Mum died this morning, with all of us holding her hands. She went into a coma on Sunday night, and slowly faded away.
It was a mix of sadness, tears and laughter, but a relief for Mum.
I’ll fill in more slowly after I’ve had some time to sleep and recover from the past 2 weeks.
Take care.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Tuesday 1st June
I’m watching my Mother slowly fade away. She weighs less than 30kg now, I can lift her with one arm, to carry her to the toilet, couch, back to bed. I have the task of administering her medication, several syringes pre-filled with anti nausea or morphine, morphine patches, or liquid morphine to spray into her mouth.
She is settled in her mind, constantly complaining about the length of time it takes to die, but refusing to give in at the same time. I think it is going to be very soon, she can barely swallow a teaspoon of liquid now, and the highlight of her day is licking or sucking a lemonade or pineapple iceblock. Which does several return trips to the freezer till she is awake again.
I saw my Father go slowly, I missed being with him by 30 minutes at the end, he was the same, cantankerous to the end as well. The last time I saw him was a fortnight before, 7am one cold morning at Whangarei on the road to the hospital as he was doing a runner from the ward on his mobility scooter when I was delivering from the Nursery to the Garden Centres in Whangarei. I stopped the truck, asked him where the hell he was going at 7am in his ward clothes, no jacket, sweater anything, just hospital clothes, and got a sly grin, a cheeky look, and the words, “Going home” I wrapped him up with my jacket, and sent him on his way, 8 km to Elizabeth Grove. I did get a blast from my Step-mother when I eventually got there several hours later, but Dad was grinning like a Cheshire cat out of Lewis Carrol, all he wanted to do was prove he was still capable of doing what he wanted to do, and to hell with the doctors and ward sisters.
We spend the day talking about our lives, when Mum is awake and able to speak, I’ve had a reasonably varied life, but Mum has always been there for the times when it invariably falls apart. It’s my turn to be there for her now and make the transition from here to there as easy as it can be. We have a morphine patch on her arm at present, 2.5 mg, as she finds the morphine to be too much for her to cope with as a straight dose, it makes her woozy, and unable to comprehend what is going on, and Mum doesn’t like not knowing what is happening. The patch makes her sleep a lot more, but she is better able to understand everything and be lucid whenever people call to see her. Although 15 minutes at a time is about her limit, then she starts to suffer and choke from the saliva buildup from talking.
I have had terrific support from the people that have every reason to be uncaring because of who or what I used to be, my ex Stef has been a God send, still calling in every few days to check on Mum, Damian, Tarsha and Jesse and Kahu, Valerie calling from Melbourne, Peter and Katja, John, Kevin, Libby, Al, people I have not had the chance to meet yet, but have known for a long time on the internet, Murphy, Sally, those who have only known me though this blog. Thank you all.
The Hospice has been terrific, they send a nurse or community care person every few days, or phone regularly every day to check on Mum, and how she is doing. We have a nurse aid comes every day to shower and bathe Mum, I could probably do that for Mum, but I think it would embarrass both of us even at this stage. I have a nurse aid coming in tomorrow for 6 hours from 9am till 3 pm so I can get out to do some shopping, and mainly to have a break from being on call 24 hours. I’ve been told to leave once the Nurse aid is settled, and not to come back till 3pm, which is going to be hard to follow, but I do know it is needed before I get trapped in a black hole of not wanting to be out of the room.
The weather here is bloody atrocious, I’ve been freezing cold all week, rain, wind, although Sunday was so sunny and clear it was almost like spring. Stef and I went around Cornwall Park, after going to the Gluten Free and Organic Food Show at the Showgrounds. Which was good, I tend to get a bit jaundiced about “organic this” organic that” but everything has improved considerably. Despite saying I wasn’t going to be buying anything I managed to get out with only a $80 hole in the wallet, coffee, mussels, yoghurt, Vogels muesli, I did very well.
Pics of Cornwall park.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Sunday 23rd May Evening
It’s been the usual Sunday here, the little truck still starts, 2 days in a row now, although at times it does get temperamental and has to sit quietly for an hour or so in the shade. We’ve hot wired the glow plugs now, to a separate push button, so the starting procedure is to push the button in, turn the ignition key on, wait for the glow light to go out and pray. It’s only refused twice so far, then started after an hour or so.
