Pomelo

We have been here for more than a year and yet I have never bought a pomelo - the largest sister in the Citrus family. It's like a giant grapefruit. That's pink. So since there were heaps in the market and they were cheap, I bought one. The one I bought was $4 (SBD).

When I got home and cut it up it was rather sour but I guess you've got to start somewhere. I have tasted pomelo that were sweeter before so I'll have to work on my pomelo picking skills.

I also bought some oranges, although admittedly, they are rather green. In the Solomon Islands, the fruit ripens quickly, so in the case of oranges, I mean, greens, they ripen on the inside before the outside has a chance to change colour. But they do actually still taste sweet, and are especially nice if you juice them as they can be quite stringey inside.

An odd thing happened at the market. There was this guy walking around with a loudspeaker making high pitched squeals so everyone could hear the racket. Anyway, he was walking all over the central market and when he came to where I was I noticed that the Honiara City Council man who monitors marketplace behaviour was walking behind him looking rather exasperated. So I asked someone, is the guy drunk? (waswe, man ya, hem spaka?) No, he's dumb, the lady told me, dumb being the word locals use for deaf.

Then the deaf man stopped squealing, the Honiara City Council guy takes the loudspeaker off and says, "look everyone, even though this guy is dumb, he can still see that you're putting the food under the tables when you're supposed to display all your food on top of the tables. That's what he's been telling you. Even though he's dumb, he can still tell you that you need to put the food on top of the tables."

Anyway, I thought that was odd. Well, it seems odd to us Westerners. I mean, you'd never make an announcement like that in that fashion in New World or Pak n Save.