Water water everywhere & nor any a drop to drink

So said the poet samuel colleridge in his epic Rime of the Ancient Mariner ... now I don't feel ancient… yet! … but I do understand what he was talking about.

It has been raining heavily for about 4 days now, leaden skies have taken to sparkle out of everything and the rain just keeps coming, at least 650ml so far (that's about 2 feet), and it was probably more, the rain gauge at the airstrip has full to capacity twice between readings.

Honiara is a town struggling with the provision of the most basic services, the power goes off three of four times a day, good phone lines are a very rare event and since the rain started there is no water to speak off and what water is dark brown, smelly and undoubtedly unfit for human consumption…. I gather that soon after the
rains started the weir where they town water supply is collected flooded and the pumped where submerged… just before they failed they pumped a thick slurry of mud into the towns water supply… that was 3 days ago

there might be quiet a lot of grumbling and, ok someone has to go and collect fresh water and fresh clean fresh water is more precious than beer. … but life goes on




The Rime of the Ancient Mariner in Seven Parts">