It’s watermelon season again, the market at Kukum is full of them, from $10 to $100, very few pineapples though, still a bit early. Bananas are still coming in, all varieties, I’m getting better at picking the ones that taste better than some of the others. One variety is really dry, I keep forgetting to ask if it is more for cooking, like the plantains, or is it really that bad normally? I’m getting a taste for the small roundish ones, from deep orange to a dull red colour, very sweet and filling.
My brain is really away on holiday at the moment. I gave the lady a $100 note today, for $10 worth of spring onions and beans, and wandered off. She eventually found me about 20 minutes later, after chasing me along the market to give me my change. I honestly thought I’d given her $10, and wouldn’t have noticed if she hadn’t chased after me.
Rose rang this afternoon, I’m going to try to get a flight back to NZ for Tuesday if possible, or Thursday if not. Mum is home from the Hospice, but Rose thinks she has decided to let go now, as soon as I can get back to see her. The Hospice feel there is nothing more to be done, just keep mum comfortable, and if she wants to be active let her. Although she is too weak now to be doing a lot anymore. I can get into the garden anyway there and tidy it up for her so she knows it is done.
Which is just as well, I’m going spare waiting for decisions about the planning and building approval here, and to wait here for another month and not be able to start anything would be the final straw. I don’t do boredom, frustration and depression very well, I’d rather walk away and do something else just to be doing something.
Next post will be from New Zealand I hope.
It’s watermelon season again, the market at Kukum is full of them, from $10 to $100, very few pineapples though, still a bit early. Bananas are still coming in, all varieties, I’m getting better at picking the ones that taste better than some of the others. One variety is really dry, I keep forgetting to ask if it is more for cooking, like the plantains, or is it really that bad normally? I’m getting a taste for the small roundish ones, from deep orange to a dull red colour, very sweet and filling.
My brain is really away on holiday at the moment. I gave the lady a $100 note today, for $10 worth of spring onions and beans, and wandered off. She eventually found me about 20 minutes later, after chasing me along the market to give me my change. I honestly thought I’d given her $10, and wouldn’t have noticed if she hadn’t chased after me.
Rose rang this afternoon, I’m going to try to get a flight back to NZ for Tuesday if possible, or Thursday if not. Mum is home from the Hospice, but Rose thinks she has decided to let go now, as soon as I can get back to see her. The Hospice feel there is nothing more to be done, just keep mum comfortable, and if she wants to be active let her. Although she is too weak now to be doing a lot anymore. I can get into the garden anyway there and tidy it up for her so she knows it is done.
Which is just as well, I’m going spare waiting for decisions about the planning and building approval here, and to wait here for another month and not be able to start anything would be the final straw. I don’t do boredom, frustration and depression very well, I’d rather walk away and do something else just to be doing something.
Next post will be from New Zealand I hope.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Saturday 22nd May Late evening.
We had a little bit of excitement at work on Friday. 2 of the crew were cutting the overgrowth away from the back fence where the Nursery is eventually, possibly, may be going, and they found a thriving colony of Giant African Snails. Achatina fulica for those of a botanical bent. The last colony of them found here was late last year near Chinatown, by the Mataniko Bridge, and caused SI Quarantine to have a bit of a panic. They aren’t something we want here, if they do spread, and it appears they are, they will wipe out most of the agriculture around Honiara, where all our food comes from. They are large, the cigarette lighter in the pic is 80mm, (3 ½ inches) I found an empty shell later on that is slightly larger than the one in the pic.
I rang SI Quarantine, and had a hilarious conversation that went
“ Hello? SI Quarantine?”
“Yes”
“Warren from Honiara Beautification here, African Snails, do you want some?”
“Where are you?”
