I keep forgetting just how frustrating life can be for other people when I can’t hear. It doesn’t worry me, but Tiff and Kim found out just how frustrating it can be. They were trying to talk to me most of the morning about budgets, orders etc, and if they weren’t directly in front of me, it was an exercise in futility. Add in the noise of the fan, the airconditioner, in the end they just asked me to go outside for a cigarette whenever they needed to ask/tell me anything. I didn’t mind, but it cost me nearly half my daily ration of cigarettes just to get to 11am.
There is another party going next door. About 8 guys, a fair bit of SolBrew, and a guitar. It sounded quite good earlier, 9.45 pm now and it is starting to disintegrate rapidly. 2 of them are trying to sing falsetto, the guitarist is the soberest one, one of the others seems to have forgotten the words so there is a loud voice going la lalalalalelelelala alal alllalllllaaaaaa over everyone else, and a considerable amount of laughter.
I’m hopeful of getting the little truck back tomorrow, we checked today, about midday. “ia, hemi ready, hemi going good” till I tried to start it, and it didn’t. Add in the brake pedal now hitting the floor without any pressure and I’m really being optimistic about tomorrow. I’ll walk into town early, if it isn’t ready I still have Adrian I’m taking shopping in Chinatown to get a lift from. He tends to stay with the shops he knows, mainly because he has very little short term memory, and he’s been paying well over the odds for rice and tinned tuna for his security guards meals. Yes, I still get frustrated with him at times, if I can keep him away from work life isn’t too bad though, and he does have a good sense of humour. For an Australian.
10.15 pm and it is raining finally. Nice and steady too, hopefully it will last for a few hours. Everything in town is dry, the tubs that were watered on Wednesday night were dry again today.
We have several boxes sitting in the container on the wharf, from Brisbane, just waiting for customs to clear them Monday or Tuesday. It will be like Christmas here opening them and checking everything against the order. Weedmat in several rolls as well.
The noise level from next door just went up a few notches to counter the sound of the rain. At least they are all singing the same song this time.
I’ve turned the house upside down tonight and still not found where the last rat is hiding. Or where it is getting into the house from if it is not inside. It may be well up in the stove wall, I can’t move it much due to the copper gas line, but it has had a good shaking and ½ a tin of cockroach spray to give it a good dose of breathing difficulties. The fridge is the only other place, I’ve turned all the cushions over, checked the mattress, cupboards, and still nothing.
Saturday.
Adrian picked me up this morning and I took him into Chinatown to show him where Fangs are, then on the way into Honiara, he said he had something to show me, and we did a detour back to Mendana Ave, and 2 large palms in the median strip have been deliberately toppled. Big palms too, about 6 – 8 years old. The tyre marks are on the grass where whoever deliberately drove at the palms, so it wasn’t accidental. You really have to wonder sometimes. I’ll get some pics today, and write it up for the Solomon Star again. Sure we can replace the palms, and wait for them to grow again, but that takes the crew, and the replacement palms away from what they should have been doing or being planted in another area. It is the most frustrating part of it all, trying to make Honiara look better, and people still want to live like bush pigs.
I may have to sit down quietly for a bit before I write it up for the Solomon Star, although they print it as written, one of the many good things about it.
I won’t clutter this up with the letter, suffice to say I did do a few revisions before phoning Tiff and asking for a lift to the Solomon Star office. They are going to put it in for Mondays edition, and if they feel inclined, I may have to expand it for an article instead of a letter. I’ll find out tomorrow when they are doing the edit for the Monday edition. If it is printed I’ll put the link here before posting.
As for the little truck. It is still stationary in the garage. The battery didn’t go onto the charger till this morning, they have now decided it needs the back brake drums skimmed out to remove any gouges or ridges, so possibly another week or two before that is done.
Adrian has huge difficulty with my patience over it all. He’s almost flying off into space over it, jumping up and down, shouting etc, I figure it isn’t going to get done any faster even if I shout, so why bother getting upset. It will happen when it happens, if at all, and there is nothing I can do to speed the process up.
The party from last night at my neighbours continues on today. It has now become a gambling group, playing the same card game I mentioned a few months back. I’m still trying to work it out, but from what I can see, the odds are heavily stacked in the houses favour. About 8 guys playing, the SolBrew is still being consumed, they had lunch bought out a while back, which barely interrupted the card game.
SIWA tell lies too. Their claim that we would be getting water on alternate days from Tuesday is out by 5 days now, I’m still waiting. I had water on Wednesday night for a couple of hours, but nothing since. So it is still the bucket brigade for everything. The oil in the rain water tank seems to be working, I’ve had no more mosquito larvae come through this week, although I might just be lucky. Having them come out the town supply tap was more than enough thank you.
A few people have asked how the Post office Garden is looking now, the original planting and the fix up after someone tried burning the woodchip mulch. Here are a couple of pics, the hibiscus has had 2 trims so far, and they are starting to bush up nicely now. It doesn’t look too bad for 5 months, even the palms are sprouting fresh growth.
Sunday
My pet rat still persists in antagonising me. I found more droppings this morning on the countertop, and the table where I have the laptop so I’ve resorted once more to chemicals. Peanut butter, cooked rice, and crushed bromodiolone poison mixed together and placed around the house. It turns the rice a nice greenish tint, and the peanut butter hides any other scent. Hopefully it will work.
I was intending to walk down to Kukum Fish Market this morning, but it has been totally humid this morning, the sort that makes starched shirts go limp in 30 seconds, and it feels as though you are breathing thick steam. It started raining a bit this afternoon about 3pm, and by the looks of it will continue on and off through the night now. It does help make bread dough rise though, 30* C heat and high humidity and my bread dough had more than doubled in a couple of hours. Last weekend was the opposite, dry and hot, and it took nearly all day for it to rise. I’ve got one garlic loaf and a herb loaf in the tins starting on their final rise. My gas cylinder was feeling a bit low yesterday, I’m hoping I have enough to get the bread baked tonight.
The louvre windows in the kitchen and lounge finally annoyed me today. I resorted to the Island way of washing them, leave them in the frame, and just wash them as they are, it gets the frames washed at the same time, and does away with taking all 400 louvres out and washing them in the sink. A lot quicker as well. And a final rinse with bleach gets the detergent streaks off and you can see through them again. Better than the thick layer of dust that accumulates all the time.
Next weekend will be the bedrooms and verandah windows.
I’ve not heard from Mum this week, and Telekom are up to their usual standard of service and trying to phone New Zealand is an exercise in futility again. We may catch up with the rest of the world, I just don’t know when.
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