I am feeling good.

(Read time – 2 Coronas and a bowl of chicken wings)

I am at something of a watershed moment.

Not just because I am sat in the shade of my shed, looking at the water… ok, full disclosure… I actually mean under the canopy of my villa, staring in amazement at the white sand, contrasting with the turquoise and then dark blue of the Indian Ocean, while Seaplanes make their arrival and minutes later departures with other lucky so and so’s. I’m sure you’d agree my reality is far more impressive than any sort of shed, but a ‘Villaoacean’ moment makes no sense whatsoever, and as even my analogies go, would be quite crap.

I’ve been away from my blog for a while, as my world has changed substantially, but notably so has the wider world. So I’ll get straight to the elephant in the room. Who would have ever thought we’d ever be back for Trump 2.0.

It never fails to amaze me just how much the world, and more specifically its people, can amaze me. I also find it quite incredible how the United States, the self-proclaimed leader of the ‘free world’ can now push such bigoted and decidedly provocative moves (I doubt this is just noise) upon the world. Just to be clear, I have spent a lot time in the US, and have many friends there, and I do hope to return there one day… But, and not to be unpopular, merely to pose a question – which nation poses the greatest threat to world peace, and securing a safe, balanced political and economic future? I am sure we could sit and discuss at great length over a Bud Light, or even an American coffee (the term Americano will be outlawed under Donalds next motion) as there’s some punchy candidates on the list. But when the leader of the free-world decides they want to take over anything that looks remotely interesting to their sole interests, I do have to wonder who is genuinely the worst out there?

Putting aside some of the rhetoric and posturing, I find the current US stance on trade most interesting (bizarre) – where the intent or goal doesn’t really seem clear. I can only assume it’s to ‘make America, Buy American’, while they then just take Panama and Greenland by force. Other than Franks Red Hot (Buffalo) Sauce (to which I am quite addicted – and trust me, you should try it with Lasagne… I am not joking, it’s incredible!), I can’t actually think of anything that the American’s produce that I consume, and nor do I actually believe I am vastly different to anyone else outside of America, Canada, or other places that drive their awful vehicles. As I sit here drinking a Corona that was actually produced in Mexico, with genuine Canadian maple syrup all over my breakfast (some poetic license here!), and I am sure when I get home I’ll be firing up my Broil King BBQ (Fabrique en Canada – and perfect for February in the UK) while I sip some fine Mexican tequila. Would reciprocal tariff’s on American produce make any difference to non-Americans buying American? I am not sure.

I read yesterday that Mr Trump also believes the world should be buying more American vehicles. There is a VERY distinct problem with this, in that, they are as efficient, and as well handling, as a kitchen Aga. I’ve driven many and always leave with the same impression that the designers are, perhaps rightly so, focused on their home nation user base… where roads are built in straight lines and any ‘bends’ coincide with the need to refuel, which costs about the same as the water that falls from the sky. Surprise your average American car with a real corner and it will do a very good impression of an oil tanker in a heavy sea. Try and run one with UK or European fuel prices and you’ll need a second job just to pay for the fuel to get to your first job. I’ve driven many. They are truly awful – and that’s why the American market loves German cars – because they are brilliant.

My last Levi’s were made in the Far East, my last Budweiser was brewed in Europe, and my Apple products are all produced in China. I’m not in any position to buy a space-craft, which between NASA, SpaceX, and Amazon (Blue Origin) the US clearly also build a lot of. Boeing have also taken a step into this space (excuse the pun) which can’t exactly be considered successful where the first manned trip tuned from an 8 day stay on the ISS, into 8 months, with the spacecraft returning to earth, unmanned, with another Boeing quality issue. This is comparable to my late fathers brand new Alfa (Romeo) 90 that spent 7 of the 9 months we owned it in the garage ‘being fixed’… it had wonderful gimmicks, a beautiful engine, but was sadly held together with string and assembled by a man wearing a blindfold. I do know that Boeing aircraft are a key American export, and are pretty important to global aviation… but they are, if we’re to heed the warnings of the whistleblowers that are left, and haven’t died in mysterious circumstances, filled with quality issues and almost certainly going to kill us all who aren’t dressed as astronauts. I do hope the 787 Dreamliner that is taking me home tomorrow wasn’t one that rolled of the Boeing production line on a Friday afternoon, shortly before someone called 1-800-BLOW-YOUR-WHISTLE.

These are all perhaps moderate long standing economic / political considerations and arguments in the bigger scheme of things… more problematic and disappointing to me is Mr Trump’s reversal of efforts to promote diversity, equity and inclusion. What are we really supposed to take from this? Clearly in any world where we, as a human race, are going to survive (I can’t say thrive, more later), tolerance, acceptance and support for anyone who isn’t doing ‘bad things’ is one of the most important contributions that ‘the Free World’ can make. I also understand the desire (and need) for some contrast in politics and even life in general, but can’t help wonder if there is indeed a better way… Forget Democrats, forget Republicans, forget Conservatives and Labour… this is surely the time for the populous to get their shit together, and Liberal to be the new cool. Don’t get me wrong, Liberalism will not save the planet, but it will certainly make it a lot more fun for the majority while we live out what is left.

And this brings me rather clumsily, to the far more cruel irony of the current situation and future of the planet (and why we will not ‘thrive’), that I can see perfectly well while sitting on a small island in the Indian Ocean, where the highest elevation of the entire island is a whole 1.5 meters above sea level. The future is not bright, it’s at best not good, and more likely bloody terrifying. As (one of) the most powerful nation in the world turns their back on global climate policy, health organisations, charity and even relationships with key allies – the planet and humankind is – and I’m sorry to say this – completely screwed.

I am in the Indian Ocean, because I am celebrating, and what better way to celebrate than coming to paradise. But moreover, I am here because my partner and I both know that if we hadn’t come now, it might not actually be here when we want to come in the future. A sea level rise equivalent to immeasurable damage to the island that I am on might be, at my latest estimation – based on nothing more than my own guesswork – would be the result of me alone installing an Aga in my kitchen, and swapping my electric car for a Ford Mustang. Not that me not doing these things will save this and many other islands (though yesterday I did head out into the sea to retrieve plastic bottles, and relocate the wildlife attached to it too…) it’s going to take a lot more action than me not doing something, from everyone.

Some very clever scientists looking deep into space have found and named Asteroid 2024 YR4, which has a 2% chance of striking Earth in 2032, and I do wonder whether this is actually the divine intervention we all need. We forget how privileged our time on this earth actually is… as an individual for sure, but moreover as a race. We certainly don’t deserve to be here forever, and I am sure that the future will be what it will be – Nature will decide and the strongest will survive – and since it is only the human race intelligence and ingenuity that has brought any sort of resilience… we are in real terms as fragile as the Dodo. We need a reset… with so few, being so powerful, and deciding the fate of so many, I put it to you that the best thing that could actually happen for the planet is a natural reset with a hooking great asteroid (technical science term) sorting it all out for us… and making Earth V+1. I recognise the inevitability and discomfort of this, and sincerely hope I’m not here when it eventually does happen (it is not an IF)… but natural selection and evolution has got us this far, and it will certainly define the future of humankind and the planet we call home.

All of that said, and while I do find the future bloody terrifying this is my watershed (and Ocean Villa) moment where I am celebrating my life V+1. The world will continue to change, physically, politically and economically, and our lives, both as humanity and individuals, will continue to evolve. Mine certainly has, and as I start this next chapter of my story, despite todays blog presenting an incredibly gloomy (realistic) outlook, I do genuinely believe that (borrowing unashamedly)… it’s a new dawn, a new day, a new life…

And I am feeling good.