{"id":709,"date":"2018-03-22T10:38:53","date_gmt":"2018-03-22T14:38:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=709"},"modified":"2018-03-23T14:33:47","modified_gmt":"2018-03-23T18:33:47","slug":"oct-7-1989-freedom-came-and-near-death-andrew-in-south-pacific","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=709","title":{"rendered":"OCT, 7, 1989…FREEDOM CAME AND NEAR DEATH: ANDREW IN SOUTH PACIFIC"},"content":{"rendered":"
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FREEDOM AND NEAR DEATH: \u00a0ANDREW IN THE SOUTH PACIFIC,<\/div>\n
BEGAN OCT. 7, 1989<\/div>\n
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alan skeoch<\/div>\n
march \u00a02018<\/div>\n
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Parents have to let go at some point. \u00a0If they don\u2019t want to let go then their kids will take off anyway. \u00a0That is our experience.<\/div>\n
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About the time the Berlin Wall came down, both Andrew and \u00a0Kevin took off. Left the nest to explore the wider world. \u00a0I think it was October 7, 1989\u2026the Berlin Wall \u00a0came down a \u00a0month later\u2026both boys just took off in different directions. \u00a0We didn\u2019t know why their\u00a0rite of passage occurred on the same day but it did.<\/div>\n
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Kevin headed EAST for Slovakia and a \u00a0job teaching English in a high school for $125 a month. \u00a0Slovakia was in the throes of sudden independence and at<\/div>\n
the same time the ties to Soviet Union were severed. \u00a0The new Slovak state was looking to the west for help and young people like Kevin and \u00a0dozens of others took low paying jobs \u00a0to help the Slovaks re-establish links with the West in a post Soviet world.<\/div>\n
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Andrew headed \u00a0WEST with no particular goal in mind except a tour of the islands \u00a0of the South Pacific with Australia \u00a0as a possible end \u00a0point. \u00a0They crossed\u00a0North America by car. \u00a0Cheap \u00a0cars\u2026wrecks that could \u00a0still move. \u00a0 Drove them until they died. \u00a0I hope they were licensed properly but looking at<\/div>\n
some of them raised doubts\u2026and \u00a0hackles on the back of our necks..<\/div>\n
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\u00a0We had no control over either boy and just hoped our years \u00a0of parenting had pounded \u00a0some \u00a0common sense into their heads.<\/div>\n
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This short story deals with Andrew and his \u00a0friend \u00a0Keith Merker. \u00a0Kevin\u2019s story will come later when I can \u00a0afford to convert his slides into digital form.<\/div>\n
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So Andrew and Keith made it safely to the west coast and then flew to the South Pacific. \u00a0They did a little island hopping. \u00a0Found some work washing<\/div>\n
windows of stores along the way. \u00a0Easy capitalism. \u00a0Just buy a pail, squeegee and a mop\u2026then offer services for any price customer willing to pay.<\/div>\n
Sleep wherever there was \u00a0a empty beach with a few palms. \u00a0Eat whatever was cheapest even at least one chicken killed by a passing car. \u00a0Road kill.<\/div>\n
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\u201cPlucked and cooked it on the beach, Dad.\u201d he said \u00a0later when he returned alive.<\/div>\n
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It was a world tour that only the young could even consider. \u00a0We did provide some money when things got tight. \u00a0But, amazingly, there were very few<\/div>\n
cries for dollars and cents. \u00a0 People in places that are idyllic seemed to just take the boys as they were. \u00a0Wanderers \u00a0like Voltaire\u2019s Candide. \u00a0 Someday<\/div>\n
I hope Andrew reads Candide but that is unlikely now that he is an adult\u2026married with kids \u00a0of his own and a business \u00a0to run. \u00a0Those easy days in the South Pacific were days of \u2018sweetness \u00a0and light\u2019 for sure.<\/div>\n
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But not entirely.<\/div>\n
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DATELINE: \u00a090 MILE BEACH, \u00a0NORTH ISLAND, NEW ZEALAND<\/div>\n
