Tuesday 29th September

Well, we’ve started packing stuff up in the office. I seem to have spent most of the past few years packing/unpacking and moving. I still get frustrated with it, or the whole concept.

I went with Tony from BJS out to the possible new site at Henderson today for a look. It’s good, off the main road on a side street, and at the back of an earthmoving equipment suppliers workshop. Huge area, they use it for storage, on a short term lease basis for anyone with large containers that need temp storage. If it all goes well, we can start moving there next week, plants and all. It’ll mean running a new line for water, and we’ll get a water meter and bill, but we’ll work out how to pay for that further down the track.

I started emptying out the big storage cupboard and packing files into cartons, it’s the cupboard that had the rat nest in, as I found when I got to the bottom shelves and I disturbed a swarm of fleas and other biting things. We had to vacate the office for a while to let the insect spray work. I ended up with hundreds of small bites on my arms and legs, with my luck I’ll get bubonic plague now.

Tiffany and I are really past it all with the problems and petty in-fighting over it all now. I have serious doubts about my project ever getting started, let alone actually being completed. I’m away with Steve for a few days next week, the boat is booked to someone else for this week, so we’ll have a bit of a discussion about other options for me. One of the rural training centres would be good, some of them have wireless internet available sometimes, so they aren’t exactly lost to the world. Although they are all rural, which here means no road in, it’s foot tracks or boat then walk to them. No shops, electricity, but given the few times I’m in Honiara now, that isn’t a big loss, although the lack of electricity without a generator may be a bit hard to cope with. It comes in handy for recharging hearing aid batteries, camera battery and laptop.

I’ve got a month or a bit longer running a training session for the gardeners at the High Court and Justice Dept once all the moving is over with. We used to look after the area there, but they decided as they were employing gardeners anyway, they would do it. Tiffany knew it wouldn’t be long till they came back to us, we know the people employed there, and they prefer to be inside in the aircon rather than outside working in the garden. But ok, at least it gives me something to do for a month or so, and hopefully they’ll learn how to look after the gardens there better than they have been for the past month. All the shrubs have been hacked rather than trimmed, and the lily and helleconia beds are looking a real mess now.
We’re slowly replacing all the crotons/ornamental pineapple in the tubs down the street with bouganvillea. It’s taken me a while to get the idea accepted, but the original ones I had done a few months back are all in flower now, and have been for a while. We get 2 or 3 tubs done each time, dig all the soil out, replace it with our compost/mulch mix, and put 4 bouganvillea into each tub. So far it is working and should look better than the crotons and pineapple plants.

The new security advisory report is out, still fairly much the same, but with a stronger precautionary warning about being out at night in Honiara, and to take extra caution in Central Market and the back streets. About the same as I’ve gathered by myself over the past couple of months. A really high unemployment level, no prospects of work happening, a totally corrupt Government, high cost of living in and around Honiara, it all builds up to a high frustration level with everyone and if you are perceived to be rich, and just being white here is enough for that, you can be in trouble very quickly.

Once you get out of Honiara though it is all different, although you are still charged top dollar for everything, it is done with a smile. And you do have some leeway for bargaining.

I went out last week with the Environmental Action Group, on a school visit to see where or what the schools had done with the Environment Grants. 4 schools took part in the campaign, it was for the upgrading of facilities and improvements as needed. We went to St Nicholas College, which is just beside me here at the Ba’Hai Centre, King George IV College, which is the oldest school on Guadacanal, White River Community School, and St Johns. A huge contrast between them all, St Nicholas has a lot of the higher level Govt and professions children, so money isn’t a problem, and it shows in the facilities, desks, computers, good equipment and resources, then King George IV, which is a boarding school, White River Community which services the White River Settlements, and St Johns which is at the bottom end of everything by Rove Prison and the Gardens.



St Nicholas had used the grants to set up a recycling centre, and rubbish transfer area, roofed, concrete floor, and proper lidded bins, King George had used it to plant border plants along the pathways, White River did a big repaint on the classrooms, and St Johns built a composting and garden area. I’ve put a few photos from the day, one of each school which shows the difference in facilities here.

King George IV is one of the few boarding schools here, they have had problems lately with the quality and committment of the teaching staff, some never turn up for class, or arrive drunk, and the students are having a few problems. It has huge ground, with the boarding houses scattered amongst trees and what was a park like area, now all overgrown and reverting to jungle again. They have advertised through VSA for another relieving Head Master to take charge and train the staff and a permanent Head. That would be an interesting assignment. A few challenges there.
White River Community has a big mix of different island tribes in the area, it is one of the first settlements alongside Honiara. The school would rate between King George IV and St Johns for resources, nice large area, but very few shade trees, and not a lot of amenities. The White River area has a strong community group but has a lot of the usual problems associated with high unemployment, Kwaso and betel nut.



St Johns has almost no resources, really dedicated teachers, great students who are really behind everything the teachers do, but are badly handicapped by the poverty and lack of teaching materials, facilities. It is a real contrast between the schools here, from wealthy schools like St Nicholas, to struggling schools like St Johns.

Sunday 27th September

Called into work after shopping at Kukum this morning. I probably should have waited till tomorrow, they always say bad news arrives first. I’m going to be having “discussions” later in the week over staffing levels, as well as having to move the nursery and office to temp accommodation, on top of keeping everyone at work thinking positively.

There is talk of cutting the staff further, down to only 5, which makes it totally impractical given the contract work we have now. Considering it will cost us $5,000 at least per person to put anyone off, I can’t see that idea going through.

I’m going to find a good solid wall somewhere this week and spend a few hours banging my head against it, at least I’ll feel like I’m accomplishing something when I stop.

Steve is meant to be taking me away this week for a couple of days visiting the rural training centres, I’ll have to make sure Tiffany is ok with everything now if I go, her and David are close to just walking away from it all. They’ve been 10 years building it all up, with constant promises of better pay and conditions once it all happens, and now this. If I can’t manage to talk some sense into a few people I’ll have to join Tiffany and just forget about everything, it won’t work and it just becomes a pointless frustrating experience.

