyway. I’m just curious about where the fishermen from the Markets go for the fish they catch.

There are fish there that people in NZ would give their teeth for just to catch.

Other than the rain, the sunshine, it’s been another weekend

Tom Waits playing, Franks Wild Years, Closing Time, and Rain Dogs. Bit of a change for the neighbours, I had Van Morrison on most of yesterday after a long time when I had too many memories to shake before I could listen to him again. I still like Mary Coughlan for the mornings, she has a nice slow easing into the day feel about her music.

Pic is of Jesse Rainbow, the birthday girl today, and #1 granddaughter. Happy birthday Jesse!