Tristan Da Cunha, Here I Come...

I have my found my retirement spot.

I subscribe to the Lonely Planet podcast series. The latest entry concerns the remotest island in the world-Tristan Da Cunha. It's a British protectorate about halfway between Montevideo, Uruguay, and Cape Town, South Africa. You have to take a supply ship out of Cape Town to get there, and the populaton is only 269 people. Taxes amount to about 3 pounds sterling per islander (US$4.50 at the current exchange rate), and lobster is abundant and about 80p (US$1.20). The island derives most of its living from crayfish and lobster. They have all the modern amenities; an internet newspaper, British Forces Television (from the Falklands), and a hospital. There is virtually no tourism. Sounds good. The downside, you ask? The weather can be brutal, so brutal that the Cape Town supply ship sometimes has to turn around and head back, and passengers can't disembark. Oh, and the island is volcanic. It last erupted in 1961, and all of the islanders were evacuated to the mother country. Despite their exposure to London in the swinging sixties, all of them came back eventually. And who would blame them? There is no crime on the island, you don't need a car, and you can make a living off fishing. It's like being Robinson Crusoe, but still having civlization within a reasonable distance. I'm going to start looking for property.