Tag Archives: Guernsey

March 10, 2011 · 12:52 pm

Poignant Parallels – The Wanderlust of Islanders

Are you an islander full of wanderlust or are you just content to live on your island home? Are you living on an island watching planes go by and wondering where they are going to, imagining places the other side of the water or on mysterious distant shores? Do you hallucinate a Big Mac or dream of John Lewis Department Store? (mind you the best burger I ever tasted was at the burger van near Alderney harbour which also sells delicious fresh fruit smoothies to wash down their island reared meat!)

 There is a weird dichotomy between those islanders who hate to leave the island of their birth and those who can’t wait to do so.  Unknowingly I explored this conflict in my novel Riduna, but soon realised that this is as true for today’s islanders as it was in Harriet and Edward’s time (the main hero and heroine of my novel) This desire to explore the world to see what it has to offer and the frustrations at home of isolation and lack of perceived opportunities. And what happens to those who are left behind?

I don’t know whether you watched or are watching the series Island Parish, but what struck me is the universal truth that islanders are a resilient and resourceful bunch of folk, ever creating and recreating opportunities for themselves. They seem to be able to tap into resources from deep within and have an ever optimistic view of life.

Maybe it’s because deep down they appreciate that they live in paradise. After all, it’s what many of us here on the mainland dream of. A place without traffic jams, supermarket queues or large urban industrial estates.

Which are you? Full of wanderlust- content with your island home- or dreaming of living on that paradise isle somewhere?

© Diana Jackson March 10th 2011

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March 4, 2011 · 6:28 pm

Curious Coincidences

It was while I was researching the historical background for Riduna and my parents continued to discover more information about our family tree that we experienced some strange coincidences.

Curious but True – On one occasion my parents were visiting Guernsey. They had booked up through their local travel agent to stay at a small hotel in St Peter Port. As they visited records offices and studied various census records they discovered to their surprise that the hotel they were staying in was in fact once owned by distant relatives and was the place where my Great Grandfather Jackson lived when he returned to Guernsey a few years before he died.

Even more curious – The coincidences continued a year later when I planned to travel on the slow boat to the Channel Islands. No, not the slow boat to China but close! It takes 7 hours to Guernsey and you are still passing The Isle of Wight an hour out of Portsmouth, but for me it was the closest experience to travelling in the Nineteenth Century and even now it is the only truly reliable link with the mainland throughout the whole winter. (Of course you can travel by Fast Catfrom Weymouth or Poole these days if you don’t want to fly)

I was travelling on my own (Guernsey, in fact The Channel Islands are fantastic holiday destinations if you are a lone traveller!) and so found a Christian Guest House on the outskirts of the town centre, but in easy, albeit hilly walking distance. On continuing my research I discovered that Les Cotills, where I was staying at that time, was once a convent with a nursing home, hospital wing attached and I was astonished to discover that it  was the actual place where my Great Grandfather Jackson died.

How curious is that! 

 

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February 28, 2011 · 10:39 am

More Guernsey Book Reviews – Memories of visits in Days Gone By

Four lovely little books I found in a second hand bookshop in St Peter Port are:

Guernsey in Queen Victoria’s Regn and Guernsey Folklore

I first picked up two in the series of ‘Guernsey Historical Monographs’ republished in 1986 from original texts in1847 & 1860. There is nothing better than to read history through the eyes of those who were there! I love the dialogue, for example of the boys on the docks jostling for custom with the arrival of travellers from the steamer. Inside these gems are many more precious glimpses into Guernsey’s past.

John Skinner’s visit to the Channel Islands August 1827

This vivid account of John Skinner’s travels is illustrated by beautiful engravings. I don’t think you can match reading descriptions for example:

‘the Peasants, their cheerful looks, and independent, yet respectful manners, bespeak of happiness: there seems however a want of wood in the Island, which our driver (horse and trap) endeavoured to account for by saying, all the trees of any size, were cut down during the war to build Privateers…’

Memoires de Guernsey 1885 by Claudine L’Abbe

How delightful this is, with its flowing muses and wonderful descriptions:

‘’How well I remember La Rue des Cornets. As a child it captured my imagination and filled my mind with wonder…… Then came a perilous flight of stone steps leading to the water’s edge, a relic of old privateering days……..After this came the sensation of the times and the rendezvous of epicures and gourmets.’

Anyone who’s been to St Peter Port will be transported in their mind back to the quaint cobbled streets and even smell the delights from the restaurants and cafes looking over the harbour towards Castle Cornet.

If you have your own personal memories of a visit to Guernsey, it would be lovely to hear from you too!

© Diana Jackson 28/02/2011

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