Presidential activity. Overseas territories. Strange “sports”.

Joe Biden is no longer running for a second term in office. This gives people chance to write about what a good bloke he is really and all the supposedly good things he has done. So far, nobody seems to have stood up and said he shouldn’t continue as president until the end of his current term. And so he has welcomed Benjamin Netanyahu, who has spoken at length to Congress and received a ridiculous number of standing ovations! The world is an oddly dangerous place.

French Polynesia was in the news recently, reminding me that France still has “pays d’outre-mer” - overseas countries. I still find it strange that in the 21st century France “owns” places so far away and still maintains control over justice, security and public order, currency, defence and foreign policy. But then we have the Falkland Islands. As a British overseas territory, the Falklands have internal self-governance, but the United Kingdom takes responsibility for their defence and foreign affairs. So let’s not get all  huffy about Franc controlling a place so far away

What got me started on this was reading this article about Teahupo’o, Tahiti, which will host the 2024 Paris Olympic surfing event. Not exactly Paris but, hey! what’s in a name. I suppose it would be hard to recreate Teahupo’o’s “magical” tunnel wave on the River Seine.And presumably the places where surfers go off the coast of France don’t quite fit the bill.

The village has changed over decades from fishing village to aa surfing place because of their wave. Some local people, such as Léon Estall, 33, a professional fisher, cannot see the economic benefits for the village. “It’s not the local population here who are making much money from this,” he says, while working his side job selling coconuts to tourists on the roadside. “Unfortunately, the money is going elsewhere. We’re a bit heartbroken about that.”

That seems to be increasingly the cry of people who love in tourist places, mostly not quite so remote as Teahupo’o. So much for progress!

Besides, who even knew that surfing was an Olympic sport. But it seems to me that if beach volleyball is an Olympic sport (which apparently is the  case) then why not surfing?

Thinking of competitive sport, here’s a link to an article about a young man who is known as the ‘Godfather of Competitive Eating’. What a strange way to seek fame and fortune. Come to that, what a strange way to earn a living, let along grow rich! And yet, Takeru “Tsunami” Kobayashi is described as competitive eating’s first elite athlete and can eat 50 hot dogs in 10 minutes. Quite why anyone would want to (unless the prize money is very good) defeats me. Besides he suffers from arthritis of the jaw from so much chewing!

The world is crazy in many ways!

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!