“Ranadi, on the Tip Road”
“We’ll send a team around now”
They arrived about 30 minutes later, 4 of them, and we or rather I, had an interesting conversation with them about the snails. No one knows how they arrived here, possibly on a trading ship, is the most likely explanation, but how they get to the places where they are found is unknown so far. They like long lank vegetation to shelter in, if it is cool and damp even better, the eggs, about ½ match head size are laid in the ground, and a colony can grow to 500 – 1000 individual snails in 6 months. Each adult snail can lay 500 or more eggs, they commence egg laying at about 1 year of age. Or so the man from SI Quarantine thinks, no one is sure how quickly they become fertile here. And they are like all snails and hermaphrodites, so a single snail is quite capable of forming a huge colony very quickly. So there has been a copious amount of snail bait scattered around, we are cutting back all the vegetation along the fence line on Tuesday, and then having a burnoff once it dries.
Other than that, Friday passed in a bit of a drug induced haze, I’m still taking paracetamol to keep my fever down, it seems to be passing finally, although being nearly midnight on Saturday with the fans going may have something to do with feeling cooler. All my joints still ache though, walking isn’t something I’m trying to do at the moment, I never knew my toes could ache, nor my fingers. Well ok, I knew my fingers could, I’ve damaged most of the knuckles, but this is all the joints, not just the damaged bits. Tiff is sure I’ve got a touch of malaria, and keeps trying to take me to the clinic, but all they will do is tell me to keep taking Doxycline and it will clear. Which I’m doing anyway. Probably causing a doxy resistant strain here as well.
I don’t know if I can be bothered waiting another month to find out if the nursery is going ahead or not. After nearly 17 months, and still no further ahead, and only 8 months to the end of my contract there is no way I am going to be able to achieve anything. If it gets knocked back again next month I’m giving up, if I haven’t walked out by then. The only reasons left for it to be turned down are political or personalities, so no matter how long I stayed here, the answer will always be the same.
If anyone has read “Salmon Fishing in Yemen”, that sums up fairly well the whole thing here.
It’s a pity, there are so many avenues to open up here with recycling the brewery waste into compost, the wheat husks from Delite Flour Mill, all future income producing things, plus the nursery. But Island politics is always about personalities, not benefits.
My letter last week must have had some effect, I was in town early today and wondered what was different, then I realised that there wasn’t the usual amount of rubbish everywhere, even in the rubbish garden by City Centre. I’ll check with Jacinta on Tuesday and see if the number of bags has fallen the last week. The boys with the market shop at the bottom of my road were out with the local witches brooms when I came back, sweeping around their stall, even Paul has cleaned up his market stall area as well. I don’t know if it will last, but something is happening finally.
Heritage Hotel, who I don’t have a lot of time for to start with after last years effort with them, are in the news all week. The 3 Indian Managers are being accused of trading sex with the hotel staff for promotion and pay increases, it is becoming more and more sordid with every day, from the original single accusation, there are now staff that have been fired for not acquiescing coming forward and confirming the accusations, plus security guards telling of seeing hotel cleaners/restaurant staff going into vacant rooms with the managers on several occasions. Denials are flowing, but I get the impression from the Solomon Star articles, that there is enough mud sticking to make a case.
Another article today as well about the salt fish being sold in Central Market, and the health risks from eating it. Apart from the E-coli count, it is also high in histamine which will cause a major reaction and possibly death from eating it. And still the Health Dept, Honiara City Council, and the Police can’t stop it. It will take a few deaths and a cholera epidemic I think before anyone takes notice. When you see the fish being sold, all good fish, from tuna, to reef fish, and know that all of them have probably got E-coli counts over 2,400 ppm, it is a bloody waste. All it would take is an icebox on board, and for the fish to be kept on ice till sold, instead of out in the sun, on an unwashed table, I don’t need to go on about it. I don’t buy or eat fish here.
I rang SI Quarantine, and had a hilarious conversation that went
“ Hello? SI Quarantine?”
“Yes”
“Warren from Honiara Beautification here, African Snails, do you want some?”
“Where are you?”
“Ranadi, on the Tip Road”
“We’ll send a team around now”
They arrived about 30 minutes later, 4 of them, and we or rather I, had an interesting conversation with them about the snails. No one knows how they arrived here, possibly on a trading ship, is the most likely explanation, but how they get to the places where they are found is unknown so far. They like long lank vegetation to shelter in, if it is cool and damp even better, the eggs, about ½ match head size are laid in the ground, and a colony can grow to 500 – 1000 individual snails in 6 months. Each adult snail can lay 500 or more eggs, they commence egg laying at about 1 year of age. Or so the man from SI Quarantine thinks, no one is sure how quickly they become fertile here. And they are like all snails and hermaphrodites, so a single snail is quite capable of forming a huge colony very quickly. So there has been a copious amount of snail bait scattered around, we are cutting back all the vegetation along the fence line on Tuesday, and then having a burnoff once it dries.