Geelong won the Grand Final!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 2nd time in 3 years! About bloody time as well, I remember the frustration in the 1990’s when we were always the bridesmaid, and never the bride. Well played St Kilda as well, it was close scoring all the way through, ok, one dodgy call for Geelong, and it should perhaps have been a 1 goal lead at the end, but the main things is, WE WON!!!!!!!!!!

I’m having fun at Kukum Fish Market the longer I’m here. There are maybe 15? 20 permanent traders there every week, and another 30 or so casual traders, and finally the permanent ones are actually talking to me, rather than just calling out the prices. Not that I buy a lot, but I find I’m going to the same people each week, even when they change their position along the street. I tried talking the eggman down this morning, he was selling at $28 per 10 tray. I can get the same eggs at my local shop for $26, as I pointed out, but he wasn’t going to drop $2 for me. Never mind, we just passed the time for a bit. Bok choy, spinach, snake beans are all dropping in price as well, between $5 and $8 per bundle which is good. I might even start eating greens again this week, well, for a couple of meals anyway. It will make a change from rice with something.

I wish I could say this vegetarian living is helping cut my weight down, but it appears it agrees with me far too much.

I’m up to 2,000 words on the science fiction story , and I’ve spent more time doing research to make sure what I’m writing has some basic physics and electrical grounding. I hate science fiction that is just impossible, and I’m not too much of a fan of the fantasy type sci-fi either. Harry Harrison, Isaac Asimov, Stanislaw Zem and Kurt Vonnegut I’ve got whole collections of, or had at some stage.

So far it is looking good, it is possible, or in theory anyway. Which is all it needs to be.

Saturday 26th September

Wednesday 23rd September
Caught up with Steve today finally. Or rather he finally called into the Gardens with my mail from the past month. So I’ve finally got the letters Mother has been writing. Thanks Mum. Still waiting on my phone to get here though but never mind.

We’re slowly getting ready to move out, making arrangements for the tools, the office stuff, and trying to get a container moved to the temp site in Ranandi. It is a bit rough at the moment, but if we can go ahead we can turn it into something workable. The only problem is going to be funding for us. The last cheque we got from the Ministry of Infrastructure for the Road Contract bounced, and it took an extra 2 weeks till the Govt had enough to cover it, in the meantime we were out $19,000, and copped a $250 charge from the bank for presenting it. I’m hoping we have enough in the bank for next week, I’m still waiting for the $7,000 I used last payday for everyone, and I don’t have enough left to cover it again yet.

I’m really stuck for stuff to do at work, we are all winding down, knowing we’re really moving now, so the urgency of jobs is declining. I had the crew do a big tidy up in the Botanic Gardens today, David couldn’t understand why for a bit. He wanted to know why I wanted it all tidied up when we’re being thrown out, and it was hard to put into words, but I feel that we’ve looked after the place for 10 years, and improved it immensely, to leave it untidy knowing Forestry will be quick to publicise the fact isn’t something I wanted to do. Well, I don’t really care what Forestry do or say, but I didn’t want the Gardens looking uncared for when we do leave.

I filled the afternoon in googling everything and anything, then found the new Triumph T100 Bonneville Classic and it was love at first sight. All I need now is $15,000 plus a few extras, like a helmet, jacket, trousers and oh yes, a bike licence and I’ll be away. Beautiful bike, Triumph have managed to keep the classic look of the 1968 Bonneville, upgraded the spec to fuel injection, disc brakes etc, and an 850cc motor which is plenty big enough for me. Although the touring bikes are nice lookers as well, but at 2100cc and quite a few kilos I don’t think so.

Saturday

We’re getting closer to moving, slowly. Monday Tiffany and I are sorting out the files and boxing stuff up to go to BJS Office, and some of the clutter as well. We haven’t heard about the container going to Ranandi yet, but hopefully that will be sorted this week.

Our lady at the Japanese Consul is having a meeting with the Honiara Mayor on Tuesday, trying to sort out the facts from the BS. According to the Mayor, he knew nothing about HBC forming an NGO, Solo Enviro Beautification, but our paper trail of letters and meeting minutes from the past 10 years shows different. Same with Forestry, it’s a small victory, it won’t change anything, but Chie thinks it may help us keep the funding as it is not our doing that has caused the problems.

Along with that, the Mayor called out to the Gardens on Thursday, to inform us we weren’t to call ourselves Honiara Beautification Committee any longer, as he is calling the Parks and Gardens Dept that. I think he will have a few problems if he tries to go ahead. The name is registered to us, plus we have a 10 year prior usage, although the way things are here that means nothing. It’s more a matter of trying it on, and if you can get away with it you do.

I can see a huge upheaval coming here soon, with the things that are happening with the present Government. There are ministers making decisions over the courts, accepting bribes blatently, well, ok, bribery is a way of life here, so it isn’t a big thing. But it is going to rebound over the next year leading up to the elections.

I’m noticing more and more the attitudes and frustrations amongst the people in town, especially around Central Market. While it is still reasonably safe there, it isn’t somewhere I’d spend a lot of time, not that I have anyway. Adrian got involved in a bit of a push and shove match the other day there. Luckily he had his small bush knife, a bit of a Crocodile Dundee one, and once he pulled that out the guys giving him a hard time changed their minds about taking it any further. It’s mostly the kwaso and marijuana sellers causing the problems, with the buyers getting drunk on the spot and then getting a bit aggressive towards everyone.

Another reason why I prefer Kukum Fish Market.

I’ve been going around the house at night lately, trying to get a pic of the fruit bats in the mango trees. All you hear at night now, is a rustle in the branches, then a loud “plop” as the mangoes fall to the ground. In the mornings the ground is littered with mangoes, all with a couple of bites taken out by the fruit bats.

I found out never park a vehicle under a mango tree with fruit on it. Fruit bats crap all over it during the night.

If anyone is following the South Pacific mini Games being held in Rarotonga, or if you aren’t, here’s a name to watch out for in the coming years, Betty Babalu. She’s a 12 year old from the Solomon Islands, races barefoot, and won the 5,000 metre race on Tuesday, came second in the 10,000 metre race in 42.8 minutes, and I haven’t heard yet how she did in the 15,000 metre race today yet.

