GOD SAVE THE QUEEN

19th June 2008

We're in the dry season now.Wall to wall sunshine all day, every day and not overbearingly hot.Water is short, so many people go to the river to wash, do their laundry, get rid of their rubbish and I've even seen one woman washing her pig in the river(you see pigs being walked around on the end of a rope as you would see someone in UK taking their dog for a walk).Then they take bucketfuls home to drink and cook with - yuk?We're lucky, as we have a large water tank attached to the house and it's pretty full at the moment, though we've had to put a lock on it, as folk were helping themselves.It's an interesting sight on a Sunday evening seeing a truck load of pikininis with towels, being taken to the river for a wash! So, while the weather is predictable, it's about the only thing that is here!Planning is out of the question. You can decide one morning to do the washing - ah, no water.OK, so you'll catch up on the ironing - the damn thing never works very well, but this is ridiculous - ah, no electricity. Not to be outdone, let's have a stew for dinner - ah, no meat in the shops.The schools have two weeks holiday starting next week, one is supposed to be for in-service training and the other a holiday for teachers.It's now Thursday and no-one can tell us which week is which!!

Major panic set in last week.The Governor General was due to visit Kundiawa and was being feted at the airstrip by school children (and doubtless endless speeches) and the school children were required to sing 'God Save the Queen' which hasn't been sung in PNG for over 30 years!No-one knew the words let alone the tune.I had an anxious moment, anticipating being asked to sing it in assembly and teach the children!Can you imagine! However, John saved the day.He went onto the internet and delivered the music and words to the head. Alas, no-one in school can read music! Luckily, John came to the rescue again by recording the music on a CD.Sadly, we were not available to attend this grand ceremony, because we had booked a few days break, having been told that Thursday was a holiday (possibly) and no-one knew about the GG's visit until a couple of days beforehand (now there's a surprise!).I have no idea what the rendition of the national anthem sounded like in the end and perhaps that's just as well!

So, instead of frying on an airstrip, cringing at the PNG version of the National Anthem, John and I headed off to Enga Province (NW from Kundiawa) to an Eco lodge in the hope of seeing some birds of paradise and wild orchids.This place was 2800m above sea level, so was cold night and morning and rained quite a lot, so we didn't do as much walking as we had hoped, but we did see birds of paradise at close quarters.We went on Thursday and planned to spend the Sunday night at a hotel in a town called Mount Hagen on our way back, ostensibly to visit the Best Buy store where they sell delectable commodities such as cheese and chocolate, neither of which we can get in Kundiawa.We arrived at a passable hotel on Sunday and set off gleefully to Best Buy. Did I say things tend to be unpredictable here? I forgot to tell you but, before we left Enga, when I was on my way down from conquering the summit of Mount Hagen, a cassowary burst out of the bush and chased after me. I went careering down the mountain and tried to shake it off by veering into the jungle. I stepped on a sleeping python, which wrapped itself round my leg and dislocated my ankle. Luckily, my knight in shining armour in the form of John, wrestled it to the ground and slit it's throat and freed me............ ....yeah! Yeah I hear you say.OK, so I'm rumbled.... all I did was step on an uneven bit of pavement and hit the deck with excruciating pain in my ankle. A hospital vehicle cruising by picked me up and took me to A and E and I wish they hadn't!The place was disgusting, I won't elaborate and I made John promise he wouldn't let anyone give me an injection, no matter how much pain I was in. I was seen by someone (I think he was the electrician, called in to fix the generator!). He prodded and poked and pronounced it was tissue damage and to rest. Remembering my first aid (plus 5 previous ankle injuries, some were fractures caused by similar accidents, one of which I was rescued from by Simon) I asked if they had any ice - nogat! Could I have a bandage (compression) - nogat! This was an A and E department! However, the kind gentleman who saw me (plumber or electrician, we're not sure) disappeared with a grin and emerged triumphant 10 minutes later grinning and brandishing aloft a bandage which he had purloined from the back of a drawer somewhere. We asked no questions.

Luckily, we discovered that a Philipino VSO volunteer physio worked at the hospital, so on Monday we contacted him.He arranged for an Xray and put strapping on the ankle.It wasn't broken (whew!) and he was able to provide me with a pair of crutches. This was a great relief, as prior to that I couldn't put any weight on the foot and thus, could go nowhere, so every time a male hotel employee saw John struggling to support me, usually on the way to the bar, they leapt forward and effortlessly hoisted me aloft, which I found quite alarming!This whole episode resulted in John becoming very bossy and insisting we stay at the hotel for a few days to give me time to rest the offending appendage (I objected only weakly).VSO kindly agreed to foot the bill - good eh!So today (Thursday ) we decided to return to Kundiawa. I just can't tell you how amazing these people are. Every maid, barman, cleaner and gardener came across in the hotel asked after my injury.The manager arranged for a car to take us to a bookshop (I got very bored and finished all my books) and on the day of departure, the hotel manager went to the PMV stop and arranged for the bus to collect me at the hotel and then, it took me right to our door in Kundiawa.I had an image of bus passengers in UK tut tutting at the inconvenience I'd caused them but no, here they helped me on and off, gave us prime seats and smiled and nodded in sympathy as I hauled myself on and off the bus in a somewhat undignified manner.

So we're back in Kundiawa, bloodied but not bowed and have been greeted very warmly by the neighbours.I've had a lovely haircut - John really has missed his vocation!We caused huge merriment for our neighbours as we cut each other's hair on the balcony. The whole family came out to watch and found it hugely amusing. Luckily it didn't put John off his snipping! The only other occurrence of note was a police car driving into the school grounds last Tuesday. They hauled one of the male teachers off to the police station. One of the students (whose father was a policeman) had complained that she had been sexually harassed by this teacher.A few hours later, the teacher returned, apparently compensation had been arranged between him and the girl's family. However, he went to the police station unscathed and returned with a very nasty black eye and cut head - justice had been administered!

Well, John's getting bossy again and insisting I sit with my leg raised as it's looking swollen.Hey ho - I'll have to relax and let him get on with the cooking.He keeps telling me I'm a liability - Moi!!We may or may not be running in-service training next week - doubtless we'll be told in the fullness of time but have no time to prepare and anyway, the teachers will take it as a holiday and not bother turning up - the system is utter chaos.Hope summer has arrived and you're all enjoying it.Think of us when you BBQ!

Love from bossy bum and me XXX