Friday 14th . Sunday 16th August

The Americans have gone, and there is food in the markets again. Last weekend there was less than ¼ of the usual produce, no onions, kumara, pawpaw, pineapples, very few bananas, all gone to restock the 2 US Navy ships. It left a lot of hungry people around Honiara for a few days till the markets picked up again. Rice jumped in price for a few days for the same reason, most of the stores sold it to the Navy at inflated prices.

Forestry have got the painters in at work, so Tiffany and I are out of the office till Monday when the paint should be dry and the smell gone, although they still have the walls to do yet. Still nothing settled, David went into the office in town and jumped up and down trying to get an answer about what is happening. He got the same as Tiffany and I have been getting. In short, nothing is being done, it’s all talk and no decisions,

I’ve given up any pretence of working, apart from keeping Tiffany smiling when I can. It’s such a frustrating time for everyone at work. We think we’re moving, then the funding is going to be cut, then we’re staying, or not.

The good part is it gives Tiffany and I a lot more time to talk about everything, without interruptions. If she could I think she’d move back to Bellona and work in local govt there with development projects. David just wants to go fishing, which is what he originally trained for till he got involved with SEB.

I’ve mentioned before about Fridays in the Botanic Gardens being like Zoo Day. It’s been getting worse lately, as the school year gets close to exam time here. Last Friday there were a few fights, but mostly small groups. A lot of drunken or stoned teenagers though. Tonight as we were leaving there was a large fight happening near the childrens playground with about 30 or so girls having a real punch up, and as we got past them, a few of the boys decided to have a go as well on the road. We saw a lot of kwaso bottles around, it is getting worse all the time here. There is no work for them when they leave school, no matter how well educated its always go back to their village and grow crops.

The good thing is that because no one has any money, they can’t afford spray paint so there is minimal tagging anywhere, and what there is usually consists of marker pen and is easily removed.

Saturday 15th

Thunderstorms, lightning, rain, and still hot and humid. It was fine this morning, up till midday then the sky went dark and the thunder started rolling across the hills behind Honiara.

The little truck is playing up again, well, still. The brakes only work on the front now, so stopping becomes a matter of gently applying your foot to the pedal, too much pressure and the front wheels lock and the back lifts off the ground several inches.
I’ll give going anywhere this weekend a miss.

Weekly wash is done, floor has been mopped, and I’m making garlic/herb bread for the week. It’s probably cheaper to buy bread, but it gives me somethtng to do, and I like baking anyway. Tiffanys girls have got used to the fruit loaf and expect one every Monday now, and if possible again on Thursday. I’m not sure how much of each loaf they get, Tiffany tends to eat half of it at work before she goes home.
Sunday 16th.

The rain didn’t last long, but the power went off this morning as usual so I went into work for a while to take advantage of the airconditioning. I still get frustrated trying to load pictures into Webshots, after 4 hours today still not one loaded before it timed out. I’ll keep trying.

Power came back at 5pm, so I have lights for the evening anyway, still waiting for the water to arrive. It’s been hot and sticky humid all day, I’d love a cold shower soon, maybe after 9pm when the water miraculously appears.

I’m still not convinced the Capture 2 programme for the nikon is going to be worth it, I can see a few things it will come in handy for, but overall it will have to be cheap (under $50) to make it worthwhile.

I finally got bitten by a spider last night, outside the house. I thought it would be nice to have some helliconia flowers inside for a change, so I was busily cutting some stems out of the small garden at the back steps when I felt a really sharp pain in my arm. Pulled my arm back out of the stems and there was a large brown/black spider about 100mm across on my arm. I now have 2 fang marks on my forearm about 5mm apart and looking quite red. And there is a large dead spider outside as well. I don’t like them to start with, arachnophobia is a good description of how I feel about them. Snakes I can understand and leave well alone, spiders just give me the creeps.

Other than that its been a quiet weekend, the Saturday Solomon Star had more letters and articles about the Politicians money grab, I can see trouble coming if they don’t vote the Bill out and try again.

Hi MaryAnne in Vero, hope to catch up with you soon.