Along with which I haven’t yet heard how Geelong did in the Grand Final against St Kilda today. I’ll check from work tomorrow when I post this.

Geelong by 2 goals!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Go Cattters!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Monday 21st September/Tuesday 22nd

I know I shouldn’t be like this, but I’ve given up any semblence now of actually working. It’s just too frustrating to be making plans, not knowing if we are going to be in the Gardens, or where we can go. I’m meant to be running the final Level 2 course for the year starting this week, that hasn’t happened with the uncertainty over the whole tenure thing. Plus the lack of funds, and the length of 12 weeks for the course for which I’d like to be in one place for that time.

I’m taking tomorrow off, if I can get hold of Steve we’ll go to Solcane Furniture, they make cane and rattan furniture but don’t have any formal training or qualification system set up for it here. The owner is after the Govt or SICHE to provide the training, but I know I could write up a training programme for them up to whatever level we can work out for the trade. I’ll end up knowing as much as the staff by the end of it, which isn’t a bad thing to have tucked away in the memory banks. It’ll mean assessment schedules, assessments, training modules, all reasonably easy to write up once I get back into it.

Anyway, it’s just one of a few possibilities, the other being the rural development programmes which are probably more in line with what I’m here for. Small scale horticulture and sustainable food crops. So long as they are near a beach preferably.


Terry from the South Pacific Development Council called out today. I met him on Saturday night at Barbaras, he has met Tiffany last year when he was here. Anyway, he has $30,000 available for landscaping work in Honiara if we can come up with some ideas for it to be spent on. Tiffany and I would like to put flower beds around the trees in the main street, in an effort to stop people just piling rubbish around them then burning it. I know the rubbish will just get dumped into the gardens anyway, like all the other ones we have in town, but it is a start I suppose. It will certainly look better than just the bare tree trunks coming out of the dirt.

I’ve finally made a start on a sci-fi story I’ve had kicking around for years in my mind. I must be past the bored stage. And into the just do something before you go mad stage. I’ve set a goal of 500 words minimum a day, which is just over a page in word, or close to it. So far it runs to 2,500 words and I can see where it is going, which is a good thing when you’re writing I suppose, putting thoughts into words isn’t quite as easy as it appears though, and I keep going back and having to alter stuff as I realise the incongruity in some of the earlier facts. But it’s keeping me sane, or whatever passes for sanity with me.

If this one works out, well, I get it finished anyway enough to satisfy me, I’ve had the Story of Job in my mind for years, as a cross between JC Superstar, and drama play. I’m not sure about the musical side, but the technological side is what appeals to me for it. All I need to start is a 10’ hologram of dice, and a good sound system, plus some method of lifting people off the stage into the air over the audience. And some good speaking voices, preferably if they can sound like Richard Burton and Peter O’Toole. And a high resolution screen backdrop, and.....and......and

Plus my half finished version of The Famous Five go on Safari, which is a scam based Famous Five version. I know Marianne had a giggle over the first few chapters, I’ll have to keep at it and get it finished.

As I said earlier, I’m going spare here doing very little with my time.

Tuesday 22nd September

Well I guess it’s all over bar the shouting now. Fred from Forestry called down today, I was having a mental health day and hadn’t gone in. Tiffany ended up sending a car for me so I could be there for the meeting.

Fred got there about 11, spoke about what a great job SEB have done with the Botanic Gardens, how we should all be working together, and could we please get out by the end of next week as Forestry are moving all their office equipment down.

Right out, he meant, Forestry refuse to work with us now, in the future, at any time etc.

Then to make an insane day even more spectacular, Honiara City Mayor rang up to tell Tiffany that we are not allowed use Honiara Beautification Committee name any longer, as Council are going to form their own Parks and Gardens team and call themselves that. Which is going to go down really well with Keithie when she gets the email later today. 10 years we’ve been called that since the HBC was formed, so I think the Mayor is going to have a few problems.

I’ve been here just over 6 months now, and not achieved a single bloody thing I’m meant to be doing.

It’s no wonder Aid agencies fill up with people with a really good sense of the absurd and a slightly off beat sense of humour. You’d go crazy if you let all the personalities, the tribal infighting, the sheer bloody mindedness of the people get to you. A bit like it’s affecting me at the moment actually, but I know by tomorrow it’ll be past, and I’ll either have something else to do, or somewhere else to go.
What really annoys me most is all the work the work crew have put into everything in Honiara, and now they’re being cast aside over some tribal wantok obligation.

You may recall a few months back I had a landscape plan that Heritage Hotel wanted drawn up, and I wanted to put a waterfall, and local tribal sculptures around the main entrance. And Heritage knocked it back due to the expense, and how it wasn’t quite what they wanted.

I’ll get some pics later this week, they hired Frank Haiku, the sculptor I was talking with over my original idea, and he’s now got 7 huge statues exactly like we drew up in place there. And the landscaper at Heritage is claiming all the credit for coming up with the idea, and how it is a showcase for Solomon Island art and custom. I could almost spit sometimes. They took my design, dropped the waterfall and kept and used everything else. Bastards. I hope they have an outbreak of food poisoning in the restaurant.

Good for Frank to get his work in there though.

I have given up trying to figure out how things work here.

Sunday 20th September

Friday was the usual Zoo Day at the Gardens. By the time I left it was full of really drunken teenagers, I saw 2 fights happening as I drove out, one group of girls having a real hair pulling knock down punch up, and a few boys having a tussle, more wrestling than throwing punches. Misi said it got worse when I saw him Saturday morning, he was about to ring the police by the evening, but things settled down when it started raining. I know it’s not a good look for the Gardens, but if we throw them out, they’ll be in town, and really get into trouble, at least this way they are off the streets, there’s no real damage done apart from a few sore heads that will be forgotten about by the end of the weekend.

