28th February. Sun.Sand and Squid.

Our last night on Phuquoc we were shown to a particularly fine table overlooking the sea and the just discernable red glow of the sun, now set. We ate an entree of bolied squid-rubber pieces, which I have become quite accustomed to.

The bright lights of the squid fishing boats lay strung out like a string of pearls across the blackness beyond the fringe of coconut palms.

This morning from the vantage of our early pre-flight balcony breakfast the last squid fisher turns off his lights. The floatilla of small boats head towards harbour across the grey sea in the grey light of approaching dawn.

Lacking the necessary cognitive ability to establish any belief regarding cause and effect the squid are condemned to forever fall for the same old trick with the lights. It's widely held that a pattern of causal thinking precedes, and indeed is, a prerequisite for language development.

For instance, a young squid will never ask "What are those lights for?" Similarly an older and wiser squid will never advise " Whatever you do don't go near the lights - you've been warned!"