"Stories from the New Hebrides"

270 views since I posted this, which is good. I will tell Neil the good news. I hope you've all checked out his website.

By the way, why the angry emojis in front of the http links? I have it on Julien's own authority that it's OK to link to my personal blog - and there are plenty of links on other threads (not Vanuatu ones, perhaps) that don't get lumbered with the angry face. Is there some special rule for Vanuatu's threads? Whoever put them on my post above, would you kindly explain why, and why you have disabled the automatic links? Thank you.

Hmmm. No response from whoever disabled the links in my OP, and put the angry emojis in. Shame on them.  Why would anybody not be interested in the recent history of the Islands? Beats me.
Here is the link again: http://neilbegley.com.au/stories/ .
I hope the secret censor lets it through this time.

Hello Gordon Barlow,

I have reactivated the links you posted. It may be an error, please excuse us.


Naomi.

Thanks for changing the post, Naomi! One thing more: could you please change the label of this thread from "Cost of Living" to "Everyday life"? I don't know how it ever got to be put in the "Cost of Living" label. Thank you.

Hi Gordon, I've changed it to "Everyday life".

Thanks, Christine. May I say that I hope you get to Vanuatu one day! In case you didn't know, until independence the Islands ("New Hebrides" in English, "Nouvelles Hebrides" in French) were a joint colony of Britain and France. French and English were both official languages, and Bislama (a simple pidgin language) was the unofficial lingua franca. After independence, Bislama became the official language.

Hi Gordon; you don't know me but we do have an acquaintance in common in Neil Begley. I lived in New Hebs, with my wife and three children, 1976 -1978, when I worked in the Public Works Dept. (or Secteur des Travaux Publiques- the Chef du Service was a Frenchman)  of the Pandemonium. My wife and I got to know Neil when we joined Vila Choral Society but  I only got in touch with him again early last year when I found his " Stories from the New Hebrides" website.We had quite an extensive exchange of e-mails and I sent him three articles and several photos in July 2017 which he posted but when I sent a couple of further articles and photos a little later, he apologised and intimated that his wife, Belinda, was ill and he would post the articles in the future. That would be about 10 months ago. I have not heard from him since and wonder if you have any news. I hesitate to contact him direct in case of bad news. Please don't feel obliged to reply if you do not wish to.

Regards
Tim Foster

Hi Tim. I've just shot your post off to Neil; he ought to reply - although I haven't heard from him since April, and he had some medical problems then, so I don't know how he is now.

Yes, I remember your name from his website - good stuff from you, there. My wife and I lived in Vila 1972-75; I began with Burns Philp trustee Company, and then moved to Investors Trust. Linda shifted around a bit - Peat Marwick as secretary to the local manager, then with Burns Philp meeting tourists off the planes. Good times. I wonder if you've ever read The Love Beach by Leslie Thomas; it was set in the New Hebs, written in 1968, and gave quite a good word-picture of what life there was like in those pre-independence times.

All the best to you. (I don't think we're allowed to include email addresses in our Forum posts, but my Profile lists my personal website and my email is published there. So feel free to write direct.)

By the way... my wife has hundreds of postage stamps from our days in New Hebs that she would be willing to part with, depending... Do people still collect stamps, these days, or buy collections?