Adrian called in on Friday morning, as I said on Thursday, he had no memory of being in the BJS Office Wednesday and Thursday, nor any memory about trying to get the files. It’s sad watching him deteriorate like he is. And it can get frustrating trying to deal with him when he is having a fixation on something, he can’t understand what we give him to read. He can be looking at something and not recognise what it is, or what use it may be. Then he’ll have a day of being completely lucid and everything runs smoothly. He’s losing a lot of weight lately as well, he forgets to eat, or thinks he’s eaten and goes out for the day. I wish he wouldn’t drive, he gets lost at times, and doesn’t recognise where he is, and Honiara isn’t that big, 1 main road, and 1 loop side street.

The Bulk Shop finally had some Papua New Guinea Expresso Paradiso coffee back in stock Saturday, they always have the blue pack, it’s not often they have the full range. The black pack Expresso is the best of them, well, in my opinion, but I like coffee that you almost have to chew anyway. The Blue Mountain blend they do is good, it’s quite smooth, but a bit bland for me. And it’s $20 cheaper than Wings and AusMart per pack as well.

I was so bored with the week, or frustrated, whatever, I went shopping in town Saturday morning, walked around all the shops, then realised I didn’t have any intention of buying anything. I’m a bit low on money anyway, I had to take out $7,000 last week for the crews wages because the Ministry of Infrastructure and Development are short of funds and the cheque we have been waiting on from them has been held up till they could get approval to issue it. So we had a bit of a crisis over the wages. Hopefully I’ll get it back when we finally get the payment.

We had a clean up Honiara day last week, October is going to be a busy month here and Solomon Tourism is trying to clean Honiara up as much as possible. We have 400 Buddhist Monks arriving the first week of October for atonement ceremonies for all the Japanese soldiers killed here in WW2, plus the Pacific Islands Public Service Annual Conference, then a Half Marathon, and a few other things. Needless to say, by Saturday all the effort had been totally lost and the town was back to looking untidy, with rubbish everywhere again.

Barbara from NZ Aid had a small dinner party Saturday night, 6 of us from various Aid Agencies. It was good, very little shop talk, although everyone wanted to know what was happening with the Botanic Gardens, then we spent the evening swapping horror stories about our dealings with various Govt Departments. The best comment from the evening was about the lack of honesty from the politicians here, when you buy someone, you expect them to stay bought, but not here. They go with the next higher offer.

Jim and Angie from AusAid were there, I’ve nearly forgotten just how much like a buzz saw going through tin Sydney accents are. As soon as Angie started talking it was like living there all over again. Nice couple though, just the accent really grates. They couldn’t place me, for a while they thought I was English, horror of horrors.

I took the little truck to Barbaras’, we’ve just had a new battery, alternator repaired etc. You can see where this is going. The truck is still there, it had a flat battery when I went to leave, Barbara drove me home, 1 am isn’t the best time to be walking from Panatina to Kukum along the main road. I walked back this morning to try the truck again, but it’s dead. It’s probably related to us hotwiring the main fuse, but until we can get another set of main fuses it’s going to be a continual pita. I must be getting used to walking everywhere, it only took an hour to walk to Panatina Ridge this morning, and I shopped on the way back at Kukum Market.

Kukum Market is getting a lot more different fruit and veg now the dry season is bringing everything on. Mangoes are everywhere at the moment. The trees around my house are laden with fruit, they drop onto the roof all night, still a bit green, but good to eat if I get to them before the fruit bats find them. Pineapples are dropping in price, $10 to $20 now, watermelons have dropped to $5 - $50, depending on size. Lots of bok choy and watercress, kumara, and pumpkins. Coconuts are still $1 each.

Thursday 17th September

Another slow quiet day. Steve called in, asked me to try not upset the locals too much, which I was expecting. If I get too many Govt people upset my work visa is likely to be cancelled and I’ll be away to somewhere else. So I’ll just write everything up, and put it under Tiffany or get Keithie to sign off on it.

Adrian is having another alzhiemers moment, he was in Keithies office today trying to get all the files about SEB and the Botanic Gardens, I have no idea why. He said he wanted all the correspondence to read, but given his habit of getting everything wrong, and shouting off around town I didn’t think it was a great idea and asked Keithies secretary to keep everything away from him. He has days when he fixates on one thing, and there is nothing anyone can do to change or alter his mind. Hopefully by the end of the week he will have forgotten about it.

Adele has caught a flu virus, she is rather bedridden and not looking the best this week. She popped in on Tuesday evening with my books, and a couple of new ones, and she looked almost ready to collapse. Another reason why I like working out of town at the Gardens. There’s no one out there, I’m not going from aircond office to the streets where everyone spits or coughs, in 30*c temp and humidity. Although I did catch something the second month I was here that almost killed me. Well, it felt like death was a good alternative anyway.

Steve is still looking for something else for me in the provinces, as he’s realised I don’t spend a lot of time in Honiara, or rather there isn’t anything in Honiara that I really need. So long as I can find a market, fruit, veg, rice and coffee I’m perfectly happy. Somewhere to go fishing would be preferable as well.

Tessie and Renee, Tiffanys daughters are both ill with malaria and pnuemonia, the malaria is rife at White River, and from what Tiffany has said, chest infections are common. Another problem with everyone using betel nut, everyone spits everywhere, so viral infections spread rapidly here especially flu like ones. Add in the dirt roads, no sewage, open drains and rubbish everywhere I’m just surprised that most of the kids actually grow into adults.

Wednesday 16th September

Sorry for the interruption to the normal broadcast, put it down to internet connections, a faulty realtek internet adapter, and just a general what’s the use attitude after dealing or trying to deal with Forestry for the past week.

The good news is that we’re still in the Botanic Gardens, the bad news is that Forestry are really annoyed with us now. The article in the Solomon Star yesterday was a bit like poking a stick into a hornets nest, with pretty much the same result. They answered this morning with a ½ page of denials about everything, that they have never heard of Solo Enviro Beautification, that they only deal with Honiara Beautification Committee. There I was at work reading it, with all the letters and meeting minutes on my desk with SEB on the address line of the letters, names of the Forestry Head and Permanent Secretary as being present at every meeting we have held to discuss all of this, and they go public denying that they have ever had any knowledge of what we are doing.