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\u201cGod this is a great place. \u00a0We can drive for miles and miles along the beach and never see another car.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cPull over here, let\u2019s do \u00a0a little windsurfing\u2026maybe spend the day. and sleep the night away on this spot of heaven.\u201c<\/div>\n
\u201cGot a loaf of bread, peanut butter and lots of \u00a0water\u2026.we\u2019ll be fine.\u201d<\/div>\n
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And \u00a0so they did\u2026clowned \u00a0around as \u00a0below. \u00a0 But heading for disaster.<\/div>\n
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\u201cOK, Keith, let\u2019s pack up and head for Auckland.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWe better get a new pail, Squeejee and Windex\u2026see if we can raise a hundred bucks or more\u2026.sleep in the car.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cThis \u00a0car seems \u00a0almost too good for us.\u201d<\/div>\n
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New Zealand \u00a0roads \u00a0are narrow with lots of curves\u2026too many curves.<\/div>\n
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\u201cWatch out\u2026WATCH OUT\u2026A CAR ON WRONG SIDE OF THE ROAD.!!<\/div>\n
\u201cCOMING RIGHT AT US\u2026BRACE YOURSE\u2026.!<\/div>\n
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And so the freewheeling days \u00a0ended in a head on collision when a local<\/div>\n
driver decided \u00a0to take a wide speedy swing around a curve with vision<\/div>\n
obscured by rock and perhaps dense vegetation and towering Kauri forest.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
BAM! \u00a0BAM!<\/div>\n
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\u201cMy leg\u2019s caught \u2026 motor pushed \u00a0back \u2026trapped.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cNeed \u00a0a pry bar\u2026sit still\u2026here \u00a0comes a police car\u2026\u201d<\/div>\n
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People dragged out the injured \u2026 all surprised that no one was dead for the two cars were total wrecks as you can \u00a0see below.<\/div>\n
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\u201cWhat are your names?,\u201d asked \u00a0the investigating officer Archie Clarke.<\/div>\n
\u201cAndrew Skeoch and \u00a0Keith Merger\u2026Canadians.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWhat do you boys plan to do now?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cDo not know.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWhy don\u2019t you stay with my family for a few weeks while you recover from your injuries. \u00a0 My wife is willing.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
And \u00a0so \u00a0they became house guests of a New Zealand police officer. \u00a0He took them surfing\u2026took them hunting for wild pigs\u2026fed \u00a0them\u2026humoured \u00a0them.\u00a0 Very lucky lives they led.<\/div>\n
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I think we sent them money to get back to Toronto. \u00a0Lucky they took these pictures.\u00a0 Luck? \u00a0Lots \u00a0of luck. \u00a0I remember a comment by Napoleon Bonaparte when appointing officers for his \u00a0grand \u00a0army. \u00a0\u201cGive me the lucky ones!\u201d, he said. \u00a0Napoleon would would have wanted Andrew and Keith as officer types \u00a0I think.<\/div>\n
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alan skeoch<\/div>\n
march 2018<\/div>\n
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NOTE: \u00a0I have simplified the story by leaving out several things. \u00a0And no doubt there were many things that Andrew left out when telling us the stories of the South Pacific. \u00a0 it was a \u00a0miracle they did not get tapeworms from eating that road kill. \u00a0and a bigger miracle that they did not become road killed themselves.<\/div>\n
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FREEDOM AND NEAR DEATH: \u00a0ANDREW IN THE SOUTH PACIFIC, BEGAN OCT. 7, 1989 alan skeoch march \u00a02018 Parents have to let go at some point. \u00a0If they don\u2019t want to let go then their kids will take off anyway. \u00a0That is our experience. About the time the Berlin Wall came down, both Andrew and \u00a0Kevin […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=709"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":813,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709\/revisions\/813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}