Buddy, can you spare a...

 ...fly swatter?

Some boats have flies worse than mine.  I can stay ahead of them with my remaining fly swatter.  (Its brother was sacrificed to a too-enthusiastic effort a few weeks ago.)  Not all my fellow liveaboards have fly swatters, though, so I took it upon myself to rectify the situation.  With my naïveté firmly perched on my shoulder I walked from one end of town to the other looking for flyswatters.  I don't know what they're called here in Fiji, so I made swatting motions with my hand onto the countertop in most stores.  From the wide-eyed responses on the quickly retreating clerks I surmised that a different approach was needed.

So a few days later I took my existing flyswatter with me.  Walking into a store, I would just point at it and make a questioning gesture.  At least I didn't scare anybody.  I struck paydirt at J Dayram Enterprises, Ltd.  The girl there took me to their display - they must have had thirty of the buggers.  Cheap Chinese flyswatters, but any port in a storm, right?  I bought four and dropped one off on Nicolas' boat straightaway.  He made a trip all the down the creek the next day to thank me.  The beer he promised to buy me will pay for all the swatters.  




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