Welcome to the bizarre world of Solomon Island Politics.

I’m keeping out of it now, Keithie can handle it from now on, I’m not in a position to be arguing with Government Ministers who can revoke my work permit if I get them upset.

I found out earlier this week that the couple who featured on the Woodstock Album cover many years ago have been found, alive and well. One of those odd little feel good stories you stumble across.

I’ve got a facebook page finally, it would probably work better for me if it loaded quicker, Telekom isn’t the best for stuff with a lot of applications. It can take an hour to load the home page, without going into any of the applications. Apologies to Maryanne and Marye if I take too long to get back to you on there. For anyone interested in adding me I’m under Warren Dennis, my usual internet paranoia won’t let me use too many real life details. I think I’ve been involved with www.scamwarners.com and www.419eater.com too long.

As an aside to that, I read a report this week that the IRS in America are using facebook to track people for unpaid IRS dues. Be careful what you post about, they have been tracking businesses, and self employed people using what they post in facebook about how well they are doing etc.

It’s always been a problem with any of the social network sites, you post about the huge new stereo/flat screen tv etc, and it gets ripped off if you have too many details allowing people to know where you are.

Our little truck is back on the road again, for how long I’m not sure. It went into the garage last week to have the battery and/or alternator checked and changed. They took the starter motor out and stripped it down, alternator the same, then finally checked the battery and found it was beyond saving and wouldn’t hold a charge anymore. It only took a week for them to figure that out.

The brakes still haven’t been fixed, the truck does a sharp nosedive and swings left if you hit the brakes too quickly, so driving is still an interesting experience. Add in the ever increasing potholes, other traffic, people walking across the road and driving here is more like a demolition derby than anything.

My Toshiba Satellite Pro laptop is becoming a bugbear. The sound card driver keeps dropping out every few weeks, it repairs easily enough, usually uninstall/reboot/add new hardware, but it is still annoying. Especially when the net connection card starts doing the same thing now.

If I manage to get online with it tomorrow I’ll check the bitch and moan Toshiba Help Site.

We’ve had a lot of supportive comments since yesterday from the article, which is good, even the Police Commissioner had a few words with me this morning at Rove Prison. I’m doing another garden there this week, well, the prisoners are, stage 2 of the landscaping. In 4 hours we had the ground dug over, 100 duranta planted as a border, 10 hibiscus and 25 bouganvillea planted, and 3 large holes dug for 3 x 10’ Carillia trees which the work crew bought down this afternoon and planted. Hopefully if we can keep the water going into the Carillia they will survive, the success rate for large ones isn’t too good here.


I know I should post more often in here, the last week has been a bit of a bummer, and I haven’t felt like turning this into a bitch/gripe and moan serial. Still, I can only write about what is, not what I’d like it to be. And the final use for this is any other VSA people coming here. Eric gave me a list of stuff similar to what I’ve covered in more detail before I left Wellington, so I didn’t come here totally unprepared for everything. I’ve just fleshed it out a bit more.

The people I work with are still really good, I’d employ all of them if I had a nursery or landscaping business in New Zealand or Australia. And the other people I meet and see on the street in the mornings walking to work are always ready with a smile and “Hello, Good Morning”. My street paper seller down by the Post office gives me credit, if he hasn’t enough change, or remembers if I give him $10 or $20 and pick up the paper for the next few days without any arguments. I’ve finally got the girl in the corner shop to smile, been hard work getting more than a look from her, but she’s remembered my name and I get a smile and hello now.

All I need now is a reliable person to go fishing with and it will be heaven.



Woodstock cover couple still together 40 years later
By TOM KEYSER
ALBANY TIMES UNION

Poto courtesy of Bobbi and Nick Ercoline
Bobbi and Nick Ercoline, both 60, of Pine Bush, N.Y., hold a photo of themselves at Woodstock 40 years ago. The photo graced the album cover of the Woodstock soundtrack and became an iconic image of the festival.
Bobbi Kelly and Nick Ercoline were girlfriend and boyfriend, 20 years old. Bobbi lived in Pine Bush, N.Y., and worked at a bank. Nick lived in Middletown, N.Y., and worked two jobs while going to college.
They had heard so much on the radio about an approaching festival called Woodstock that "we just had to go," Bobbi says. They took back roads to Bethel, N.Y., parked their car when they couldn't drive farther and walked the final two miles.
They stayed only one night. They never saw the stage because they were so far away. But at some point, and they have no idea when, a photographer took their picture hugging, draped in a quilt, on a muddy hillside.

