0529 - Cheer

It's the season. The Steward at the Objective Observatory spent the morning packing some jars of dried fruit in finest old rum. After aging a few weeks, this is the gift that keeps on giving to your morning cereal for many months. You start the day with the faintest of buzzes, but it's better for you than Oxycontin, and tastes lots better. In that mellowing mood, we consider how stands Anguilla.

Consider budget deficits. As Readers know, the United States is running a ballooning deficit so large that the U.S. would be rejected for membership in the European Union (if it ever applied, that is). Anguilla, where taxes are as unpopular as at a Republican Platform Committee meeting, has its own fiscal problems, but nothing in the trillion dollar range. Meanwhile, house building is continuing apace, and the giant new golf course project is under weigh. [Proofreader's note: "under way" is what a ship is after the anchor is weighed (raised). "Under weigh" is probably a modern usage, arriving after the age of sail. In lesser columns, you do see "under way". [Note: this sentence revised due to Reader correction after publication. ]

We have stirrings of retail commerce. The new Albert's Grocery is large enough to be in an Iowa mall, and stocks many good things. The Steward here bought some sliced corned beef there, and there is smoked salmon, too – practically a deli. Also available: four different kinds of Chinese sauces, from Duck Sauce to Mandarin Orange. A much-awaited new Ace Hardware store is promised, and we maybe able to get some nylon chair glides at last. There is even an attempt at a new movie theater, but it never advertised and nobody came the first night.

We ought to say a word about the weather. Recent visitors have commented on our verdant and flourishing vegetation. It pains us to inform them that this is because we have had much rain in recent weeks, and the usual appearance of the foliage is more tan and crispy. All that rain has done wonders for the level of cisterns, though. And with the high season here, all looks welcoming for the much-appreciated Tourist trade.

In preparation for the Touristi, local restaurant menus have been re-priced. In one formerly modest priced spot, the US$12 short rib (quite good) has gone to US$23 – but that's not a double, is it? Wines are also marked up almost everywhere, but that may be the result of the falling dollar and rising Euro. Or, it just may be creeping capitalism.

U.S. politics is now bitter indeed; there is no era of good feeling, nor are there signs of WMD in that country we promised not to mention any more this year. In Anguilla, there will be an election, too. Anguilla's sharpest political wit is one Colville Petty, always addressed by the OO as "The Voltaire of Anguilla". Bro. Petty points out that the politicians here, exactly like the politicians in the States, are almost always re-elected by their local districts. In Anguilla, this practice leads to what you could call stability. In the States, it leads to appropriations for critical needs like building a rain forest in Iowa.

A serious last thought. This year, there has been crime on safe Anguilla; some has been serious. Doors are now locked everywhere. Yet, compared to big cities elsewhere on the globe, you are welcomed here, you are much safer, and people are nice. Besides, there are over 30 beaches here, more than Indianapolis, and the sun shall shine again, we guarantee you, or double back what you paid for this column.

Next time: ResolvedAgain [OO #530]

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