Will Vodka do the trick?

At the local telephone exchange we find a problem with one of the compressors. It has stopped working and Phil diagnoses that the compressor cannot be fixed and needs to be replaced. We phone Port Moresby and Dave ask us to try to find one in town, otherwise they will have to send one up from Port Moresby but that would take a few weeks.

The chap at the telephone exchange tells us of this local refrigeration bloke who has a small shop who might be able to help.

Two bottles of Vodka do the trick

Alex, is a short fat Russian with a heavy accent. ’Of  course I have a spare compressor here, I veel sell it to yooh’, he says. We agree on a price but he insists he wants a bottle of vodka as well. He has drunk all the vodka in Madang, there is none left.

I phone Dave and tell him to send a cheque and a couple of bottle of vodka or there is no compressor.

Two days later, the cheque and the vodka arrive and Alex is over the moon. ‘You veel help me drienk a biottle of vodka’, he insists. By the time we have finished one of the bottles, we are unable to lift the compressor into the hire car. We drive home to the motel and go to bed.

Next morning, Phil and I are feeling terrible but when we get to Alex’s shop, he is in full swing, not a sign of what happened last night. Russians must be used to it. We pick up the compressor and are on our way. I am seriously considering going into the import business. Importing vodka to Madang. I’d make a fortune.