Rhino Records
Bobbi and Nick Ercoline appear on the soundtrack album that immortalized them at the legendary festival.
The photo appeared on the cover of the Woodstock soundtrack. And Bobbi and Nick became part of the legend.
"Woodstock was a sign of the times," says Bobbi, now Bobbi Ercoline. "So many things were churning around in our world at that time: civil rights, the Vietnam War, women's rights. It was our generation.
"I know some people say Woodstock changed their life. But I don't think it contributed to who I am or who Nick is. I think we became the people we would have become anyway."
An estimated half-million young people like Bobbi and Nick descended upon Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, N.Y., for the Woodstock Music and Art Fair, Aug. 15-18, 1969. A documentary film and soundtrack of the music lifted the event into legend.
And the legend -- or at least the merchandising of it -- continues. For the 40th anniversary, we're getting more than a dozen books; the Taking Woodstock film by Academy-Award-winning director Ang Lee; the original Woodstock movie, expanded and in high definition; and a six-CD box set featuring, for the first time, music from every performer at the festival.
The Heroes of Woodstock tour, featuring some of those performers, will visit the original site in Bethel four decades after the legend began.
'Things were pretty grim'
With 40 years of hindsight, does Woodstock hold any meaning today? Or is it merely a sign of times gone by?
"It was a time when things were pretty grim both in America and around the world," says Michael Lang, who produced the original festival as well as anniversary festivals in 1994 and 1999.
"We were in a horrible war in Vietnam. We were engaged in many, many civil rights struggles. There was this huge generation gap between the youth and their parents.
"And then along comes Woodstock, this miraculously peaceful gathering of half a million people. I think it just took everybody by surprise. It was this moment of hope and light in the midst of this very dark period."
Woodstock remains a badge of identity, says Robert J. Thompson, founding director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University. Those who were there were truly part of the Sixties, he says.
A defining moment?
"Woodstock became the symbol, really late in that decade, of so many of the things that were swirling around," Thompson says. "It was one of the real last gasps of still a relatively innocent interpretation, and to some extent unambiguous interpretation, of that whole counterculture and youth movement.
"In '69 there still seemed to be a grip on some kind of revolutionary vision for the nation. In a very short period thereafter, we would lose the war in Vietnam. Watergate would kick in. All those things that kind of broke the spirit of that American identity, in very significant ways, were just around the corner. But we hadn't quite turned that corner.
"I don't know that we can say: 'Thanks to Woodstock, this happened, or that happened,' " Thompson says. "But that doesn't mean it wasn't important. …
"When the war ended, and the draft went away, there was the extent to which it -- I wouldn't want to use the word 'fizzled' -- but it certainly … lost a lot of that energy that was aimed at getting us out of the war."
Was it that generation's defining moment?
"First of all, when we're talking about that generation, we're really only talking about the white, middle-class part of the generation," says Joel Makower, a veteran writer and speaker who compiled the book Woodstock: The Oral History, by interviewing 75 organizers, musicians and participants. "That said, it was a defining moment. … nothing more or nothing less than a symbolic moment."
Rebellious kids no more
The love generation, the so-called Woodstock nation, matured and, for the most part, joined the culture it had rebelled against.
"Sure, everybody's older," Makower says, "and everybody has kids and grandkids and mortgages, and so, eventually, like most rebellious kids, you end up maturing and moderating your craziness and becoming part of the system by choice or necessity. But that doesn't detract from that particular moment."
And the moment remains as vivid to Bobbi and Nick as it does to anybody.
Married two years after Woodstock, they now have children ages 28 and 30. They live in Pine Bush.
They've always been community-minded, and would have been so whether or not they had gone to Woodstock, Bobbi says. She's a school nurse who started a food pantry out of her office. Nick inspects houses of poor people about to be renovated by the government.
"I think the further we get from the original event the more meaningful it becomes, the more we realize how phenomenal it was: all those people coming together with no violence, just peace, love and sharing," Bobbi says. "Forty years later it's just remarkable that it could have occurred."

Thursday 10th September

Another frustrating week, a combination of Solomon Telekom, no decision made over the Gardens or Nursery, and I’m frustrated and bored.

Steve called in on Tuesday, if we don’t get any action going soon hes got a rural village development project that I could start up for him, until we get something going with the Gardens.

The good news for the week is that we have had the Grassroots Funding approved, so there is $700,000 waiting for us to utilise once we have the tenure problem sorted out between Forestry, Council and SEB.

Our lady at the Japanese Consul is going to have a meeting with Forestry Head and try to talk sense into him next week. The hard bit in it all is that we have to try to tell Keithie that it may be in the best interests of SEB if she stepped down as Chairperson of the HBC. Oh well, it’s going to be an interesting time when she gets back from Europe at the end of the month.

I’ve posted in here before about my thoughts towards Global Warming, in brief, it’s a load of bollocks, but there has been such a good publicity campaign it has become accepted, dodgy junk science and all. Now we have Africa, Asia, the Pacific Islands India all getting ready to sue the western developed nations for the damage caused to their economies. The whole thing is going to backfire so badly and bankrupt what is left of the world economy after America bankrupted itself last year, well, over the past 10 years.

I can’t see the IPCC admitting they were wrong, despite all the evidence accumulating against AGW.

The height of the stupidity for me was here this week, when one of the local students won a scholarship and grant to present a paper at some conference on AGW soon, basing her experience of AGW on the 2007 earthquake here. Blaming AGW for the earthquake and the aftermath. The mind boggles about the sheer biased stupid teaching that can allow rubbish like that to persist. Same with the Carteret Islands, Tuvalu, blaming AGW for the damage to their Islands, when they have been the main causes of the problem themselves, with using dynamite for reef fishing, paving 25% of the island for airport in Tuvalu, so that the fresh water runs off instead of replenishing the aquifer.

I’ll post the entire article I found on LewRockwell.com here for reference. The last two paragraphs tell it all, hoisted by their own petard is a good phrase for this whole stupid scaremongering looney left campaign.

I have the Paper written by Alan Carlin that the IPCC refused to publish, I will start posting it in here from tomorrow. It’ll take a week or so, it is long and involved, so I’ll post a few pages at a time. It is going to be interesting to see how this whole mess is sorted out over the next couple of years as the world cools down, unless Sun-spot cycle 24 starts soon.

If all this hadn’t happened before you could almost excuse the idiots, but in 1922 the world was going to heat up and everyone would be flooded, in 1975 it was going to freeze and mass starvation would occur. I’ll post the newspaper clippings from both.

From www.lewrockwell.com
Carbon Cops Turn Keystone Cops: But There Is Nothing to Laugh About

