Wednesday 28th November.

12 days to go.

We had an earthquake last night. It was around 2250. I was sitting up reading. I was just about to get up and go to bed. I noticed that the room started to sway. This is not an unusual occurrence. (I will dispute that it is isolated to my room only and caused by any action on my behalf.)

Most nights while I am sitting reading, I am aware of swaying in the room. At first I thought it may have been caused by a storm as it coincided with heavy showers. Later that week I noticed the same phenomenon and there was no wind and rain.

Last night the swaying was unusually noticeable and lasted for a lot longer. I got up and walked from my room to an open area. There is another level of units above mine in the hotel. After a minute or so I returned to the room. No drama, no destruction and the people responsible for tsunami warnings could not make up their minds as to if they should make one or not.

The Government has another Minister. He was part of the Opposition. He left the Solomons for a holiday in Australia. He returned on Tuesday and was whisked from the airport in a Government car and sworn in as the new Minister of Finance. That is 3 Ministers of Finance we have had here in 4 weeks.

The new Minister is an Australian with SI citizenship. The speculation in the paper about him is that as the new MoF he will need time to prepare the Budget. In this case the PM can present a case that the GGs recall date of 13th December will be too soon for the Budget submission to be made. A hat and braces approach in case the AGs High Court challenge is turned down.

Stats returned to work here too. He is here for a week as part of the programme from NZ Aid to get the computer system up and running. Tweety, Stats, New Guy and I went out for dinner at the Iron Sounding Bum. We were not the only ones, the entire ASPEN team were there (Medical Facility) and also Justice Department advisors too. We were just going to go to the restaurant, but it was booked for a private function by Solomon Island Tobacco, a division of Pall Mall, a division of British American Tobacco. So we just had to make do with the buffet.
I got home late so I did not read and wait up for another session of shake rattle and roll.