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John Sheridan is loaded with the responsibility of couriering to Canberra 
our enormously cautiously packed shipments of frozen clots (all numbers 
1898-2642 inclusive), which we chilled with a maximum of five or six pounds of 
dry ice which Walter heroically manufactured from compressed CO2 cylinders on 
the ship, while Don and Francoise and I furiously worked at packing into new 
padded boxes the 800 clots, manufacturing insulated carrying containers for the 
specimens well enough insulated to keep the minute quantity of dry ice for the 
trip to Sydney tomorrow. We covered the boxes, each some 12 cubic feet in size, 
with aluminum foil and rushed them ashore to the Solomon Island's Trading 
Company freezer where they are stored until just before departure tomorrow 
morning — or rather this morning. Hopefully, the -150c freezer will prevent 
much dry ice loss overnight, and John can manage to get the boxes well insulated 
from the sun to the plane. He is cabling ahead for dry ice and freezer space in 
Sydney for the overnight hold-over before the flight to Canberra. John is also 
taking the whole BSIP collection of -40^0 stored unfrozen erythrocytes with 
him to deliver to Bob Kirk where they can be handled for blood grouping and to 
dispatch them accordingly. 
The whole Honiara sojourn has been weird. We have arrived at colonial 
Honiara on one of the year's major holidays, with Monday a full holiday, the 
Queen's Birthday. Thus radio, post office, overseas telephone, and all banks, 
government offices, and shops are closed. With nothing but work requiring these 
services on our hands, it has been very difficult indeed. I have had to 
interrupt Jimmy McGregor a dozen times during his holiday either at his home or 
at the Yacht Club, where he is participating in three days of sailboat racing. 
Brian Eyres also met me at the club, and after I helped him assemble and inflate 
a rubber outboard motorboat, he took me to the Medical Department Headquarters 
building to collect the mall waiting for us there. 
Strangely, there was hardly any curiosity or questions about our month of 
work in the islands, and a most British nonchalant attitude toward anything we 
may have found. The British are good at showing such nonchalance and feigning 
disinterest in what privately concerns them very much. Also, they manage 
beautifully to present total detachment from their work, careers, and 
professional lives while on holiday or "at home". Thus, our colleagues have 
managed not to ask or discuss a word about medicine with us after our month or 
two in their most remote islands and a second month in the Banks and Torres. It 
is strange and defensive. 
Yet, in typical British "fair play" manner, they have done all possible in 
meeting out rather outlandish requests for help in the middle of their holiday. 
The officers of the airline office and the agent for our ship (Solomon Islands 
Trading Company) have managed to get off our much delayed four boxes from Santa 
