Welcoming 2015

Well Christmas has flashed by! George duly arrived early on Sunday 21st December! We were of course waiting on the Wharf for him to clear immigration and customs, along with Roy and Jill (Chief Secretary and his wife) who were also welcoming their son William to the Island for a second time. George and William were shipmates and would also be on their return trip in January.
Henry was delighted to have his big brother on the Island and straight away George and Henry decided to climb Jacobs Ladder (699 steps). I was far more sensible and jumped in the car to meet them at the top. They made it although I think George found it harder than he thought it would be!

On arrival at Spring Knoll, Smudge was beside herself on seeing George. She spent most of the next two weeks close by his side. Having introduced George to the Jamestown shops and our regular Plantation Forest dog walk, we spent the next couple of days preparing for Xmas, although we did also manage to get in a trip to Sandy Bay! Christmas Eve was spent at Donny’s.

We had some friends over for Xmas lunch and another turned up in the evening, so it was a very relaxed affair, pretty much stress free. On Boxing Day we visited friends and after a pleasant time we returned to feed and water the doggies.
We’d booked a trip to Lemon Valley with water sports for the Sunday. In the end we had around 30 people come along and we had a lovely day courtesy of Keith, Kyle and Craig Yon.

I even ventured onto the doughnut water ride, although I did remind Keith that I was yet to pay him for the day and I may choose not to if I was ‘dunked’! There were lots of tired nut happy faces leaving the Valley late afternoon. The day was not yet over though as Henry, along with Sophie and Laura O’Keefe had to perform at the fourth and final Carol Concert – luckily at St Paul’s Cathedral, so close to our home at 6pm! So a quick shower and change, then on to the next event. We all slept very well that night, exhausted from the day’s activities.
The next few days brought of course New Year’s Eve (or Old Year’s Night as they say here) where once again we celebrated with friends in various locations. We also took George to ‘Ball Alley’ where the landscape is akin to Mars, well at least what I imagine Mars to look like!
New Year’s Day was spent at the ‘seaside’ where George and Henry swam to the wreck of the Papanui in James Bay.
The last couple of days included completing the St Helena ‘Three Peak Challenge’ and a farewell barbeque on the veranda.
It’s a sad day when you bid farewell to loved ones, so it was with a heavy heart (and a sulking Smudge) that we saw George off on his return trip via Ascension.