Monday 19th
September 2016
Tomorrow we will leave Panapompom Island. I don’t think we will ever go anywhere with
such a cute name…
We have had a moderate number of visitors, and we have
been quite stern with them – only five allowed on the boat at any one time.
Four young chaps from the Council of Wardens (there isn’t
a chief on Panapompom, just this council, based in another village on the southern
end of the island) came, in a motor boat which need fuel. We explained that we are much more wary after
our experience in the Trobriand Islands and they were very sad about it all. They said that people in the Louisiades are
MUCH more honest. (Of course…)
We have sent out requests for lobster and maybe we will
be having a thrilling dinner. (Or maybe
not…)
I didn’t go for a swim, although one of our early morning
visitors (Stephen, with his small girls Emma and Margaret, at 6.30am,) assured
me that while there are lots of crocodiles, they are very frightened of humans
and do not venture out in daylight. I
did, however, get into the water and swim up and down all four sides of the boat
with a green scouring pad, trying to clean off the green fronds of slime which
have built up to luxuriant depths and lengths. Again, already (sigh).
One of our visitors this morning, Ken, used to be a
magistrate. He is now retired and lives
in the village. He is desperate for some
glasses and covets Pete’s spare pair. I
think Pete will trade his spares for a bucket of lobster but how is blind Ken
to get a bucket of lobster?? With Ken
was a hitchhiker in his canoe, a pleasant, quiet boy called Issay. He was wearing filthy shorts which were
totally ripped at every possible seam. I
am not sure how the legs stayed on, and his bottom must have been hanging out
very uncomfortably. I had a brainwave –
unearth the sewing machine! Within minutes
I had stitched up all of the seams and given them some extra zigzag for
permanence. Before I gave them back to
him I gave them a lively interlude in a bucket of soapy water and – voila, new
shorts for Issay!
I am leaving the machine on the table because so many
of our visitor’s clothes are ripped and shredded. If I can’t replace them all, I can surely
mend and wash them. Pete thinks I am NUTS!
(The internet connection
seems to be letting me put up my blog, sans photos, of course. But I am having much more trouble receiving and
sending emails. A mystery of the sea…)
PS - FIVE big lobster were delivered to us, just before dark!! Gourmet dinner coming up!
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