Anyone who thinks he recognises himself in this video, probably does.
As I sit in my little 'sun-trap' by the kitchen door, warmed by the early-morning sun, I reflect on the twists and turns that life can take. And not just my life but also other lives, such as the life of the partner in a firm of chartered accountants in New Guinea who in late 1969 hired me, which allowed me to go to New Guinea and start a whole new career in chartered accounting.
I have always felt indebted to him although I needn't have been, as his was not an act of altruism but made perfect business sense: hiring me at two thousand dollars a year - roughly one dollar an hour - and charging me out at about ten dollars an hour was a profit margin hard to resist.
With most accountants given to no more emotions than what may be contained in an official tax ruling, I was surprised to hear that this accountant had recently joined the Papua New Guinea Association of Australia, a body given to nostalgic hankerings for the good old days in Australia's only colony - and he had done so at the ripe old age of 89 !
What had taken him this long? Which is not what I asked him in my email using a link I had found elsewhere on the internet. Instead, I posed the simple question, "Are you the same *name deleted* who was partner at Hancock Woodward & Neill in Rabaul?" The brotherhood of accountants is a very tenuous one at best and I didn't really expect a reply but, three weeks later, there it was: "Yes Peter, the same one" - no comma between 'Yes' and 'Peter' and no word that he remembered me!
And yet, surprised and - yes! - overjoyed, I let loose with this reply:
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Dear *name deleted* "Well, well, well - we've all been wondering about you! After all, we're all getting on, and you just that little bit more than the rest of us. I've only just received my O.B.E. this very month which prompted me to print a new business card - see below:
 I have certainly been grateful to you during all those past fifty-five years for having given me that break into a new career, even though I didn't repay your trust by staying longer - see here. One thing that has always puzzled me since then is where you had read my advertisement which prompted you to offer me the job. I always thought I had placed a small classified in PIM but cannot locate it anywhere - see here. Would you happen to remember? I still remember when in the dying days of 1969 a Mr McFadden called me at the ANZ Bank in Canberra, where I was working at the time, to ask me to come to his office which was just a short walk down Alinga Street. He shook my hands and said, "No need for an interview. I heard lots of good things about you from one of your colleagues at the bank with whom I play golf, and I just wanted to shake hands with you before we send you off to New Guinea", or words to that effect. I am still in contact with *name deleted* and *name deleted* and, for a while, I was also in touch with Horst Hoertelmann after he had returned to Germany - see here. Again, many thanks for having been of such great help to me all those many years ago, and it would be wonderful if you were to keep in contact with the three of us."
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What I didn't mention was the unfavourable impression he'd given me when first we met. I had endured a long flight from Canberra to Rabaul via Sydney and Brisbane and Cairns and Port Moresby, and I was feeling totally disorientated and very, very tired when the cabin door opened and Rabaul's hot and humid air hit me in the face like a steamroller.
No wonder, when my new boss asked me a few questions, I mumbled something incoherent which prompted him to say, "Well, you'll get along well with *name deleted* who mumbles just as badly as you!" or words to that effect, but no less intimidating to a new recruit who was eager to make a good first impression. If I had still had a place to go back to and the money to do so, I would've turned around that very moment!
As I said, I never mentioned this in my email, or else I would never get a reply. Still, there hasn't been one for quite some time now. Will there be one? Or was his belated joining the Papua New Guinea Association of Australia just some last-minute attempt at squashing the éclairs?
