Upongkor Bimble
Beez Neez now Chy Whella
Big Bear and Pepe Millard
Thu 5 Nov 2015 23:47
|
A Bimble Around the
Village
 We Arrived at Donald’s at the appointed time of ten o’clock, the good man
popped out of an impromptu meeting that had been called by his potential
in-laws. His eldest son, in his early twenties lives in the village ‘over the
hill’, he works as a water taxi man and has apparently fallen in love. The
girlfriends family appeared this morning to ‘talk terms’. Much discussion about
pigs, the odd cow and where a house should be built. Donald was clearly put out
about the whole thing, but we said we would go off and explore and come back
late morning. Off he went back to the powwow.
 We bimbled down the track and waved as we went.
 Each house we passed had the ladies
smiling, the children played.
 Ladies cooked on ‘the hob’.
  A house making use of a donated tarpaulin, in all other ways very traditional.
  This water butt was destroyed by
Pam.
  Yusef met us as we went in search of
the old Presbyterian Church. He was so thrilled Bear had given him a litre
two-stroke oil the afternoon before that he felt the need to tell me the story
as if I had never met Bear before. I listened to his enthusing and then he
offered himself as our guide. First, he proudly showed us the stone laid to mark the golden jubilee of the original church, disused for some time, but Cyclone Pam
had a good go as well.
  A sad
sight, Yusef’s little one came too as I went
for a look.
  The memorial
plaques each side of the altar looked in really good shape.
  The roof.
Time to go.
 The newer
church next door.
 A humble
place, loved the timepiece on the wall.
  The wall
clock and the bell tower.
 Yusef bade us follow him. He pointed
to his dad’s house that had been destroyed by
Pam.
   No matter the condition of the houses, the children played
and things had a busy feel.
  The outhouse and the animal
enclosure.
 Yusef was very proud of the wild pig that he had caught.
  His piglets
and his chicken.
  We followed Yusef down a well-kept path and came to an impressive two storey building.
  When finished, this will be the yacht club.
    The kitchen, the toilet, the shower and the garden, all work
in progress. After our tour we went back to the main room and found juices had
been made my Yusef’s mum. She had us write in the Visitor’s Book and it was
lovely to read through the messages written by so many crew we
knew.
 From one of the side windows we could
see Beez Neez was about to have visitors. We
watched as the canoe went up to her, sad we were not there to welcome them and
then watched as it paddled back. Talking of back, we’d better get back to
Donald. We said our farewells to Yusef and wished him well for the
future.
ALL IN ALL SUCH A POSITIVE
FEEL
GOOD TO SEE SUCH PRO-YACHTY
PEOPLE |