Other than that, Friday passed in a bit of a drug induced haze, I’m still taking paracetamol to keep my fever down, it seems to be passing finally, although being nearly midnight on Saturday with the fans going may have something to do with feeling cooler. All my joints still ache though, walking isn’t something I’m trying to do at the moment, I never knew my toes could ache, nor my fingers. Well ok, I knew my fingers could, I’ve damaged most of the knuckles, but this is all the joints, not just the damaged bits. Tiff is sure I’ve got a touch of malaria, and keeps trying to take me to the clinic, but all they will do is tell me to keep taking Doxycline and it will clear. Which I’m doing anyway. Probably causing a doxy resistant strain here as well.
I don’t know if I can be bothered waiting another month to find out if the nursery is going ahead or not. After nearly 17 months, and still no further ahead, and only 8 months to the end of my contract there is no way I am going to be able to achieve anything. If it gets knocked back again next month I’m giving up, if I haven’t walked out by then. The only reasons left for it to be turned down are political or personalities, so no matter how long I stayed here, the answer will always be the same.
If anyone has read “Salmon Fishing in Yemen”, that sums up fairly well the whole thing here.
It’s a pity, there are so many avenues to open up here with recycling the brewery waste into compost, the wheat husks from Delite Flour Mill, all future income producing things, plus the nursery. But Island politics is always about personalities, not benefits.
My letter last week must have had some effect, I was in town early today and wondered what was different, then I realised that there wasn’t the usual amount of rubbish everywhere, even in the rubbish garden by City Centre. I’ll check with Jacinta on Tuesday and see if the number of bags has fallen the last week. The boys with the market shop at the bottom of my road were out with the local witches brooms when I came back, sweeping around their stall, even Paul has cleaned up his market stall area as well. I don’t know if it will last, but something is happening finally.
Heritage Hotel, who I don’t have a lot of time for to start with after last years effort with them, are in the news all week. The 3 Indian Managers are being accused of trading sex with the hotel staff for promotion and pay increases, it is becoming more and more sordid with every day, from the original single accusation, there are now staff that have been fired for not acquiescing coming forward and confirming the accusations, plus security guards telling of seeing hotel cleaners/restaurant staff going into vacant rooms with the managers on several occasions. Denials are flowing, but I get the impression from the Solomon Star articles, that there is enough mud sticking to make a case.
Another article today as well about the salt fish being sold in Central Market, and the health risks from eating it. Apart from the E-coli count, it is also high in histamine which will cause a major reaction and possibly death from eating it. And still the Health Dept, Honiara City Council, and the Police can’t stop it. It will take a few deaths and a cholera epidemic I think before anyone takes notice. When you see the fish being sold, all good fish, from tuna, to reef fish, and know that all of them have probably got E-coli counts over 2,400 ppm, it is a bloody waste. All it would take is an icebox on board, and for the fish to be kept on ice till sold, instead of out in the sun, on an unwashed table, I don’t need to go on about it. I don’t buy or eat fish here.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Thursday 20th May
Woke up this morning running a slight fever, headache threatening to turn into a migraine, so decided to have a mental health day, rang Tiff, went back to bed for the day. I woke up about midday, but it’s been a long slow drag all afternoon. I know I’m just getting depressed with the continual delays, the constant politics that get involved with everything here, from wantok to people with personal agendas.
We still haven’t heard from Planning about the building permission. I’m starting to think it is all a waste of time trying to do anything here with all the petty feuds, jealousies, personalities involved with everything.
We’ve had a fair bit of rain this afternoon, it’s clear skies now at 8.30 pm, but a lot of lightning south of us over the mountains. It lights the sky up brilliantly, all black sky with the stars showing, then huge flashes of light from one side of the horizon to the other. It must be a fair way back, I can’t hear any thunder from it.
