Put yourself back in the dark ages, the time before the Internet took off–say, the 1970s–and ask: What was the environment for creativity then?

As the storm, described by the National Hurricane Center as “potentially catastrophic,” moved toward the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico on Tuesday, little could be learned about the conditions on Dominica. By early Tuesday morning, phone and internet signals on Dominica appeared to be down, leaving the island virtually incommunicado.

Eldridge closed the despatch-case with a snap and, rising briskly, walked down the corridor to his solitary table in the dining-car. Mulligatawny soup, poached turbot, roast leg of lamb—the usual railway dinner.

And of Mozaic Restaurant, an absolutely trumped-up Wine Spectator/Grandes Tables du Monde affair where tabs can run up to $100 or more that served food far less interesting and tasty than the $1.50 plates of nasi campur at the local restaurants called warungs.