More Visitors Coming

This week I have some excitement for you all this week.

Happy Birthday to me

I had to work on my birthday and spent some of the day reading all the wonderful birthday wishes.  By the way, Kerry, even though your birthday video was a repeat from a previous year it made my day.  A few days later Denise remembered she had some birthday cards for me – better late than never. I am Sick.  I suppose she could have always kept them for next year, but then I might have twigged if the senders had then sent another card.  Either that or I wouldn’t have realised due to my old age and poor memory.  No, that wasn't the excitement.

For my birthday dinner we went out and had a home cooked meal with friends and I was even able to drive home without suffering from some off prawns like somebody else, who will remain nameless, suffered a few nights earlier.  No, that wasn't the excitement.

Excitement

Now on to the excitement.  I was in a small storeroom at work doing a stocktake with the storeman when we heard what sounded like a pile of timber falling in the adjoining storeroom.  We went out and I noticed the work truck stopped halfway out the back doorway with wooden panels on the ground around it.  The main problem with this was the storeroom didn't have a back doorway, well not until then anyway.  The only reason the truck stopped was it had hit a tree on the other side of the wall.

The next thing I know one of the young men from the office who was standing beside the open driver door saw us and ran away.  Now the assumption I made is that he was the driver who had created the new doorway so I can understand why he ran as he was scared.  The bigger question for me was, where do you run to on a small crowded atoll.  There were no planes leaving for another three days and I doubt anybody in Kiribati is into ultra marathon swimming.  I suppose he could always get a boat, but where do you escape to as Kiribati is not close to anything.

When I got to the truck cab, the ignition was still on and the wipers were going.  He had done a good job.  As well as knocking out the back wall, he wrecked about three big blackboards and totally destroyed a table tennis table that only a few minutes earlier had been in use.  I removed the keys and then checked under the truck because behind where the wall had been is a High School.  Luckily there was no body under the truck.

High School kids came from everywhere to look and take photos.  After getting others to remove the debris I drove the truck out and discovered it was suffering steering damage as well as front end damage, a broken windscreen and I am assuming structural damage.  I am not too sure if there are any repairers here who would have the capability to fix bent frames, particularly on a truck.

Apparently the driver has confessed, and I am still waiting to see what happens to him, but I don't think he'll be back at work.  They told me he doesn't have a license and can't drive.  I had already worked out the second bit myself.

Prior to the accident I needed to get into a locked storeroom so started looking for the keys to unlock it.  After asking everyone, no keys were found so I tried my locksmith skills, honed over many hours of shift work.  Within 30 seconds I had the door open much to the surprise and amazement of the watching staff.  It was only then I remembered that there is very little crime here in Kiribati so when somebody says something is locked they believe it without question or even checking.  I must remember not to set such a bad example.  Next time I will make sure nobody is watching or knows what I am doing.

Two days later I saw a picture of one of the work buses tangled with the front of another bigger bus.  Check out the pic above and see if you can tell who is in the wrong.

Apparently there were two or three other cars then ran into the back of the work bus.  What looks like has happened is the work bus has decided to overtake a car thinking he had the time and distance to do so as the bigger bus would have had to slow down for a speed bump.  He misjudged the time and distance.  The other cars would have been following blind assuming the bus driver had a clear road ahead.  Obviously these drivers didn’t allow the three seconds gap between themselves and the vehicle in front.  I know some daughters who could speak on that one, mentioning no names.

Telecommunications

One the telecommunications front, I have had the telco here working on my phone earlier this week.  Since then I haven’t lost any credit and I have no idea what they did to it.  I will not congratulate them yet as sometimes the problem goes away for 2-3 weeks before deciding to resurface, but at least it’s a start.  It only took two complaints to the CEO, over 50 emails and many visits to the ATHKL office by Denise and myself.

Man Flu

Denise is currently suffering from a cold, probably mine, or could it be the result of a bad prawn night?  I didn't help when I kept her out as I was invited for a drink with the Minister.  I keep getting reminded about it, and it wasn't that late.  I am sure Denise will go to town on this one.  Go. So went to a farewell, as you do regularly here.  I had asked for an early night but that was not to be.  When we eventually arrived home, it was straight to bed.

I’ll give him Man Flu.  I will not bore you with the details but I have been knocked for 6.  Three days now of feeling like I am dying and I have decided that my unwell state of affairs, needs some stronger medicine.  Thanks to another Vollie, she gave me a potion that helped but not completely.

Visitors

Our next visitors are due in for Easter and we have sent them a wish list of unobtainable items.  We really look forward to visitors as it breaks up our time here and allows us to share our experiences first hand.  Unfortunately, Kiribati is not set up for tourists.  That can be both good and bad.

Kids v Cars

My actions of slamming on the breaks when kids are running behind or near the car have proved effective, especially after a fatality occurred a few weeks back in a similar incident when a child was hanging on to the side of a truck while riding a bicycle.

At least with slamming on the brakes it makes me smile when you hear that thud as they run into the back of the car.  They may be a little damaged but they are learning as it doesn't happen to often now, much to my disappointment.  See, discovery learning is an effective learning method.  One women even had the audacity to complain to Denise saying it wasn’t appropriate.  Probably not, but it’s effective and no kids have been killed.

Just to top off the week that was, we lost power about an hour ago, so I had better go and see what is happening.

Just a short one this week, unless Denise has let loose.

School

One of the best I have done here is listen to the children read out loud.  As I tell them, it improves confidence, improves their reading and improves their ability to speak English.  It is truly gratifying when you have the children say hello, call you by name and say that they have been practicing their reading.  This happened the other day when we were heading out of the village and one of the boys sang out to me and told me about his reading.  His big brother was beside him and I had listened to him read the previous year.  He looked a bit sheepish when I asked if he was still practicing.  There are children here that get it and those that will slip by the wayside.

Nothing much else to report. I’m off for a little lie down.

Big hugs

Us