I know I’m at the stage where I could easily walk away from all this, the sheer frustration of trying to get anything done, seeing everything the work crew do get trashed every weekend, as per last weekends episode with the palms and roundabout. I keep hoping for a tsunami or earthquake to clear fell everything here so we can start fresh.
I’ve been getting some reaction to my letter, everyone here that I know, around Ba’hai, think it was good, and about time someone said it. There are some upset, I have to deal with that next week, I’m past caring about it now. Paul with the Betel Nut Market said it was about time everyone realised they have to stop trashing Honiara all the time, I’ve noticed he cleans up around his market stall more often lately, even the young guys with the mini shop/market keep their area clean all the time.
The 2012 South Pacific Arts Festival is going to be held here in Honiara, Tiff has been chasing the organisers about getting things in place for it, but as usual here, no one is taking any notice about the length of time we need to get things done here. If we are going to do a major replant through Honiara, upgrade Commonwealth Avenue, the Wharf area, we need to be starting now, not in 18 months time. I want to get at least 2,000 trees and palms started in the next few months plus filler shrubs for all the gardens, and median strips, but until we can get some indication of what is going to be done we’re just producing stock that may not be for any purpose. I keep thinking 2 years ahead, normal nursery thinking, but everyone here thinks about 1 week ahead. Any further ahead than that gets put in worri abaot hem sumtaem laeta ia?
I really noticed that yesterday, with the Archontophoenix palms we have started. I was asked how long before we could be planting them out, they have only just thrown up the first leaves, and on hearing about 2 years, I was told that was too long to wait. I slowly explained that if we’d started producing them from seed 2 years ago, and continued to do so each year when seed became available, we’d have more than enough by now. It’s easier to go into the bush and dig out from there, no matter about ruining the forests or the ecology. Patience isn’t something anyone here seems to have in any amount. Waiting for seeds to grow is a foreign concept at the moment.
Samesame with the nursery at present, I keep being asked when we are going to start doing more cuttings, propagating, with the losses we’ve had the last month due to the lack of water we are down to bare bones for plants. I just ask where is the water to keep the cuttings alive? If we are losing established plants due to the lack of water, what is the point in doing cuttings which are highly water dependent? The reply was that they hadn’t thought of that, they just wanted to see some cuttings being done.
I would like to work out the evapo-transpiration rate for plants here, especially cuttings. The temperature is rarely below 30*C in the daytime, maybe as low as 25*C at night, humidity about 80% up to 97%, so long as we can keep water onto the root systems the cuttings do take quickly, but without water, we are just wasting time and resources in trying any propagation.
I’ve been promised the little truck will be ready tomorrow, I doubt it very much, or if I do get it, it will have something else wrong with it and I will have to take it back in on Tuesday again. The brake drums are away being turned out now, I asked if the slave cylinders were being done as well, but was told they were done a few months ago, which probably explains why they are seized up now. They think it is an electrical fault that is causing the starting problems now, we’ve had new injectors, new glow plugs, a new alternator, new fuel filter and pump, so far.
I’m not holding my breath over it. I picked July in the unofficial office sweepstakes for when it would be roadworthy, but I may be a bit optimistic. All this from taking it in last June to have 2 suspension joints tightened.
PS. Just in at work, the Architect hadn’t signed a page in the submission for planning approval, so it has been put off for another month. I’m slowly counting to 999,999,999,999,999,999 in single figures.
We still haven’t heard from Planning about the building permission. I’m starting to think it is all a waste of time trying to do anything here with all the petty feuds, jealousies, personalities involved with everything.
We’ve had a fair bit of rain this afternoon, it’s clear skies now at 8.30 pm, but a lot of lightning south of us over the mountains. It lights the sky up brilliantly, all black sky with the stars showing, then huge flashes of light from one side of the horizon to the other. It must be a fair way back, I can’t hear any thunder from it.
I know I’m at the stage where I could easily walk away from all this, the sheer frustration of trying to get anything done, seeing everything the work crew do get trashed every weekend, as per last weekends episode with the palms and roundabout. I keep hoping for a tsunami or earthquake to clear fell everything here so we can start fresh.
