Friday 30th November.

10 days to go.

This morning Tweety and I came into work and picked up one of the local guys and then headed off to the only Gold mine in the village er Solomons. It was about an hours drive from work, 25 minutes East then 35 minutes South. We saw the open cut area of the previous operators and where the new holes were being drilled. From the observation point we went to the processing area.

The site has been trashed by the locals who live around the mine. Everything that was not bolted down was removed. They then started on the bolted down stuff. They took all the power lines from the main road to the mine. They took the cladding off all the buildings and left the skeleton. The laboratory area, the sheds and the accommodation as well as the offices were stripped. The insides were removed and anything they could move was taken.

In the power plant, they had 11 50KVA generators. All the wiring was removed and gauges, filters starter motors were taken too. In general they have to decide which parts of the equipment and buildings they can repair and what they have to destroy and replace. Which ever they decode they plan to be in production shortly after June 2009.

After returning to Honiara at 1100, work was, well, work. At 1700 we returned to the King Sol to get ready to go out to a Christmas function courtesy of GRM. GRM do several things in the Solomons, but for us they are our Admin area. They supply our office equipment, arrange the lease of our vehicles etcetera. It starts at 1730 and ends at 2000. Well this is one version we have heard.

The dress standard is neat casual. I have spent the previous week informing Tweety that he must improve on his normal standard and make a concerted effort to meet the required standard. He did not disappoint me.

He selected his blue shoes that ideally matched the blue in his shirt, he also selected a shirt with a great yellow colour which matched his shorts. I will post a photo, although it may have to wait until I return to Australia as the speed of the internet has prevented me in posting photos for a while. I chose the elegant combination of a checked blue shirt, with highlights of white and black, a contrasting pair of shorts and the extremely elegant black crocs. Stats, although not directly involved was made a special guest for the occasion, was resplendent in his choice of trousers and shirt and a fetching pair of sandals, with socks. New Guy was nearly as colourful as Tweety, his chosen ensemble included a polo top similar in colour to a Harlequins Rugby shirt, although the colours were more restrained.

All in all it was a great event. A band appeared at about 2100 and played on til 2300. A mixture of reggae and 80s pop hits as well as some Beatles ensured the crowd with a wide age gap enjoyed themselves. I drank a little more than I normally do, I have been used to maybe 1 with a maximum of 2 for the last 3 months. This night I had a bit more. Not too much, but enough to feel I might regret it in the morning.