Friends All Over The World

Today is my very good friend Mandy’s birthday. It’s the second one I’ve missed since moving to St Helena Island and I am a little sad that I can’t be there to celebrate as we would have done in the past. We will make up for it when we meet up later in the year. Miss you matey x

We really do have friends everywhere these days. Friends in America, Australia, New Zealand, St Helena, Ascension to name but a few as well as good old Blighty too.
And friends who move away at the end of contract or to fulfill a work requirement. Hazel –When are you coming back?

Living so far away from many of our friends makes you realise who the true ones are. There’s some we don’t speak to for months, yet when we do speak, it’s like we’ve spoken every day. There are others who make the effort to speak to us on Skype or FaceTime occasionally and there are new friends to be made due to the constant churn of contracts starting and ending.
Gill contacted me through the Blog to find out about bringing a dog to St Helena Island. This was before she’d even got an interview. We hit it off straight away, so it was exciting to find out a few weeks later that she’d got the job. We corresponded regularly over many weeks, Gill asking questions and me trying to answer, but we got there and the container was packed up and shipped off in December arriving on Island next month after its epic journey across the North, Mid and South Atlantic. We even managed to Skype just before Xmas, giving Gill and partner Martin an insight into technology St Helena style!
In early January they began their journey to the Island, flying with the military from Brize Norton to Ascension, where the plane refuels before completing its flight to Mount Pleasant on the Falkland Islands. Spending a few days on Ascension watching turtles and socialising, before joining the RMS St Helena for the three night voyage to the Island, they were well adjusted by the time they arrived.
Arriving on a Friday morning meant it was compulsory to meet up later at Donny’s so Gill and Martin were given a whistle stop tour of the Island by Gill’s boss, Pam, introduced to their new home, given time to unpack, before meeting at Donny’s at a little after 4. So we all had a few drinks before heading off in different directions for the evening.
Gill and Martin are staying at Thompsons Hill – around 10 minutes from Spring Knoll, so we met on Saturday morning and drove into Jamestown for a tour of the shops. Andy went diving and Henry had gone to Lemon Valley with friends, so after an exciting morning ‘hunting and gathering’ AKA showing Martin the best places to buy various items, we met Andy for coffee.
Later that day Gill, Martin, Pam and Mike came round for dinner. Lovely end to a great day with new friends, watching the sun set on this beautiful island.