19
That's me at the age of nineteen. I was 9605 miles from here. The picture was taken in early October 1972 by my late friend Richard from Minneapolis USA. It was one tropical Sunday on the island of Rotuma between Fiji and The Ellice Islands which are now known as Tuvalu. We had walked to another coastal village and I was asked to play a few songs for a bunch of islanders - sitting beneath a breadfruit tree. It was a happy, carefree afternoon - far from home. Pacific waves crashed upon the rim of the coral reef and coconut palms swayed above the village. Some of the local children danced in laughter. The island was dreamlike - as though it truly belonged in a work of fiction. What I experienced there, what I saw and felt there have remained with me for the past 53 years. In a sense, it was all quite beyond understanding. It certainly had a big influence upon the character of the man I became. Anyway, the living island fantasy was battered on October 23rd, 1972 when Hurricane ...