It is just plain difficult to connect the solemnity of a United Nations meeting more than a decade ago with the current circus called climate change.
Then, the President of France, Jacques Chirac, told the thousands in attendance that the science of Global Warming was settled, that Global Warming was the essential third leg of Global Government, and that carbon cops simply needed to be issued their marching orders in every developed country as the Agenda for the Twenty-First Century got implemented.
Now, the Former French President is written about as having been the butt of jokes and a suspected crook, the science of global warming is far from settled, wannabe global government has no legs, and carbon cops have been turning in Keystone Cops performances.
The lost temperature data
The British have enacted a comedy straight out of the pages of my-dog-ate-my-homework. The Carbon Cops in charge of global temperature records now admit they have lost or destroyed all the original data that would allow any third party to construct a global temperature record. The Climate Research Unit in East Anglia, England, generates the most cited surface temperature record set used by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, whose reports present alarming scenarios generated upon that data. Thus, data which cannot be seen or questioned is part of the settled science. You’ve got to love the sheer chutzpah of this move.
The biased temperature data
Cat On a Hot Tin Roof was not a comedy, but to be surprised that tin roofs do get hot makes me laugh. Nearly 90% of US official temperature stations show extreme heat bias, says a new study by meteorologist Anthony Watts. Nine out of every ten stations are reporting higher or rising temperatures just because they are placed near sidewalks and buildings that absorb and radiate heat, are located next to the exhaust fans of air conditioning units, are surrounded by asphalt parking lots and roads, or are on blistering-hot rooftops. Nobody drives to a city to experience its cooling effect. Of course instruments in urban centers will display higher temperatures. Besides bad siting, changes in the technology of these temperature stations have also caused the sites to report false warming trends. Additionally, NOAA and NASA Carbon Cops have made arbitrary adjustments to the data that have caused recent temperatures to look higher. Such biased data can hardly yield reliable temperature records
The misleading ice-claim data
It is difficult to maintain credibility when one of the captains of the Carbon Cops – Greenpeace – exaggerates. Greenpeace’s retiring leader, Gerd Leipold, released misleading information. He had in July urged action, claiming the Arctic would be ice-free by 2030 because of global warming. But, by mid-August Leipold admitted that that claim was "a mistake." The outgoing leader’s admission that Greenpeace did issue misleading information has become an embarrassment to the organization.
The EPA suppressed data
The US EPA is poised to become Chief Carbon Cop, but their antics this year is the stuff of comedic tragedies. A substantive 100-page report submitted by the senior EPA research analyst, Dr. Alan Carlin, showed that the EPA was not using best available science in its role of considering whether CO2 and other greenhouse gases were endangering human health. For his efforts, the EPA suppressed his internal report and its critical claims. Then, the EPA ordered Carlin to stop working on global warming issues, because criticism of the EPA could cause trouble. Now, the EPA considers closing down Dr. Carlin’s agency unit. Carlin himself feels that his job is in jeopardy. So much for the good American tradition of whistleblowing.
Isn’t it enough of a joke that as CO2 emissions rise, temperatures continue to fall? I mean, the alarmist hypothesis swears that CO2 emissions cause global warming. That’s why the world must stop breathing out to save the planet. So, why did warming stop and cooling take over in 2001? This wasn’t in any of the computer models.
Not only is the climate not cooperating, politicians have been contrary, too.
Senate Democrats keep delaying legislation. They may be so contrary that they leave Obama empty-handed for three big upcoming climate change attractions: the G20 Summit in Pittsburgh on September 24, UN continuing negotiations in Bangkok beginning September 28, and the UN conference in Copenhagen in December.
This circus production could be dismissed as bad comedy, but there is blowback coming our western way and it will not be funny. The world is now convinced that any climate anyone doesn’t like is the fault of us westerners who emitted CO2. We have screamed too much. We have lost the data that had to be secured. We have biased the temperature data that deserved honest sites. We have issued misleading data. We have suppressed data while persecuting the whistleblower. We have alarmed too many.
Africa, China and India don’t even need to believe in the AGW (anthropogenic global warming) hypothesis for them to see the path they will take. We have handed them the arguments to claim whatever we produce. After all, we caused the destruction of their planet. Our CO2 emissions made it too wet or too dry, too hot or too cold, too stormy or too calm, too static or too changing. If we insist on limiting carbon dioxide emissions, we will limit their development. It doesn’t matter that we will hamstring our own. The lesser-developed nations have learned that they are our victims. Financial and technological reparations will be demanded, despite the stark and bleak fact that the western economic cupboard is empty, also. They will have to blame someone.
All Al Gore and the earnest environmentalists wanted to do was to facilitate a "wrenching transformation" of our society. They will have it. Our head will be delivered up to us on a platter; and it will be the head of a clown.
September 10, 2009

Here are the 2 newspaper clippings, 1975 when we were going to have another ice-age within 5 years, and from 1922, when the ice receded even further than it has ever since. If you plot the time curves, it is a roughly 60 year cycle for both things to occur, 30 years each, which just happens to coincide with the solar cycle of sunspot activity. Volcanoes and ENSO and El Nino, la nina patterns affect the earth more than anything else.

Thursday 10th September

Sorry, normal service will be resumed as soon as possible. Im having a few problems with the connection

Sunday 6th September

Spent a quiet weekend around the house, Kukum Market on Sunday morning, everything is slowly coming down in price, not by a lot, but maybe a $1 or two for different things. Bananas seem to fluctuate more than anything, they were $10 a hand last week, this week its between $7 and $15 depending on which seller and which type of banana. I’ve got a liking for the small fat type now, rather than the Cavendish type, and also the red ones. Pineapples are reasonable now, $15 to $25 depending on size, pawpaw are still $3 to $10 on size.

Friday was a bit of a disaster. The cheque we’ve been waiting for still hadn’t come through, and the crews pay was looking like a non-event. I ended up withdrawing the pay from my account, luckily I live a frugal lifestyle and had enough to cover it all. Hopefully I’ll get it back when we finally get the cheque from the Ministry of Infrastructure next week.
It rained heavily on Friday afternoon, which made for a quiet day at the gardens, no teenagers having a party for once. Plus it cleared out the algae from the river bed but I can see it growing back over the next few months till the wet season starts in November.

I’m waiting to see if the article gets into the Solomon Star tomorrow, and then what reaction we get from it. I rewrote it a little bit more, added a few more paragraphs, changed a few things around so it made more sense.

I’ve got up to #26 in Tantrix, and stuck again. It is probably staring me in the face, but at the moment I cant see the pattern or shapes I need to alter. The loop was easy enough, just getting the other 3 colours to match is harder.

Wednesday 2nd September
Well, isn’t it interesting when google sneezes, the whole world catches cold. Still no word on what caused the outage, well, not by the time I finally logged off at work anyway. Plenty of complaints and worried people though, especially the ones using google apps for their workplace.
I thought for a moment this morning that it was just a crap Telekom connection but firefox opened and I found a news feed about it. It was just the start of a day that got progressively worse unfortunately.

