News From The Far Side

I'd been wondering about the fate of the 269 Tristan da Cunha's islanders whom, affected by an acute virus, last December were seeking emergency medical aid (read more here)

Since, as the saying goes no news is good news, and I had not come across any mention of the island since then, I assumed all was well.

But just to be sure I looked up the island's web site and was relieved to hear "the flu virus, and its asthmatic side effects, are now well on the ebb. All hospital patients (including those there for other reasons) have been discharged. All public health measures referred to in my Public Notice have been suspended and the community is getting on with its traditional Break Up tasks."

Despite the 14,000 hits the web site proudly displays (most probably enhanced by news that all was not well in the island), we read the subsequent note: "see below for further details of a flu outbreak which Tristan took in its stride, but which brought the community into unwanted international media attention".

Alright, that serves me well for being too nosy.

It's not unheard of and perfectly understandable that small and remote communities tend to shy away from too much attention.

However, the news from Tristan da Cunha (named afte the Portuguese explorer Tristão da Cunha) does make compelling reading.

We get to learn about the difficulty of finding mates but moved by news of couples finding each other and getting married, babies getting christened and those leaving others behind.

We are impressed by the arrangements put in place to minimise the spread of the flu virus.

We feel for those affected by the fire in the island's fish processing factory and sorry for the organizers and celebrants of Valentine's Day, whose day got cancelled (although I'm not at all sure that dessert looked safe enough to eat - but a cheap menu it is though!)

All due to the remoteness of this island, where TV, radio, Internet and satellite mean nothing if drugs can't be shipped in time to save lives.

Until Ryanair gets there, that is...!

And talking of travel and remote islands, the Faroe Islands are pretty high on my list of difficult places to visit, after Barbara by Faroese writer Jørgen-Frantz Jacobsen (at least the Faroe Islands are accessible from London and Birmingham in the Summer and Copenhagen throughout the year on Atlantic Airways!)