Posted by: nativeiowan | May 16, 2014
impressions n images of a changed land
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- 2016
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- a world gone mad
- DATED COMMENTARY
- … whatz a "knoberry"?
- 2009 draws to a close
- 2009 PARLIAMENTARY ENTITLEMENTS COMMISSION
- A bit of Celtic common sense…
- a gentle sunday morn
- A good feeling
- A Grey Monday
- a lazy Saturday
- a long while at sea…
- A Native Iowan in the Islands
- a pale sunnsett
- a private view
- a saturday BBQ
- A soft Sunday morn…
- a very nice shot
- accidental art…
- all guud
- an ear piercing party
- an investment opportunity for one and all…
- And it is official… if not belated…
- another lake pict
- Another Peter Pan story
- answers
- as I sit
- as the day ends
- Bad natured Mike…
- Been a While
- been boating…
- Better make sure the insurance premiums are paid -up…
- Blustery Weather
- Brisbane
- Bummer City
- buzz
- Can you say… huge slush fund?
- catching up
- cleaning up fishn' gear
- cloudy
- Cmas 2008
- com'n down
- da truth…
- dawg daze
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- doin' bizzyness in the Solomons
- Don't let mom know…
- Don't worry Mom…
- dun't know… "blinded by the light"…
- Earthquakes
- even more grins and giggles
- events that define
- fish kill'n Jake…
- fly fishing in Montana
- Fly Fishing in Montana 2
- Flying High
- for grins and giggles
- for more grins and giggles
- for those who know Gizo
- fresh off the press 06/09
- from January 2009
- Going fishn'
- Gone Fish'n
- good head
- good newz
- grins and giggles
- gun-metal grey
- Happy Birthday
- headlines from April 6
- headlines from the sidelines 12 Feb 20-10
- headlines from the sidelines 22/1/10
- headlines from the sidelines 23/1/10
- headlines from the sidelines 25/1/10
- headlines from the sidelines 26/1/10
- headlines from the sidelines 26/1/10-2
- headlines in political times
- Headlines in the bad times
- How wuz yer day?
- howz it look?
- Hydro Power for Honiara
- Hydro Power for Honiara 2
- I have been remiss
- i remember my youth
- in Brisbane
- interesting
- interesting enough…
- It'll all be over soon…
- Jake in the islands
- Jake of the islands
- Just on the radio
- Kaohsiung
- keeping it intereesting
- kidz
- left the camera at home
- lets go fer a boat ride…
- Letter to the Editor 2/9/09
- letter to the editor 27/1/10
- Letter to the Editor 7/7/09
- like a boy scout
- Like the Beatles song…
- Look forward to the next party…
- lotz goin' on
- May 09/ SI Prime Minister meeting
- mildly amusing or just sad
- Miss'n the fish'n
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- More of the same…
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- much to do about nothing?
- my favorite pict…
- Native Iowan
- Nature showing off
- one can only hope…
- owe the blog a story. About a bizzyness trip I did recently.
- party time
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- poor Constance
- porwad flanning?
- Positive progress?
- press release 17/7/09
- press release 30/7/09
- press release 4-8-09
- press release April 2007
- press release for week of June 29
- press release January 2009
- press release week of 22 june
- proud Papa
- quick close out of Gizo trip
- rainy day in Brisbane
- Remember the ol' playing field at Gizo?
- remind you of somebody?
- rider's log 16-620-11
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- running naked 2014
- saturday
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- saw a great one…
- Seoul
- Sequel to last week's post…
- Simpler Times
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- sitting in Vanuatu
- something new
- Sore lo Solomoni
- speaking of fishing
- Speech for Australian/ Solomons Business Forum 10 July 09
- Sunday morn coming down…
- Sunday Morn in Gizo
- Ta Moko ala' Turumakina…
- Taiwan
- talk about a bad morning…
- terminal grants
- that metallic taste
- the beauty of these islands
- The Fearsome Flying Gecko Brothers gett wett
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- Time for something totally different?
- Time is a created thing. To say "I don't have time" is to say "I don't want to."
- to live in deficit
- todays muzak?
- too tired
- Too tired to move
- traveling a lot lately
- tropical bounty
- Trout fishing in America
- Trout fishing in Montana vol 910
- tube-steakz and pool
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- very interesting….
- walking through glorious gizo
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- we've seen it all before
- Weather Map
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- What is the moral here…
- what kids get up to…
- where were you at dawn?
- who ever controls the oil…
- why am I not surprised…
- why I left Iowa
- Worth a read
- Yippeee… Gizo!!
