First Days

Well having dragged Andy and Henry round The Castle (where my office base is) and introduced him to numerous work colleagues, ex-pat, neighbours and Saint, they are now faced with meeting some of the neighbours – As it’s Monday a fair few are at work, so firstly we pop over to see Hazel and Deanna. They are off back to the UK for a holiday (as are most Piccolo residents over the coming months) It’s unlikely we will return to the UK until later next year as my brother is threatening to get married and I’d quite like to be there! Deanna will be in the sixth form at Prince Andrew School, a year above Henry so I am sure they will be good friends. Bob another neighbour is also at home, so more introductions take place. Following tea and cake, it’s time to drive back into Jamestown to collect the hold baggage. Well I’ve actually given them 4 hours rather than the 2 they advise – everything is sloooooooooooow in St Helena! By the time we get back into Jamestown it’s 1 o’clock. We wander along the promenade to the security check point (well man in a hi-viz!) I enquire about the availability of hold luggage to collect. He just looks at me and smiles – ‘Not yet M’am, try later’ Now having driven down I’d quite like to know when ‘later’ is so I persuade him to let us past and we wander into the chaos that is ‘baggage arrival’ After quizzing a customs officer it is clear that the baggage will be sometime – they are prioritising vehicle containers! This is also the first ship in from Ascension since it went into dry dock some weeks earlier so there is more shipments to be landed than usual. We decided to take a tour of the shops! As we walk across Grand Parade and venture up Main Street, heads are turning to check out the ‘new arrival’ As I said earlier everybody knows everybody else literally so newbies stand out! Andy asks me how I know so many people after such a short time – answer is I don’t, but almost everyone you pass in the street says ‘Hello’ and of course you return the greeting. When you are driving everyone waves whether they are on foot or going the other way in a vehicle. I can’t tell you how happy that makes you feel by the time you arrive at work to have waved, smiled and said hello to a dozen or more people before 8.30 in the morning! After being impressed by the shops (yes that’s not a misprint – Andy thought it was much better than he had imagined) we grab some pizza slices from one of the shops and proceed back down to the quay – it’s almost 3 now so that makes 7 hours since unloading commenced. The same cheeky chappie is on the security – ‘Not Yet M’am’ he informs me again. We get past him back to luggage control and get chatting to another Customs Officer. He is really helpful and when our bags finally appear an hour or so later, he does the necessary searches and custom clearance for our belongings and we are free! We load everything back into the car for yet another hair-raising drive back up the mountain – I’m used to it now, plus had the added bonus of driving a hire car for a month. I did ask Andy if he wanted to drive, but he declined! There’s always tomorrow!