I’ve been getting some reaction to my letter, everyone here that I know, around Ba’hai, think it was good, and about time someone said it. There are some upset, I have to deal with that next week, I’m past caring about it now. Paul with the Betel Nut Market said it was about time everyone realised they have to stop trashing Honiara all the time, I’ve noticed he cleans up around his market stall more often lately, even the young guys with the mini shop/market keep their area clean all the time.
The 2012 South Pacific Arts Festival is going to be held here in Honiara, Tiff has been chasing the organisers about getting things in place for it, but as usual here, no one is taking any notice about the length of time we need to get things done here. If we are going to do a major replant through Honiara, upgrade Commonwealth Avenue, the Wharf area, we need to be starting now, not in 18 months time. I want to get at least 2,000 trees and palms started in the next few months plus filler shrubs for all the gardens, and median strips, but until we can get some indication of what is going to be done we’re just producing stock that may not be for any purpose. I keep thinking 2 years ahead, normal nursery thinking, but everyone here thinks about 1 week ahead. Any further ahead than that gets put in worri abaot hem sumtaem laeta ia?
I really noticed that yesterday, with the Archontophoenix palms we have started. I was asked how long before we could be planting them out, they have only just thrown up the first leaves, and on hearing about 2 years, I was told that was too long to wait. I slowly explained that if we’d started producing them from seed 2 years ago, and continued to do so each year when seed became available, we’d have more than enough by now. It’s easier to go into the bush and dig out from there, no matter about ruining the forests or the ecology. Patience isn’t something anyone here seems to have in any amount. Waiting for seeds to grow is a foreign concept at the moment.
Samesame with the nursery at present, I keep being asked when we are going to start doing more cuttings, propagating, with the losses we’ve had the last month due to the lack of water we are down to bare bones for plants. I just ask where is the water to keep the cuttings alive? If we are losing established plants due to the lack of water, what is the point in doing cuttings which are highly water dependent? The reply was that they hadn’t thought of that, they just wanted to see some cuttings being done.
I would like to work out the evapo-transpiration rate for plants here, especially cuttings. The temperature is rarely below 30*C in the daytime, maybe as low as 25*C at night, humidity about 80% up to 97%, so long as we can keep water onto the root systems the cuttings do take quickly, but without water, we are just wasting time and resources in trying any propagation.
I’ve been promised the little truck will be ready tomorrow, I doubt it very much, or if I do get it, it will have something else wrong with it and I will have to take it back in on Tuesday again. The brake drums are away being turned out now, I asked if the slave cylinders were being done as well, but was told they were done a few months ago, which probably explains why they are seized up now. They think it is an electrical fault that is causing the starting problems now, we’ve had new injectors, new glow plugs, a new alternator, new fuel filter and pump, so far.
I’m not holding my breath over it. I picked July in the unofficial office sweepstakes for when it would be roadworthy, but I may be a bit optimistic. All this from taking it in last June to have 2 suspension joints tightened.
PS. Just in at work, the Architect hadn’t signed a page in the submission for planning approval, so it has been put off for another month. I’m slowly counting to 999,999,999,999,999,999 in single figures.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Tuesday 18th May
The Solomon Star printed my letter, centre of the page in the Letters section including a photo, and a large headline “Stop Destroying Our City”
http://www.solomonstarnews.com/viewpoint/letters-to-the-editor/5861-stop-destroying-our-city
If you can’t get the page to open this is the letter I sent
“Saturday 15th May 2010
Dear Sir, once again we have people determined to turn Honiara into some pigpig village like their own must be.
On Thursday night a person who was probably drunk and driving, drove through the BSP Roundabout, causing a lot of damage to the bougainvillea shrubs. This has now been repaired by SEB Work Crew on Friday morning.
On Friday night either the same drunken person, or a close wantok, broke down two 6 year old palms near the Ba’Hai centre on Mendana Ave. These will not be as easy to replace as the bougainvillea on the BSP Roundabout.
SEB are continuosly replacing trees, palms and shrubs through Honiara that have been damaged deliberately, either by shopkeepers setting rubbish fires around the trees, pigpig villagers who come to Honiara and cut down the palms, or drunken drivers who should not be in charge of a vehicle.
