I was just outside doing a bit of gardening. Here, south of the Equator, we are approaching our Winter Solstice - the Poinsettias are turning red! I noticed a neighbor outside, a guy from Rotuma. I remember that, about 2 1/2 years ago, he took his wife and kids back to Rotuma to see his mother "one last time". The trip from Suva takes three and a half days on a rickety old freighter, Jack London would have loved it. I just now asked him about how Rotuma had changed since he left to study Refrigeration in Suva as a young man. He said the Copra sheds have all fallen into disrepair, nobody wants to invest in Rotuma...because the sea is rising. No prompting from me, those were his exact words.

Now, if anything, Rotuma is even MORE inconsequential than Tuvalu is. But, who cares about a few canaries, anyway, hey, Ric?