Noumea, New Caledonia: We are moored in this port city, the capital of this French colony. The last time we were here was in October of 2017. We hear there is unrest as some locals want independence from France.
A possible motivation: to take advantage of Chinese largess, which several other island nations have gladly accepted. This latter-day successor to the “cargo cult” makes sense here.
I was just outside on the balcony and noticed that the air did not feel “tropical,” which is to say not soupy-humid. The hills up behind the city are not jungle-clad either. It appears Noumea is a micro climate area that is semi-arid.
In the days when colonies were being established this relatively dry area would have been healthier - less malaria, fewer mosquitos - as well as more comfortable in those pre-air conditioning times. I haven’t a clue how such a place can exist in the tropics. The Kona coast has some of these same characteristics.
—————
It was just my luck to be on a cruise while the most fun election in a decade or more was happening. To make it worse, four of our 8 table mates at supper are nice Canadians who can’t be expected to be more than mildly interested in our US elections. Add the US couple with whom we are traveling having a Trump hating wife so politics has been off the agenda at supper.
The other DrC and I mostly agree on politics so we’ve celebrated in private. Meanwhile I have spent many hours on the iPad reading about the election, the returns, and Trump’s appointments. It looks like he has made a good start on filling the “serves-at-will-of-POTUS” positions.
I was struck with the Senate choosing John Thune as the new soon-to-be-majority leader. The MAGA favorite Rick Scott was washed out on the first round of voting. The Senate has its own culture, shaped to a large extent by Mitch McConnell who’s been grooming Thune as his replacement.