I’ve mentioned before about how close we sail financially each month with income/expenditure. It all caught up with us today with 2 cheques taking longer than normal to clear, with the consequence there wasn’t enough in the bank to cover the wages. Very embarrassing to have to front the work crew and ask them to wait till Friday. I would have covered it from my own account, but I’m in the same position with my monthly paycheck still waiting to clear.
Then we had Clement from Forestry call in, he’s not too bad to deal with, at least he gives a straight answer when asked. The bad news is that he wants to move into the office with his people by the end of the month, and the Head of Forestry won’t let us stay in the Botanic Gardens. As Tiffany and I found out, Forestry are intending to build a new Administration building, 2 storeys, and 20 or more houses for the Forestry employees in the Gardens, which makes a mockery of calling it a Botanic Garden.

I’ve written an article for the Solomon Star, venting a bit. Once I’ve run it past Tiffany tomorrow I’ll send it in with any alterations to get it in the public view. I had a letter in the Star today about the tree at Town Ground being ringbarked, along with the comment that I doubted Honiara would ever make it to village status, let alone a town or city with the attitudes and behaviour of the people that live here.

I can’t see my position lasting, once we leave the gardens the chances of getting funding for a Nursery fall away without the Botanic Gardens as the main focus. So I’m taking my frustrations out in letters and articles about the corruption, short sighted attitudes, and loss of amenities in the name of building an empire for Forestry. I may have to take Steve up on the offer to go to the outer islands and run sustainable farming courses. Just don’t mention global warming.

Tomorrows meeting with Solomon Tourism is going to be good. They promote the Botanic Gardens on the website, and in all the brochures. I’m going to let them know exactly what will happen to the Gardens under Forestry, from what we were told, the village will be evicted, and 20 or more houses will be built through the gardens, and most of the forest will be gone. I’ll make sure we take the bridges down, and the orchid house, we’ve never been paid for any of the work done there, and the timber in the bridges will be useful.

This is the rough draft of the article for the Solomon Star.

Botanic Gardens To Go

Forestry plans for 2 storey Head Office and housing estate for employees in Botanic Garden grounds.

After 10 years involvement with the Botanic Gardens, re-establishing the tracks, paths and bridges, establishing the Nursery and Orchid display house, organising and running Level 1 and Level 2 Horticulture Courses Solo Enviro Beautification (SEB) have been told to leave the Botanic Gardens so that Forestry can build an Administration building and 20 or more houses for Forestry employees.

The Nursery, and all associated work that SEB have been involved with in the Botanic Gardens will cease once SEB leaves, the people living in the Village will also be evicted and most of the Botanic Gardens will be turned into a Forestry Housing Estate.

Solo Enviro Beautification (SEB) CEO Tiffany Tuihaka feels that this is a huge step backwards after the work that SEB have put into developing the Botanic Gardens on a voluntary basis. The Gardens are the last open ground area that is accessible to the people of Honiara for recreation, out door gatherings, barbques, and are used extensively by the local schools, SICHE, for ecology, horticulture and geology lessons.

“We have groups using the Gardens for social gatherings, Jehovahs Witnesses, the Womens League of Honiara, Woodford School Crosscountry Race, weddings, birthday celebrations, there will be nowhere left in Honiara for those activities once Forestry shut the Gardens and create the housing estate. Along with the many tourists that visit, and the teenagers who use the Gardens as a quiet area for study, and a safe meeting place for their friends away from the streets.”

“Head of Forestry has stated that Forestry cannot work alongside SEB in the Gardens, which SEB finds hard to believe. We have different activities, and there is no overlap of work. SEB believes that Forestry want total control to prevent anyone noticing what they are doing within the Gardens. Once Forestry start work it will be too late to replace or reclaim the Botanic Gardens and the last remaining open recreational and natural area in Honiara will be lost”

“The historical history that is here will be lost, the British Hanging Site, the Japanese war caves in the cliff faces, along with the last remnant of lowland forest in Honiara.”

It is the loss of the forest that concerns VSA NZ advisor Warren Nash. “This is the only accessible area of natural lowland forest left close to Honiara, some of the tree species are becoming rare and endangered in the wild due to logging. The collection of ngali nut, breadfruit, noni fruit, palms, ficus species are the ones that we should be preserving and propagating to ensure their survival, not felling them to create another housing estate..”

“As a Botanic Garden we should be encouraging the preservation of the trees, and establishing propagation facilities and offering the people of Honiara an area of land that is theirs to enjoy as a passive recreation area”

SEB have requested to be allowed to stay in the Botanic Gardens and base their activities in the existing Nursery, but Forestry have repeatedly turned down this request.


Our little truck is still getting comments through town, with the wooden tray. Every time I get alongside a truck with the usual 50 people, pikininis, dogs and produce on the back there is always a comment made about it, good ones thankfully. Parking it anywhere in town attracts people like ants to honey. I’ve usually got at least 6 people waiting to see whose truck it is when I go shopping, all of whom ask if we built it and where.

The new shopping mall steel work is nearly finished in town, 3 storeys of shops, restaurants and offices going in there. As if we need another 200 shops. The other 2 malls opposite are at the fit out stage, and Town Ground Stadium is at the exterior plastering stage now. By the end of this year there will be nearly 400 more shops opening, with the big mall scheduled to open next year. And still no reliable or safe water supply, electricity, or sewage system. Or any work for people to earn the money to spend in the shops. I think the idea is to employ everyone as shop assistants, then have them spend their pay in the same shop. Or one of the relatives shops. They are all Chinese owned, so the money will not be flowing back into the Solomon Islands.

I’ve notice with the low rainfall now, the stream is starting to grow long trails of green algae from the nutrients, presumably the sewage from the houses further up the valley. I hope it is the runoff from septic tanks, but somehow I doubt that it has been treated very much. The fish and eels are still alive though, and people are still swimming in the river. I get the impression if you live to 10 yrs old here, there isn’t much you could catch that will kill you after your immune system gets a good workout growing up.