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Yes. Every guesthouse on the island is on the council's own local register, in addition to whatever licensing it holds nationally, which we note and do not assess.

It is free, it takes twenty minutes at the counter, and it exists for three practical reasons: your waste rate, the water planning, and having a number to ring at two in the morning. The council does not grant or refuse a licence to operate. That is not ours to give.

Beds occupied, nights sold and staff living on the island, due on the fifth. It can be a message, a note at the counter or a word at the jetty desk, and it takes two minutes.

It sets your waste rate for the month, so a quiet month costs less. A return that has not arrived by the tenth is chased once. Three months with no returns and the council charges at your full registered bed count until they start again.

Four things, and the council prints the cards. The visitor beach is on the east side and has its own arrangement about dress. Shoulders and knees are covered everywhere else, including the roads, the jetty and the shops. Outdoor music stops at eleven and nothing happens on the beach after eleven. And alcohol is not sold or permitted anywhere on this island.

Cards are free, come in four languages, and there are more at the office whenever you run out.

On one of the eight moorings off the north side, not on the jetty. Two hundred rufiyaa a month for a boat registered to this island, four hundred for one that is not, paid at the office. Six of the eight are taken and the list is at the counter.

Coming alongside to pick up and set down is fine and should take ten minutes rather than an hour. The corner nearest the ramp is kept clear for the ambulance boat at all times.

Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday from six. Food waste, bottles and tins in one bag, everything else in another. Garden waste on the Thursday round. Fifty rufiyaa a month per household.

Guesthouses are collected every morning including Friday and pay by the occupied bed instead, which is why household collection has stayed at three mornings and at fifty rufiyaa.

Because the plant was sized for a thousand people and in that month the island holds about one thousand six hundred and forty, counting visitors and seasonal staff.

The council publishes the day's production and the previous day's draw on the board outside the office every morning, so you can see it rather than wonder. In the tightest fortnight the guesthouses fill their own tanks between midnight and five. The plant belongs to the utility, and meters and bills are matters for them.