49 and younger, more inmature…

…and irresponsible than ever!!

Had a top day yesterday… although nothing huge – it turned out to be a special day – a collection of several smallish events that turned it into a cracker.

In point form summary of the highlights:

- Woke up nice an early and after putting on the coffee I wandered into the office and came across the following on my desk:

My birthday gift from Eli – I almost broke down in tears after remembering that she had spent weeks working on something “secret”. It’s a work of art and when it comes to creating things – Eli is super gifted. There was also a note accompanying the flowers that made it that extra special.

- We went to the Bird of Paradise for lunch and had egg and bacon hamburgers with a strawberry thick shake – the potato chips at the Bird are superb – hand cut made from fresh local potato’s – the kind one rarely sees in the civilised world any more – yummy – yummy. For dessert we indulged in a fruit slice + ice-cream with a pot of freshly brewed coffee. The Bird’s always a great place to escape the intensity of a PNG town for an hour or two.

- Whilst at the Bird – I connected with Brendan – a local coffee exporter whom has taken a strong interest in the association we are putting together back in the village. We are working towards an International accreditation for co-op coffee that is organically grown.

- The other highlight, in addition to Eli’s flower, was speaking with my family over Skype. My bro John organised a conference call and the entire “crew” was online. We have spoken over Skype many a times, which works really well over dial-up by the way (after 8:00pm), but this was the fist occasion that we did the conference call setup. It was tops. We are certainly not a family that lives out of each other’s pockets but there does exist a closeness and a love that is special and warming. Last night reminded me how much I miss my people at times. One of the nice things about technology is how it can bring folks closer together and make vast distances disappear into thin air at the push of a button.

- After the Skype call – we watched Steven Spielberg’s “Durasic Park” and straight after watching I immediately started to think about how to get hold of the 2nd (and 3rd?) movies. I really do miss the big screen and wander how long it’s going to be before someone cottons on to the idea of opening a cinema in Goroka.

- I think it was about 1am before we crashed and just for your information – I slept like the proverbial log.