- You know…
- Zoos are fun
- don't ya juz love the solomons
- ICEBound
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- JACK LONDON in the SOLOMONS
- MIKE"S BIKES
- Muzack…
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- PHOTOS AND IMAGES
- 13 May 2pm
- a cool pict
- another week's end
- blazing skies
- End-day
- fer them that like boats n' water
- friday 19 june 09
- having a very merry SPO Cmas
- images of the isles
- May 11 3pm
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- more about boats
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- waddizzitt
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- rider's log
- STORIES: HUMOR AND LIFE
- A pict of Peter Pan
- a pleasant life
- a South Pacific wedding
- and mother farted
- cleaning house
- grandma's garden
- headlines from the bar-side
- i wonder why
- I'll miss Peter Pan
- life's simple twists
- Peter Pan obituary
- remember
- Ron's day
- Sum Like It Hot
- the ghost of my childhood
- the history of fly fishing
- while grandma played piano
- STORIES: ISLAND MAGIC
- STORIES: NATURE AND ENERGY
- STORIES: WORKS IN PROGRESS
- time before
- TT isle of man
- Uncategorized
- why am I not surprised…
I have been bouncing around Honiara these last few days. I admit I am not “good” for the long, difficult trips “through” town. I guess I am a fair-weather friend of Honiara. I park at the post office and ensure I don’t need anything from the east side of the Mataniko. If I do I send my Admin Manager/ my daughter.
What do I see…
Lots of people. Thats for sure. This is not the Honiara of the 80s or 90s or even the 2000s. This is a busy, active, mobile Honiara.
I was thinking today, as I sat in the very nice and clean Solomon Telekom offices getting my phone service sorted out, how bitch’n the girls look. I’m not coming from a dirty old-guy/ perv position. No, the girls, ladies, females of the town are by and large pretty classy looking. High-ish heels, nice outfits, big smiles and nice hair-doos. I like it a lot considering that when I hit these streets the female standard dress code was a cotton mother hubbard type affair. Straight from the methodist style gurus of the day.
I see a middle class. I see an urban middle class.
I bumped into an old buddy from the Gizo days of the 80s… Gabby was a police man. Originally from Makira, Gabe was walking past Rove on his way to town. I surprised him by calling his name. It’d been a decade or two since we have met. So I holler at him as he walks to the main road… An ugly white guy in a dirty truck… I think my voice more than my looks triggered his recognition. It was a short but meaningful encounter: Gabe is retired and happy to be such. He owns a place above Rove, has educated 4 kids through university level, and now helps care for some 6 grandkids. I asked him about “home”, going “back” to Makira. His reply? “Here now home, ia”.
I see a lot of hanging around. A lot of what appears to be aimless loitering. A policeman I know calls it loitering with intent. I’m not sure. I smell a boredom. A less than articulate-able illness. Most young guys I have seen show no sign of self-respect in their dress. I, perhaps unfairly, feel a loss, a helpless, a disenfranchisement which goes to the male bone of these young men. But I see that childish Solomoni twinkle in they eyes and capitalise on it.
My upper body is 100% inked. It’s taken me 30 years or so to achieve this but the body-art from my elbows, up and over to my chest and back are, I feel, quite eye-catching. My ink is of the Maori tradition, Te Moko”. Lots of curves and obscure symbols, flowing like the ocean or the fern or the meaning of life. All in monochrome. No cartoons, no names or colour. Just, what I like to feel is, traditional ink.
I “wear” my ink so am knocking around town in a cotton singlet. I get a lot of these “lost-guys” engaging with me solely because they are attracted to the ink. I note that most westerners will basically ignore the ink. Act as though its common or nothing to comment upon. But here it is different. The tribal nature of my ink brings smiles n comments. So I briefly engage with a fair number of folks as I walk Mendana Avenue. And it is positive.
The roads are dirty, dusty, unkept, uncared for. The round-a-bouts n median strips are often sponsored by some business. These are rather nice but they glare in the light of the unkept-ness of it all.
There are terrible blots, like festering sores, on the landscape… The concrete monstrosity that used to be Town Ground. A general con deal. Who was conning whom is unclear but the town lost a parkland and now has a huge, ugly, unfinished mess. As well, the old, old, old buildings that are still in use accost the senses. The old Pink Palaces are slums of a highaccord. Lord knows what the interior of these places are but I’d think that 4 stories of life without power or water may be a bit dire.
There is not adequate parking in town, and with the large number of cars on the minimal roads, the inevitable result is chaos. Cars park on sidewalks, any and all spare mud puddles, and even in the road-way. A lot of town has seen open places, sold off, fenced off and closed to the public. There is little public land any more so a two lane road with parking on the shoulder becomes 2 lanes of confused parking and a snarl or traffic along side.
But I still like it. Though I no longer belong to the culture of the streets of Honiara, I don’t feel threatened. I see a lot of families, young gals, et al walking the byways. I see mostly smiles. And the absence of a smile normally comes from an obviously disgruntled male. I met one on Hibiscus Avenue. A big bloke. A snarl on his face. My guess is he was a bit drunk. He made a bee-line for me as I walked between cars parked on the side of the road. A white man was a target for this guy and I was it. As I came around the cars and walked up to him, his face changed to a beaming smile. My ink had made him smile. He wanted some. He wanted to talk, be my friend.
And it made me smile.
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