0659 - Changes

Faithful Readers, our promise to discuss changes on Anguilla has at long last come to fruit. We have heard from many a Reader that our keen analyses of the fiasco in Iraq are dead right, and a smaller but quite vocal (if e-mail can be called "vocal") group that our hatred of W is tiresome and who needs smarts to run a government? So, no politics today, but here are the changes noted after a bit more than one AXA Time Unit, which is 13 years. The first and most striking change is still in progress – – and it is a big Mall, with a big movie theater and (gasp!) a promised Drug Store. Wow! Anguilla, bride of quietness, is going suburban. That means, of course, that despite the fact that the longest drive on the island, East to West (or, yes, vice-versa) is some 13 miles, we have a flood of new cars, and fellows driving them too fast, as everywhere. Again, suburbia. The roads are being re-surfaced, which is fine, but they are no wider, so congestion builds. We need more traffic lights, or else the House Steward here will be trapped in the Post Office lot and will be found on some weekend, desiccated, under a pile of old Time magazines.

Speaking of the Post Office, a while back an inventive Postmistress created "Home Shopping", which is a U.S. freight forwarding address in Florida where mail, magazines, and packages can be sent for eventual appearance here. But, the service is so popular that the shelves are overflowing and the wait in line to get the goods is stretching to 30 or 40 minutes, causing public rumbles of discontent. The system, largely left over from the British Raj, is jointly handled by the Postal and the Customs authorities, requiring some six pieces of paper to get the package, pay the forwarding charge, pay customs duty, get receipts, and sign for the stuff in a tattered cloth-bound ledger of certified 19th century provenance. In short, the P.O. needs more staff, more space, and a new filing system.

And then, we have the construction boom: Anguilla is now not just a friendly island, but a high-end destination for glitterati. A big golf course is under way and promised soon, with what rumor says is to be a $700 greens fee. The golf course has attached villas and a big hotel, and the villas start in the six figures, not the low six figures, and we are not talking E.C. dollars either. Two other very large developments are under way, one with a marina for your yachts, if you have such. Also, the supply of large rental villas is growing – we are talking six bedrooms and $30-50K and up a week. Private villas of similar size proliferate, as do condo groupings. Anguilla is in! Anguilla is booming!

The high-end influx is fertilizing Anguilla's famed restaurants a treat. This island has food to boast of, and new establishments are opening. The OO, always willing to sacrifice in the public interest, is eating up a storm in order to test and report. This public service carries two threats, one to the waistline, obviously. The other threat is to the wallet, since prices are rising, particularly for wine – prices of $80 and $90 a bottle are common, and both appetizers and main dishes, while delicious, escalate in price by 15% or so a year. A good thing the U.S. Federal Reserve isn't watching here; they'd detect inflation, all right.

Now, what about stores? No Wal-Mart yet, no Saks (sex, yes, but no Saks), and alas, no huge computer-electronics stores, although there are sproutings. But, where an AXA Unit back we had a phone monopoly, now we have three providers on island, and of course everybody uses the internet for overseas calls. The entire Staff is baffled by the epidemic of cell phones. What is everyone talking about, anyway? We are celled to the brim and overflowing. It's progress, maybe, and we still have those 30 or so fine beaches. Come see.

Next time: Cross-talk [OO #660]

| Printer-friendly page | Send this article to a friend |

Home