Living on St Helena Island South Atlantic - What is it really like????????

When I was first considering taking a job offer on the Island, like many before me (and probably since) I conducted vast amounts of research into island life, shopping, food, entertainment etc. Much of the information I found (including some of that supplied by St Helena Government) was considerably out of date. It would have been incredibly useful to have current accurate information, so I will try to give a fair and unbiased opinion to help others. This information is based as at July 2013. If you have read other posts, some of this information will be duplicated, but for completeness, I will repeat it here! Shopping! It has to be said it is very limited, but in some ways much more fun than in the UK. There are very few shops and those that do exist tend to sell a bit of everything. Some clothing exists (imported from places like Primark) but think one rail in a charity shop and you won’t be disappointed! Shoes are also in short supply, but if you were desperate and not fussy, you would be able to buy footwear. There are several shops where you can buy things like cards, souvenirs, trinkets and the like. The prices range from cheaper than the UK to 2 or 3 times the price. For example, I saw a long skirt from Primark today which was on sale for just under £20. I probably wouldn't pay more than £8-£10 for it at home. But on the other hand, there were some really trendy Puma trainers/ astro turf style boots for under £40 in a full range of sizes! Basic medicine is also available in several stores, so there is a readily available supply of paracetamol, ibuprofen, cold and flu remedies etc. There are also some things on the shelves here that you would have to get from the pharmacy or on prescription at home, such as Pholcodeine, diclofenac and others. They are not overly expensive either. I paid £2.00 for a bottle of Pholcodeine which is less than I’d pay in the UK. Other goods are also available most of the time. Availability seems to go in cycles here (usually dependent on how recently the RMS St Helena last visited) The RMS is currently in dry dock in Cape Town so currently on one of its longest periods away from the island. Fresh and frozen goods start to reduce in availability. I’m going to lose lots of weight because I won’t be eating much! Wrong! Some salad items and vegetables are grown locally, so these are available seasonally. I haven’t been able to get a cucumber for weeks, but found one this week. Tomatoes, lettuce and peppers are grown locally as are cabbages, broccoli and potatoes. Generally, the locally grown goods are an equivalent price to the UK. In actual fact is harder to get ‘healthy’ foods rather than the local specialities that usually involve a deep fat fryer. Naturally fish (again, seasonal) is often in abundance. Fresh Tuna and Wahoo – caught locally today is commonly available as are other fish such as Dorado and Conger Eel. I can only speak from experience when I say that Wahoo is more like chicken and tuna here is totally different as it is so fresh! Most fish is very cheap – You can get 6 tuna steaks, decent sizes, for £3.00 This brings me onto what you can’t get, or what you will pay a premium to buy! There are two main shops competing for your custom – Solomon’s – let’s call in Asda and Thorpe’s – let’s call it Tesco. So if you go to Solomon’s most of the cans, dry food, sauces etc. started life as Asda (even Smartprice is available, but often at the same price as regular goods) Some of it is even in date too! Solomon’s also stock an Iceland range. The frozen goods are anywhere from 100% to 150% mark-up due to the cost of importing. A £1.50 Iceland pizza sells here for £3.50, a £5.00 bag of chicken breasts is £10.00. It follows then that Thorpe’s stocks all things Tesco, including Tesco red label tea, coffee, Frosted Flakes etc. So what can’t you get? I suppose it depends how fussy you are. If you eat and shop like a local, there will always be something for dinner. If you want to replicate your eating and shopping habits in the UK, you might be disappointed. I have managed to find most things somewhere – it might take a bit of foraging and sometimes I have to wait a while to find it. Thai green curry paste was something I had to wait for, but when I did, it came in a large tub (probably enough for 6 months of curries) for £3.50. The only thing I can say is very expensive – if you can find it, is any diet sodas. Occasionally, you can get Diet Coke or Diet Sprite in cans, but the cans are over £0.70 each and no 2 litre bottles here. There are some strange full sugar sodas – Jive – a South African brand – bizarre flavours and no diet versions. There is no ‘proper’ milk here! That takes a bit of getting used to. The dairy herd was condemned by Brussels I understand for not meeting strict EU standards – a real shame as fresh milk would be a real bonus. Instead UHT is the order of the day. It’s really not too bad on cereal if it’s cold enough and it doesn’t notice too much in tea and coffee. Again it’s not cheap as it is all imported – around £1.50 for a 1 litre carton. The Island had become self-sufficient in eggs pretty much, but following the arrival of Basil Read contractors and the slowing down of the laying season, eggs go in fits and starts. Again for some reason today, having not seen many eggs at all, Solomon’s had local eggs as well as imported eggs on the shelves in abundance. Bread is baked locally, with rolls and loaves being available on baking days – commonly Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Most people order what they need in advance. This also ensures you will get some! Bread and rolls sell out quickly with the shelves often emptied by lunchtime. Alcohol is expensive and cheap depending what you buy – but mostly expensive! A half decent bottle of South African wine is around £8.00 - £10.00 a bottle. A bottle of Windhoek beer is around £1.50 as is a bottle of Savanna Cider. Spirits are very expensive if you want something familiar – A bottle of gin or scotch will set you back around £22.00 as duty is charged on all imported alcohol. There is a local distillery, producing a range of spirits from the Tungi cactus. Jamestown Gin, White Lion Rum, Tungi and Midnight Mist make up the range. The gin is nothing like gin, the rum is nothing like rum, Tungi is like Tungi – I suspect – and Midnight Mist is a coffee liqueur. But they range in price from £10.00 a bottle and would make an ok base for cocktails. Luckily, they sell a collectors pack that consists of 4 tiny bottles to try. Some people really like the various local spirits. I’m not sure I am one of them, but friends are big fans of the gin and rum versions. So is there anything you can’t buy? Probably not, if you are willing to either compromise on the variety – i.e. Frosted Flakes not Frosties, or willing to pay a big premium! I should also mention that it is relatively easy to shop on line at Tesco and Asda (non-perishables of course) and it will arrive on the Island around 8 weeks later. Some Ex-Pats do a bi-monthly shop and because of the mark-up (due to shipping costs) it doesn’t appear to cost any more than buying on the Island, with the added bonus of getting what you actually want! Personally, I think that takes the fun of the forage away and I like the challenge!

