R's rue

The way they all fall silent to listen is wonderful  from Going Gently https://ift.tt/75lvrfO

Out of the blue, I received this photograph from an old acquaintance in Minnesota. He was the twin brother of my late friend and teaching colleague Richard. Richard was a Peace Corps volunteer teacher  on the island of Rotuma between 1972 and 1975 and in fact he took the picture shown above. The image is from late August in 1972. Only a couple of hours before, I had arrived on the island on a copra boat called the "Aoniu". It had set sail three days before from the wharf in Suva, Fiji's capital. I was very glad to plant my feet on dry land. In six weeks' time I would be nineteen years old. The young man with the long blonde hair and the garland of sweet-smelling tropical flowers round his neck is Andy Summers who I replaced as the island's Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) teacher at Rotuma High School. A couple of hours after the picture was taken, Andy would have been on the "Aoniu" heading back to Suva and then on to England via Honolulu, Los Angele...