The daily emails from Lance in Vanuatu.

Before we came to Vanuatu in 2016, I asked someone who travels here regularly (at least up to February 2020!) what he thought we should bring with us.  He advised us to "bring everything!"  As it turned out, this was not entirely a good idea. The rest of this email is partly lessons,...

You could already be missing out on... The opportunity to lock in a better future for your family and yourself. The scene of this world is changing, without letup. Please, don't leave things up to chance… or worse yet, in the hands of others. Once I got free myself, I created...

On my trip to town yesterday afternoon I realised how many things have become unremarkable to me.  First, because my car was at the mechanic still, I got a lift in with a neighbour (remember we live a fair way out of town). This occasion was only the second time I had met this particular...

Remember "Community spirit?" Friends of ours live in an estate outside Port Vila. Today some volunteers from the community are cleaning up the entrance. (i.e. trimming the bushes around the entrance wall and sign) This is the kind of thing that goes on here... a few residents pitching in to...

Some of the most famous military commanders in history used tactical withdrawals when they weren’t comfortable with battle conditions. Do an internet search for "tactical withdrawal" and you will find dozens if not hundreds of examples where armies fell back, only to win the war down the...

To paraphrase and mangle a poster I saw once... All elected leaders suddenly grow intelligence, backbones, and consciences. All those on social media set aside their differences and find common ground. The media starts presenting truth without bias. All of this brings an era of...

You may have seen the news that a Nigerian and his wife have been operating a giant Ponzi scheme. It's reported that last week they absconded, leaving Nigeria for the UK with some USD54 million of investor's funds. What has really got some journalists frothing at the fingertips though is that...

Yesterday's electrical storms seem to have knocked out our local mobile phone tower. It's a pain because while it's down you can't ring them to report it so they can fix things. Line phones are available, but most people are happy to use only a mobile, which is normally fine. So this morning...

Yesterday as I drove to Port Vila central district, I noticed smoke coming from under the bonnet ("hood" for you Americans) of my car. I parked the car in a restaurant parking lot close to my first stop and popped the bonnet. The problem was easy to see. I figured I would need some spanners I...

I've noticed that human beings tend to make bad decisions when we’re emotional, most particularly when that emotion is fear. I'm sure you can look at embarrassing examples from your own life - I can - when you've reacted rashly in fear, instead of pre-acted in coolness. The result was way...