Good News at Last

I had a phone call (well Skype call actually) from my eldest son. I think despite all the bravado he might actually be missing me. To be fair, probably not me per se, but my cooking, cleaning, laundering facilities…

He wants to come out and visit! I am really pleased – he had been quite adamant that he wouldn’t come – partly because of the time required to travel to the Island, so to hear that he would actually like to visit is a revelation! I’ve already looked at the possibilities and am waiting for him to decide on dates.

The internet is flaky and inconsistent here – despite paying an arm and a leg for a substandard service, monopolised by one provider. There’s no mobile network either, although rumour has it, one might arrive next year!

I pay £110 a month for a ‘not always on, no notice of outage!’ 1Mb link to the outside world, with a 5500Mb up/download limit per month! I have regular issues with Skype, but voice Skyping is doable, but I am often disconnected randomly. In the last week the internet has been off on at least 4 occasions, mostly without warning (and mostly at the weekends too!) I rang the fault line on Saturday (again!) to be told there was a major problem and I would get a phone call when it came back on - I am still waiting for the phone call although the internet did come back for a while – it’s off again today. Still, looking on the bright side, it means I can’t use up my allowance – if you go over your allowance the financial penalties are huge – You don’t get ‘disconnected’ until you have reached double your allowance and if you get to that the penalty is £500 per month – ouch. If you use a lot of data, which I am likely to be doing once Henry and Andy arrive on Island (Henry is doing his A’Level’s via distance learning) I have been advised by other ex-pats to upgrade my ‘top’ package (or so I thought), by paying 2 lots of ‘Gold’ subscription – effectively upping it to £220 per month, but much less likely to go over the limit and incur outrageous penalties!

On an even happier note, in less than 3 weeks Andy and Henry will begin the journey to join me on St Helena. I have been crossing off the days and there have been moments when I thought I’d never get this close to being re-united.

But I love the Island, the life, the people and can’t wait for us to all be together again (albeit minus eldest for a while longer)

I do just need to mention Rachel, the young ex-pat working in the office. She must have been out of the office when I took photos early on and has commented that she is missing from my Blog, but she refuses to allow me to take her photo! There will be a picture up here soon, I am sure. I’ll get you Rachel, when you least expect it!!

Like now - Rachel is in a navy jacket at the back looking like she has 2 wings emerging from her head - Promise I'll take a better one soon Rach

A week of Up’s and Down’s

Last week Mrs Ethel Benjamin went missing on the Island. Her husband, Peter, works at the Castle as a caretaker. His wife’s  disappearance was a shock to everyone.    A search party was quickly organised and various areas of the Island were searched in attempts to locate Mrs Benjamin. Later in the day the searching commenced underwater particularly around James Bay. Several days later the searches were called off with no trace of her being found on the Island or in the surrounding waters. I was humbled by the amount of help and assistance readily given by many, many people who gave up their time to search on land or to dive the local Bay. Sadly, the wait goes on.

Several days later the RMS arrived from Cape Town – I watched from the quayside as a colourful selection of steel containers were manoeuvred from the RMS, anchored some distance out, via launches to the quayside and finally craned to land. One of those containers was carrying all my worldly goods and our car – I hoped! I’ve lived out of a suitcase for 6 weeks and although I have been supplied with a ‘transit’ pack (including a very old TV, bedding, crockery etc) it is not the same as having your own ‘stuff’

The wheels move slowly on St Helena, so I was not under any illusion that I would be claiming my possessions quickly. Twenty four hours later my work colleagues were getting more anxious than me! Annie called Customs to check my name was on the manifest – it was.  Following a flurry of phone calls, Customs advised me at lunchtime the following day that my goods had been landed and were awaiting clearance. ‘Clearance’ involves the customer (me) turning up with a detailed inventory stating the contents of each box. The customs officer then requests that the customer opens selected boxes and displays the content to ensure it matches the inventory. This can be some of the boxes or all of the boxes.