Is it any wonder that the Japanese Consul feels their Aid money is being wasted in the Solomon Islands as pointed out in the Saturday edition of the Solomon Star? Japan has generously funded SEB in the past to help beautify Honiara, and are continuing to fund SEBs efforts to propagate and produce trees and shrubs for Honiara City gardens and roadsides. How long will they continue to do this when we have pigpigs cutting down and destroying what the Japanese Aid money has provided? This is another example of the lack of respect for the efforts SEB have done and continue to do through Honiara to make it a city that showcases Solomon Island Culture.
If the pigpigs that come to Honiara and wish to turn it into what their pigpig village is like, then my suggestion is that they go back to their pigpig village where ever it is, and stay there. Live like a pigpig in your own place, do not come to Honiara and turn it into a pigpig mess. Stop cutting down our palms, trees, damaging our gardens. Stop throwing your rubbish in our gardens, on our streets, stop using our gardens as your toilets, go back home and do it there. We don’t want pigpigs making Honiara the worst city in the Pacific.
Warren Nash
SEB Honiara.”
It must have got some attention, I had SIBC (Solomon Island Broadcasting Corporation) ring me this morning asking for an interview, which we did late this afternoon. I have no idea when it will be broadcast, I don’t have a radio so it is not of any concern to me, but I gather from what the interviewer said that they expect to get a few phone calls once it is broadcast.
All the work crew read it this morning, and feel I was far too polite. The girls especially, they want to make all the people that drop rubbish be made to spend a week with them picking it all up out of the gardens and parks, as part of the punishment.
I’m waiting now for tomorrows edition of the Sol Star for the comments. I’m sure there will be a few over the next few days, hopefully not too many negative.
Apart from that bit of excitement, there hasn’t been much happening with anything so far this week. We still haven’t heard from Planning about the Nursery. I’m tempted to just go ahead and start preparing the ground, but that could open up another can of worms and arguments. We started 5 new young guys this week, all keen so far, we’ll see if they last the 2 months trial period and actually start to like it. Although just getting paid is enough incentive for everyone here. The wages are laughable, I have no idea how anyone is expected to live on what we pay them, and then looking at the obscene salaries and incomes that the “consultants” and RAMSI people are paid. All of which is reflected in what the shops and hotels, restaurants charge. You won’t see any locals in the restaurants or hotels, and if you do, it is certain they are Govt people.
I’m sure the crew think I’m some doddery old palangi that has to be helped do anything. I got a refill gas bottle yesterday, well, David picked it up with the truck while they were in Honiara, and when they dropped me at home last night Hudson jumps off the truck and starts carrying the gas bottle down to my house. I told him to leave it, it is only smallfala, bottle I can manage and swung it up onto my shoulder and walked off. I could hear the girls giving Hudson a hard time as they drove out, about letting an oldfala like me carry the bottle. It’s only 9kg, about 22lb, easy enough to carry, I don’t need help.
Considering I’m used to carrying oxy and acetylene cylinders on construction sites, 9kg is less than my toolbox weighs.
Andrew came into work yesterday and I went over the Nursery plans and we walked the site out with the measure wheel so he could get an idea of how large and where everything is going. His thumb is slowly healing, it will be a few months till he is back working though but he can be my offsider while we are putting it all together so he knows where and how it all fits. I think he grew about another 3 inches taller when I told him I want him to be the person responsible for keeping everything working once I leave. Jennifer will be in overall charge of the Nursery, and Andrew will be the maintenance and fixit person. I’d like more people like him.
http://www.solomonstarnews.com/viewpoint/letters-to-the-editor/5861-stop-destroying-our-city
If you can’t get the page to open this is the letter I sent
“Saturday 15th May 2010
Dear Sir, once again we have people determined to turn Honiara into some pigpig village like their own must be.
On Thursday night a person who was probably drunk and driving, drove through the BSP Roundabout, causing a lot of damage to the bougainvillea shrubs. This has now been repaired by SEB Work Crew on Friday morning.
On Friday night either the same drunken person, or a close wantok, broke down two 6 year old palms near the Ba’Hai centre on Mendana Ave. These will not be as easy to replace as the bougainvillea on the BSP Roundabout.
