time and tide wait for ... qui?

The arrival and departure of the Pm has done nothing to stop the tide of CHIK and the tropical depression, metaphorical and real that is swirling over the island.

But let us think of the poor Mons Villepin and the great risk he took in coming here :

"De Villepin at risk of illness after trip to epidemic isle"

633 squadrons fly-by for the PM

...apparently he got stung on the hand, once. Ohhh the poor lamb and what with 300 hundred or so police etc to protect him. Sweet Jesus! Get real!

To date 186,000 thousand people have "official" contracted the disease - those who have contracted it unofficially will no doubt be fined. There have been 93 CHIK related deaths, of which 53 directly. Of course the papers are having a jolly time spreading rumours, statistics and complete gobbledygook like strawberry jam on a sandwich for consummation by a population that is already suffering from gorging on the saccharine words of politicians and their fizzy pop platitudes.

Make the comparison between Europe’s' preparation for bird flu and its (well France's) total lack of preparation and understanding for CHIK - or is it now Dengue+CHIK? Granted we have now been offered lots of money, but for what? It would seem that it is to promote a publicity campaign to inform the masses against the threat of Mossies etc. As "Le Monde" rather cynically pointed out in its editorial last week, as 30% of the population are illiterate it would seem rather pointless. However, I do not trust their stats. and the sight of all the buses with huge mosquitoes on their butts declaring "Together against Chikungunya" is certainly cause for a smirk.

It is enough to turn one into a radical independentist. Come to think of it where are all those independentists? The "Lonely Planet" guide rather lamentingly complains that even the communist party is "pro-colonist". This talk of neo-colonialism could lead to a very long rant, but as it is Sunday and it has been raining for 48 hours I shall point you in the direction of the only pro-independence journal on the island that I know of - www.lorenione.info

It is still raining and all this rain will probably wash all that insecticide into the lagoon - this of course will be a relief to some, especially those poor kids who were intoxicated at their primary school earlier this week due to an "error of communication". It is probably not very good news for the environment, and in case you haven't worked it out yet, we are part of the environment...

the lagoon this week before the arrival of Diwa

Mind you, at last, someone has come out and said that the "lutte contre le moustique" is a complete waste of both time and money :

Démoustication inutile | Jeudi 2 mars 2006

Le déluge d'insecticides en tous genres délivré sur le département est inutile. Les larves de moustiques sont contaminées sur cinq générations. Les opérations de lutte anti- vectorielle s'apparentent à “de la politique cosmétique”. René Le Berre, entomologiste de renommée internationale, met les pieds dans le plat dans une interview de l'agence de presse Destination Santé !

Now, why can't I write like that?

Mme. Le Berre goes on to say that, "Là on est en retard. C'est de la politique cosmétique. Il faut montrer qu'on est là, agir (pour agir), donner de l'argent. Par exemple, le gouvernement va distribuer des répulsifs. Or dans un climat chaud et humide comme celui de la Réunion, ces produits ne vont agir que trois heures au maximum."

"La seule chose que l'on puisse faire et que l'on fait très bien d'ailleurs, c'est d'empêcher les moustiques de se développer. C'est-à-dire qu'il faut assécher tous les gîtes larvaires créés par l'homme".

You can hear an interview with the above thanks to "Déstination Santé by following this link to their site - http://www.destinationsante.com/sounds/mp3/chikungunya.mp3

Which brings us all back to where we started from - it is out fault!

It is still raining. But then in order to lighten the load, let us talk of of merrier things. I went to a murder party last week and unfortunately for you I was not to be the victim. It was all jolly fun even if my esteemed friend described my performance as "enthusiastic" which makes me think more of Tommy Cooper than Hugh Grant... Pahf, but thanks to Andrew and you can find my site of the evening here.