Long wait for the day’s paper

LIFESTYLE

By PAUL MINGA
THE long anxious wait to get a copy of a daily paper is experienced by regular news readers and fanatics is the same everywhere in PNG and the world over. For a person who loves reading newspapers daily, it becomes a habit he cannot beasily give up. He will endure a long tiring wait until he grabs a copy.
Such scenario of a long wait for a copy of a daily paper is experienced by newspaper readers and fans around the country is an ongoing plight. That is as a result of our two daily papers using commercial passenger aircraft as their mode of transport for daily delivery. There are worse days when a flight is delayed or even cancelled. That is when the paper gets in a day late so you get to read yesterday’s news today.”
On the morning of Friday, March 5th, as an early bird I left my place of stay for Popondetta town. I walked less than a kilometer to town at around 7.30 that morning to get a copy of The National.
In the early morning on any day in towns and cities you will most likely find the ‘sigi boys’, smoke and betel nut sellers and shop workers going about their business.
But l was in the midst of those people as a newspaper fanatic – following my heart’s desire to get what I love.
What further prompted me not to miss that day’s The National was the death of the founding father of PNG Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare.
I wanted to read tributes, stories and programmes for his funeral and burial.
As soon as I arrived in town I realised that it was too early so I had to wait. I went over to a usual resting spot  which is also as a good location for a lookout to the newspaper selling spot.
While hoping and anticipating for the delivery of Friday’s paper that day in Popondetta town, I decided to take a leisurely walk around but had my eyes focused on newspaper pickup points. Those were in front of the Wing Hay and Co. Supermarket, HQH Supermarket, Papindo Wholesale and other spots.
The wait for the arrival of the daily paper into town that day started as early as 7.30 am took me through to midday. When I spotted any car coming to a halt near the newspaper selling point I would hope that it was the newspaper delivery car but it was not. It went past lunch time, and to refresh myself for a further wait I strolled around the town and to the nearby popular Bango Market to release my tiredness from the prolonged wait.
When I couldn’t bear any more the sweltering heat of the Northern capital I made an escape into either Papindo or Wing Hay Supermarket to get cooled off from the shop cooling system inside.
Shoppers walked in and out the shop doing whatever they liked while I went straight to the shop freezer section – seeking out a much cooler atmosphere to refresh myself  from the day’s heat.
The heat of the day, the hunger for flower balls and the thirst for cold water were brushed aside as I withheld my only K2 and waited patiently for The National.
The prolonged wait that day took me to as late as three o’clock in the afternoon. After a stroll around and about the town and doing window shopping at several shops, I then went and sat down at a favourite spot as  my eyes focused on the daily paper selling point in case of a late arrival.
A few meters away from where I was sitting was a man selling car and truck lubricants. Since I was sitting near him for too long, I suspected he would be asking  me what I was really up to with such a long wait.
I told him that I simply waited to get a copy of today’s paper but it had not been delivered to the sellers yet. The guy said that at times it was delivered late in the afternoon. He further told me to give up waiting if it went up to 4pm. I gave up the long wait as advised at 4pm and went back to my place of stay with an unhappy heart and mood that day.
Early the next day, (Saturday) I ensured that my only K2 in coins was all there for me to get my copy of the paper.
I felt relieved when Irealised that all my coins were there. I walked to town with the K2 that was preserved from the previous day.
As soon as I got into town, I aimed straight for the first newspaper selling point. It was early in the morning and there were few people there but no sign of someone selling the newspaper.
I left the place and tried to walk to a second newspaper selling point and spotted a woman with a folded newspaper in her hand. This gave me some reassurance and to get to the next street and the point of sale for the daily paper. I was there within no time. In one end of the street there was no sign of a daily paper seller. I looked up from where l was standing at one end of the street and saw two people sitting in front of a shop up the other end of the street.
What caught my attention from the distance was something that appeared like a layers of bricks or a box near the shop wall. But I suspected it couldn’t be bricks or whatever else but a pile of newspapers. As I walked further up I realised that my guess was right; it was what I was longing for the previous day.
I sighed and smiled to myself. As I went near to buy a copy of the The National, a thought came into my mind to write about the long wait and eagerness of grabbing my favorite daily paper since yesterday.
Before I took out my only K2 in loose coins to pay for the daily paper, I first took shots of the person who was selling the paper. After taking several shots of the person selling the newspaper and the pile of daily papers, I told him that if The National people are kind enough they would publish his picturepalong with this story.
I even askedthe paper vendor his name and for how long he has been working in this business.
A Chimbu man in Oro
He told me that his name was Kuman and when he said this I quickly figured out that he was not a Oro native but a Chimbu because of the popular name. Kuman further said that he was from Gumine in Chimbu and was selling the daily paper for about 11 years now.
I asked him if the daily papers were delivered consistently to him five days a week and Kuman replied that it depended on the availability of daily flights out of Port Moresby and the agent that picked up the paper at theairport each day.
In the case of a delayed or cancelled flight  Kuman said he sold two day’s issues together
But he said in most instances he sold them very late to customers the same day.
My experience of waiting for my favourite paper is something that many others around the country also face daily.
For a NRL fan who doesn’t have a TV screen at home, he somehow has to get himself to a TV screen at all cost to watch a rugby match played in Sydney or Brisbane or Melbourne.
Likewise for a horse race or poker machine addict he has to bet on a race or touch a poker machine before he goes to bed.
As a newspaper and magazine reader you don’t know how I feel when I miss a daily paper or have nothing to read!
Most will agree with me that you cannot go without doing something that has become a hobby to you.
One of my interests is reading a daily paper. So this is a part of my life.
Something that has become part of one’s life cannot be changed overnight or suppressed.
The passing of our great leader and the national programmes that followed on until his burial in Wewak last week were all too important to miss reading in the day’s paper.
I had to get a copy of my paper even with the last K2 I had on me.