SEB are continuosly replacing trees, palms and shrubs through Honiara that have been damaged deliberately, either by shopkeepers setting rubbish fires around the trees, pigpig villagers who come to Honiara and cut down the palms, or drunken drivers who should not be in charge of a vehicle.
Is it any wonder that the Japanese Consul feels their Aid money is being wasted in the Solomon Islands as pointed out in the Saturday edition of the Solomon Star? Japan has generously funded SEB in the past to help beautify Honiara, and are continuing to fund SEBs efforts to propagate and produce trees and shrubs for Honiara City gardens and roadsides. How long will they continue to do this when we have pigpigs cutting down and destroying what the Japanese Aid money has provided? This is another example of the lack of respect for the efforts SEB have done and continue to do through Honiara to make it a city that showcases Solomon Island Culture.
If the pigpigs that come to Honiara and wish to turn it into what their pigpig village is like, then my suggestion is that they go back to their pigpig village where ever it is, and stay there. Live like a pigpig in your own place, do not come to Honiara and turn it into a pigpig mess. Stop cutting down our palms, trees, damaging our gardens. Stop throwing your rubbish in our gardens, on our streets, stop using our gardens as your toilets, go back home and do it there. We don’t want pigpigs making Honiara the worst city in the Pacific.
Warren Nash
SEB Honiara.”
It must have got some attention, I had SIBC (Solomon Island Broadcasting Corporation) ring me this morning asking for an interview, which we did late this afternoon. I have no idea when it will be broadcast, I don’t have a radio so it is not of any concern to me, but I gather from what the interviewer said that they expect to get a few phone calls once it is broadcast.
All the work crew read it this morning, and feel I was far too polite. The girls especially, they want to make all the people that drop rubbish be made to spend a week with them picking it all up out of the gardens and parks, as part of the punishment.
I’m waiting now for tomorrows edition of the Sol Star for the comments. I’m sure there will be a few over the next few days, hopefully not too many negative.
Apart from that bit of excitement, there hasn’t been much happening with anything so far this week. We still haven’t heard from Planning about the Nursery. I’m tempted to just go ahead and start preparing the ground, but that could open up another can of worms and arguments. We started 5 new young guys this week, all keen so far, we’ll see if they last the 2 months trial period and actually start to like it. Although just getting paid is enough incentive for everyone here. The wages are laughable, I have no idea how anyone is expected to live on what we pay them, and then looking at the obscene salaries and incomes that the “consultants” and RAMSI people are paid. All of which is reflected in what the shops and hotels, restaurants charge. You won’t see any locals in the restaurants or hotels, and if you do, it is certain they are Govt people.
I’m sure the crew think I’m some doddery old palangi that has to be helped do anything. I got a refill gas bottle yesterday, well, David picked it up with the truck while they were in Honiara, and when they dropped me at home last night Hudson jumps off the truck and starts carrying the gas bottle down to my house. I told him to leave it, it is only smallfala, bottle I can manage and swung it up onto my shoulder and walked off. I could hear the girls giving Hudson a hard time as they drove out, about letting an oldfala like me carry the bottle. It’s only 9kg, about 22lb, easy enough to carry, I don’t need help.
Considering I’m used to carrying oxy and acetylene cylinders on construction sites, 9kg is less than my toolbox weighs.
Andrew came into work yesterday and I went over the Nursery plans and we walked the site out with the measure wheel so he could get an idea of how large and where everything is going. His thumb is slowly healing, it will be a few months till he is back working though but he can be my offsider while we are putting it all together so he knows where and how it all fits. I think he grew about another 3 inches taller when I told him I want him to be the person responsible for keeping everything working once I leave. Jennifer will be in overall charge of the Nursery, and Andrew will be the maintenance and fixit person. I’d like more people like him.
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Weekend 14th –16th May
I’m happy again. Found my hearing aid, not in the best of condition, and it probably should be autoclaved for 24 hours, but as I don’t have an autoclave, alcohol wipes will have to do. The battery and part of the ear piece were in the nest under the stove, the rest of it was in the nest in the back of the fridge. I can’t afford to be fussy, so it has had a good wipedown with the swabs, and with the battery and earpiece replaced it works. The soft plastic ear insert was chewed off, but I have replacement parts for that. I need a shotgun.
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.
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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