HRH PP - RIP

[EA01]

Kava is/are like breasts, One 'Shell' is not enough..Three is too many......

[EA01]

And how exactly did we go form HRH Prince Philip to sucking back 'shells' of 'Piper Methysticum'?

Oh, it was just me...

[1DC]

I am sure HRH will be amused..

[Undried Plum]

More or less at my own suggestion, I'm watching the Channel Four on demand hi-res version of that programme in full again.

It has great charm and a lot of humour that I'd forgotten about.

In the first episode they visited a middle class family of pig farmers in Norfolk. They were astonished and horrified by the process of artificial insemination. To them, it seemed so unfair that the sow did not get what they called satisfaction. There were many other areas of incomprehension, such as our obsession with cleanliness. The ceremony of washing up baffled them. In their culture they pluck a large leaf for use as a plate and then throw it away.

As EA101 mentions, they have their nakamal. They were wondering where the English tribes have their nakamals, so their hosts took them to the local village pub. There's a very funny scene in which one of the pub's locals introduced them to the pub game of darts. Not understanding that these guys were the real deal in terms of four thousand years of being spear-chuckers, he was astonished when the English speaking one threw his dart, apparently at first go, directly into the the bullseye with huge force. The damn thing went so far through the dartboard and into the wall that it was very difficult for anyone to pull it out.

It was utterly charming that they bonded so well with the local rabbiter. They had so much in common that they might as well have been brothers. None of that urban crap. This was real people of the land understanding eachother and learning from eachother.

After doing a traditional dance in the village hall, the English speaking guy said something very profound:

"On Tanna it's very sinful to kill a human being. Have love for eachother; peace; and unity, as we do on the island of Tanna, and we are the happiest people in the world".

I greatly regret that Philip did not go there in life and that he was probably incapable of understanding their culture anyway. I hope that his eldest son (absolutely NOT the second eldest one) does so quite soon, while these five guys are still alive.


Peace and Unity to y'all.

[Boac]

Maybe if No 2 did go we could persuade the ?Vanuatuans? (check terimology!) to eat him?

[Undried Plum]

Even the Kentucky Fried Rat™ franchise wouldn't allow that.

Or would they?.....

[Boac]

One suspects at least one maiden will have

[Undried Plum]

The second episode is equally as enchanting.

[media]https://www.channel4.com/programmes/mee ... /41869-002[/media]

[Undried Plum]

In the second episode, after doing a wee dance in the livingroom of an ordinary family in the Midlands, the English speaking guy of the group said something in his simple speech which I thought was worth transcribing here:

"In our island there is always peace unity and harmony, and there is always equal sharing of wealthy among all people because consider that Life is the most important fact. And so we say to the people of Manchester: please to treat eachothers as brothers and sisters from now on. Please find ways that there are no more homeless and no more poverty."

"To us, this is the most valuable thing."

He/they went on to say:

"I want to say that in our island of Tanna there is equal sharing of wealth among every people. "Money is very rare because we consider that Life is the most important fact."

"We would like to say to the people of Manchester: please try to treat eachother as brothers and as sisters from now on."

"Please find out a way of no more more homeless and no more poverty."

"So let us find a way of our culture and find a way better than (we) are living better than (we) are living now."


I greatly doubt that Prince Philip would have agreed with such a sentiment, but I think it is worthy of him that some of his spawn might, at least, understand.

[Boac]

Obviously a commie?

[Undried Plum]

Obviously a commie?

Certainly not a Greek Colonel!

[EA01]

Its a shade under 3 hours here to Vanuatu...I suspect that it will (again) be the next place to visit when borders open again.

[Undried Plum]

[media]https://www.channel4.com/programmes/mee ... /41869-003[/media]

Utterly charming!

[EA01]

'Spose Haz is going to look a bit ordinary standing alongside William Charles & Edward who no doubt will be decked out in their full military regalia? Maybe He & Andy ca sit together?

[Pontius Navigator]

Before going clubbing?

[bob2s]

EA,don't know if you have been to Pentacost Island to see the land divers.Back in 68 we were doing stream sampling and it was the same time the natives were preparing their land diving tower,pilot and I made a trip to the site each day to see how they went about it,both of us agreed that there was no bloody way you would get us any where near it.Come the day they let us in for free,everyone else had to pay,the ticket price was based upon the size of your camera,it ranged from $10 to $350 for the TV mob that turned up.Could understand why they spent so much time digging the ground below the tower given the ammount of times one of their leg vines snapped and they hit the ground awkwardly.The youngest was 9 years old and showed very little fear jumping from platform about40 feet from the ground.So if you have not witnessed it,I can thoroughly recommend to put it on your must do list.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_diving#Background

[EA01]

No I have not been to Pentecost Island to see the land diving. I remember my Grandmother had a tea towel on her wall of the 'New Hebrides', and central to it was a depiction of land diving....agree, not something I'd ever do....wonder who first thought that was a good idea!,.... 'No No, you go first'!

[EA01]

[Pontius Navigator]

We have something similar in UK now. Sometimes into water, sometimes not, and no ropes

[Undried Plum]

It appears that the Beeb has been watching Ops-Normal:

BBC "News"