As I had a car to deal with too and Larry (man with a van) was out on the dive search, I opted to collect my possessions and clear customs the next day at 9 am. 

This was definitely a good move as the Wharf was quiet and nearing empty. Next morning, accompanied by fellow ex-pat friend, Paula, I wandered down to Customs. Paula and I made ourselves known to ‘security’ and I was immediately asked if I was there to collect a shiny new silver car with a top box! The car’s arrival was already noted and the topic of discussion by locals! (I was to be quizzed several more times during the day)

Having located my boxes in the warehouse, I was allocated a customs officer, who came over to go through my belongings.  The previous day, others had been asked to open almost every box and when there are 50-60 boxes, that’s a lot of stuff! I only had 12 boxes, 12 bags of dog food, a spare tyre and a set of golf clubs – referred to in an earlier blog all of their own! I opened around half my boxes, before we moved outside to look at the car.

We had crammed LOADS of ‘stuff’ in the car and Andy had reminded me lots of times about being cautious when opening the back – hence commandeering Paula to assist me! However, when the moment of truth arrived Paula was off chatting to Larry somewhere! I carefully opened the back and miraculously nothing fell out! At the back was a very ancient ironing board. Paula was curious as to why I had brought it rather than throwing it away and getting a new one. It was a wedding present given to my Mum and Dad in 1960 and cunningly incorporates a seat so you can sit down and iron!

The car was jam packed with ‘breakables’ Flat screen TVs, PC’s, monitors, glass units, guitars, ukuleles, amps etc, etc. and once Customs were satisfied that I had paid the necessary duty on goods and that I wasn’t smuggling contraband, I was allowed to unpack the car! Everything had to be taken out and loaded onto Larry’s truck for transportation to Piccolo Hill along with the 12 boxes, dog food, bed and mattress and so on. Larry and his mate Rodney (who was on the RMS from Ascension with me) were very adept at stacking, loading and transporting fragile goods from the Wharf up the side of a mountain to Longwood!

In the meantime, I left the keys to the now (almost) empty car with customs and phoned Colin’s Garage, with whom I had arranged for the car to be MOT’d and licenced. It’s a bizarre and alien concept to give keys to a complete stranger, than call another complete stranger telling them where to find the car and keys! But I’ve been told; many have gone before me and survived!

I jumped in the hire car and set off up Side Path, passing Larry’s truck half way up. I wasn’t sure why he had stopped, but figured I probably didn’t want to know either!

They arrived a short time after me at the house and proceeded to move my possessions into the house. They were brilliant, moving beds and other furniture so I could get my bed into the bedroom and re-arranging the house for me – great work guys! And no breakages detected to date!

At some point whilst moving furniture around the house I managed to fall over! I am now sporting some horrendous bruises, although it didn’t hurt at the time, I could barely move the next day.

After moving boxes and bags into various rooms, I decided to go back into Jamestown to purchase the insurance for the car. Whilst standing in the Insurance office, there was a tap on my shoulder. When I turned around a young Saint asked if I was Helen! (I was clearly the only person on the Island he hadn’t seen before!) He gave me the car’s MOT, told me where I had to go to pay for it and told me the car was ready for collection – all in the space of 3 hours including hunting me down! Amazing service – you’d never get anything like it in the UK. Having completed the paperwork (which does involve darting across Main Street between Solomon’s Insurance Office, the Post Office and the Bank several times) I drove the hire car to the fuel station to fill it up, then took the hire car back to Colin’s Garage where I swapped it for a newly MOT’d and plated Galaxy. The first thing to do was to fill the car with diesel! During transportation from the UK the tank has to be drained down to no more than 2 litres of fuel. The garage had put a gallon in to enable it to be driven to the garage and be MOT’d, so although there was now a bit in the tank, it needed filling! Diesel here is currently £1.17 a litre, but balance that against very few miles to the gallon due to the terrain, it is still quite costly, but essential, to drive.

I was also delighted to take ownership of a very nearly new lounge suite consisting of 2 X 2 seater sofas and 2 chairs! The suite in the house on arrival was clean but worn, which I wouldn’t have minded had it been comfy, but within a couple of days it was giving me back pain, but a quick call to Michael, the also incredibly helpful Housing Officer, resulted in an exchange and a new bathroom cabinet to replace the one that decided to fall off the wall!

All sorted now – just missing a husband, son and 2 dogs!