Cogito, ergo sum. I think, therefore I am. (René Descartes, mathematician and philosopher,1599-1650)

Saturday, 29 December 2012

Lockington's Everyday Fiji ... Life Goes On

                  Traditional Family  Life

Merry Christmas Everyone.

 Waiyavi in Lautoka had no power for seven days. After the third day a relative said that because there was no power it had sort of brought the family closer together. Cards and board games were brought out and the family gathered around the hurricane lantern and just sat, played and had a yarn and bonded. As the evenings would draw near the torch, candles and the lantern would be brought out and placed in strategic places.

Meals would be held early, then we’d have a little rest and of course the basin of yaqona would be mixed.

The whole family would be together.

 Because there was no electricity there was no TV, no Internet and no DVD player – these are modern day pleasures where individuals do their own thing alone, especially the Internet and Facebook.

 We now plan to things differently where the Internet and all the other modern pleasures will be put aside and we will play "Eye spy with my little eye", play cards, Scrabble, and other boards games. Modern gadgets and ways of life have, until now and thanks to Cyclone Evan,  left the traditional family life forgotten.

 You can see that some good came out of having no electricity.

 
                              Vinaka FEA

Waiyavi was without power for seven days.  On Christmas Day we were all sitting in the garage and at about 3 pm we saw the garage light suddenly flicker on. We all screamed and applauded and applause and cheers were heard from all the homes on Kava Place – thank you FEA and especially to my Kava Place neighbour Ratu Isoa Ledua who worked almost 24 hours with his team, coming home to have a nap and back on the road again. You and your team did a wonderful job.

 To all the staff of FEA who practically worked themselves to a standstill, you are all heroes, may God bless you and your families and may you all have a wonderful and profitable New Year.


Allen Lockington is a self-employed customs agent and business consultant who has regular articles published in Fiji. I thank Allen for permission to reprint some of them in this political blog. They remind us that life goes on, whatever the political situation. And it's good to know that.

1 comment:

Vinaka Allen said...

Love this piece. What a great sentiment that Allen expresses - that some of the advances in our lives like electricity have been at the expense of other, arguably more important things like social interaction.

Kava Place is a good name for a book. How about it Allen? Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think any Kailoma in Fiji has ever written one.