Welcome to my blog

Hi, I am Peter Heyes, and this online diary is about my travels that have taken me from Europe, to North America, Africa, and now Asia. If you want, you can sign up for email updates on the right. The latest posts are on the home page. I hope you enjoy reading them.

Tuesday, 25 September 2018

A day of visiting


I woke up with "Bless this House" in my head. It's a nice thought but not at 3am. I've been watching too much of "Lily Savage" on YouTube. In my sleep I found myself being interviewed and trying to talk posh. I finally told the interviewer that if Lily savage can talk like a Liverpudlian then I can talk like a Yorkshireman. Heaven only knows what the interview was about - I decided to get up and visit the loo.

It's one of those days when we keep on asking, "Is it going to rain or is it not?" I hung the laundry out but decided to bring it in as it might rain. I ventured into the garden in my wellies and came back with a bucket of corn and my wellies stuck up with half the garden soil.

I took a quiet road to drive to Hubbles Lake to visit Bea; she's returning to Cambodia in the spring to do some volunteer work so she wanted a catch-up time. She'd just got back from a trip to New Orleans and had attended a cooking class, and so we had one of the recipes she learnt. It was very good and sort of soupy with sausage, chicken and other meats in it. She and her husband have a lovely home on the lake. It's higher than the lake so there are around 40 steps to go down to the water; they've built about 3 decks on different levels, each with furniture, so it's a very relaxing place to be.

I then returned to the farm, or at least I thought I was. I drove to the highway and turned east to go to the city. After 5 minutes I saw a sign saying "Jasper" which meant I was heading west. I turned around and found myself on the wrong highway going into the city. I looked for somewhere to turn off and I saw Calahoo Drive. Earlier I'd driven through Calahoo to get to the lake and so I thought it was a good idea to take the road. I ended up in a new subdivision with nothing to do with the original Calahoo. I really should get myself a GPS thing. I did get back to the farm but it took me twice as long.

I had a little while at the farm and then I headed off to visit Elizabeth who used to be with me as a volunteer in Nigeria in the early 80s. She's constantly packing and so I had to work my way down narrow corridors between piles and boxes of books and other papers. We had a McDonalds chicken-burger for dinner. While I was sitting in the restaurant I saw two men come in and sit down. One went to the counter and came back with a coffee. He sat for a while and then left, leaving the other man sitting there. I only saw his back but I'd noticed he was aboriginal. He sat for a while with his hood up. I thought he might be homeless, and I was thinking of asking if he'd eaten, when he leaned over to a man sitting at another table. The other man gave him a package, which contained a burger, so he must have been hungry. I thought it was a lovely gesture from the other man.
Back at Elizabeth's she asked if I'd like to see a DVD about the Haida people living on Haida Gwaii. In the late 1800s about 10,000 were living in the area. A ship arrived and the crew put ashore a sailor who had smallpox. Within a short period there were only 600 Haida alive. Then the authorities decided to assimilate them into the dominant culture so all their totem poles were destroyed or chucked into the Pacific Ocean. The authorities even introduced blankets that they knew were impregnated with smallpox so more died.

A bit later, a famous anthropologist arrived from the Field Museum in Chicago and he took back lots of artifacts plus bones of the dead. Nearly 4 years ago the Haida decided to try to get the bodies back and the video is about this journey. I was amazed at the graciousness of the Haida throughout the proceedings as they built up a strong bond with the staff at the museum. Children in Haida Gwaii had made button blankets, which are the traditional garments of the Haida, and these were used to wrap up the bones to bring them back to Canada. On the island the people had made boxes from cedar - they steam a plank and bend it so that the four sides of the box have no joints. There were lots of ceremonies and community dances and the three Chicago representatives were invited to join in; it meant a lot to them. It's a sad but very interesting film and well worth seeing.

And so ended a good day. Elizabeth sent me home with homemade raspberry and apple jam and a jar of crab apple juice so that made it even better.