Outlaw Visitors Get “Free” Housing.

It’s 2500 miles from here to the U.S.mainland . . . and that’s just to California. It’s another 2,000–3,000 miles to mainland cities in the mid-west and on the east coast. Our governor, David Ige, has issued orders that visitors arriving here will be quarantined for 14 days . . . and that means confined to their hotel rooms.

It’s probably not surprising that many arriving tourists don’t believe that the governor really means it. Surprise! He does. Local newspapers have stories every day about people who are apprehended lounging on the beach or wandering among the shops in Waikiki .

The first time they’re caught violating their quarantine, they are lectured and returned to their hotel rooms—note: not to their hotel, to their hotel rooms—and admonished to stay there. Still there are those who don’t get the message.

At last count, there where more than 30 people sitting in various jail cells around the state after being picked up a second time. Many of these folks were caught because they had been posting reports of their “vacation” activities on Facebook and—Guess what?—there is an informal group of people here who monitor the internet, noting Facebook pages and email messages informing relatives on the mainland what the scofflaws are doing and where they’re going. It’s a productive way to spend time waiting for this damned virus to go away!

In the meantime, I’m going through more than a dozen years of postings on this blog and have decided to take 30 of the better ones, being careful to be sure there’s a good mix of subject matter, with some occasional opinions added for spice . . . and turn it all into a book. So far I’m quite pleased with how it’s turning out. I’ll keep everyone informed.

In the meantime, stay safe . . . and stay away from here for the time being.