Settling in

Wow, where to begin describing all that’s happened in the last week. We arrived safely in St Helena yesterday morning after a really super 7-night trip. We thought it would be long and tedious, but it was a really good holiday. We ate all the time (breakfast – fruit, cereals, yoghurt etc, followed by fish of the day, your choice of bacon, potatoes, beans, tomatoes, sausage and so on…lunch, if taken in the Sun Lounge, a selection of cold meats and salads, if taken in the Dining Saloon, the usual three course…supper, in the Dining Saloon, after the boys were in bed, a three course meal with stuff we’d never heard of. Nick had swordfish one night!) In between those meals, if there was space, there was tea at 4 pm with sandwiches, cake and biscuits. The time passed quickly. We loved being out on the deck watching the sea go by, it tends to be very relaxing, although the constant wind got a bit annoying, so often drove me indoors! When we initially boarded the ship last Thursday, we told Alan and Kate via Walkie-Talkie that we could barely even notice the motion of the ship. Well silly us, when we actually got out into open waters the movement was considerable! I had to take an anti-nausea tablet the first night, but after that was fine for the next few days. The boys didn’t even notice that anything was strange. We docked at Walvis on Sunday and were permitted to disembark, and so caught a shuttle service “kombi” into town and walked around a bit. I phoned “home” to say that we were having a good time and were fine…it was good to be in touch with a familiar voice, mom! It got really boring waiting in the Walvis harbour to launch, which happened at about 6 pm Sunday night. Sunday night was nauseating again, both because we had been on land and because we had changed course, bearing more westwards instead of north so the sea was rougher. The rest of the trip after Walvis was pretty rough but enjoyable. Once you’ve found your sea legs, you still notice the motion but it doesn’t make you feel sick. Sometimes it was difficult to walk in a straight line along the passages!

Yesterday morning, then, we awoke early to be up at first light to see the island as we approached. We have video footage from about 5.50 am (that is 7.50 your time), from when we first saw it to actually getting quite close. I expect you are curious to hear about the disembarkation procedure…we were too! Having heard rumours of a cable car to ferry you to land because the ship can’t dock, we were pleased to hear that it was not the only means of disembarkation, although it was an option for the infirm. Actually, what happened was, after we had had our passports stamped by the immigration officer who boarded the ship, we were first to disembark down the gangway onto a pontoon (floating platform), then we had to jump onto a smaller boat (20 passengers at a time) which took us to the harbour. That little ride was really cool, it was the first time we were close enough to the water to feel the spray. We had to have life-jackets, and only the smallest amount of hand luggage possible – the rest of our luggage had been taken to the luggage offloading section the night before and that morning. Arriving at land’s edge, we jumped off again and went straight through to the customs hall, where an unintrusive body search was performed, and all hand luggage searched. We were met there by Vincent March, with whom we had been corresponding, and a couple other members of the church congregation, and taken to the manse. It was really rather overwhelming actually being on St Helena after so many months of thinking about it and praying about it and wondering about it. I still can’t believe we are really here! At the manse, there were more people waiting to meet us, and several women in the kitchen preparing food. The Saints can apparently really eat! It was probably about 9.30 am by the time we got to the manse, so we just wandered around the house to explore it (feeling a little like intruders in our own home which other people obviously felt so much more at home in!), then went back to the docks to collect the rest of our luggage, which had been offloaded by then, which also had to be searched. By that time, the container with the hold baggage had also been offloaded and unpacked, so we were able to start getting our boxes and having those all opened and searched as well. You may wonder how the security worked – our stuff just sat around unguarded in a communal waiting area. Well, security on St Helena is very different, but more about that later. All our boxes are now present and accounted for, and so far nothing damaged (the TV hasn’t been connected yet, we still have to rewire the plug as all the sockets are UK fixtures). We also got my medical insurance sorted out, internet service applied for, Nick’s drivers’ licence sorted out. Anyway, somewhere in between all that, we had lunch – so much food, of all types, had been prepared – there were chicken drumsticks, beef curry, fishcakes, other fish thingies, gammon, salads of many varieties, hot vegetables…it was probably more variety than we had seen on the ship! It seemed that whoever could and wasn’t working, had turned up for lunch but had actually brought a dish of something, including cakes for pudding. Wow, lots of food. Our cupboards have also been fully stocked with loads of stuff for the month. You can actually get most of a month’s normal groceries here – so we have pasta, juice, biscuits, tinned goodies, soups, toilet paper, toothpaste, boxed milk, bananas, loads of stuff. The church folk were very friendly and welcoming, and seem to like us well enough for now. Some of the people you saw on the video, family, we have met – Nick, the young convert, was there, and we met the bell-ringer if you can remember that bit. Nick was taken for a drive around the island to the different chapels, while I stayed here and entertained the rest of the people here who left shortly thereafter. I managed to have about 35 winks (not quite 40), before the telephone rang and someone else wanted to come around. It was about 5.30 pm by the time we were finally on our own! Then began some of the unpacking…at present there are boxes lying around everywhere, unpacked suitcases, and general disarray wherever you look.

This morning we went into town to explore the shops, and were much encouraged at all the stuff you can actually get your hands on, even home perms and pyjamas! We also got my driving permission sorted out, and opened a bank account. Things here are incredibly simple, for example applying for medical insurance yesterday consisted of filling in a form which had about four blanks to complete, paying over some money, and there you go. Our drivers’ licences are valid for three months here, then we have to fill in some forms and pay STH 7.50 and we will be licenced for another period (presumably the rest of our stay). If you long for the simple life, this is it! No queues, no reference checks, no red tape…just walk into the relevant bureau and the lady behind the counter sorts everything out!

I have two loads of washing hanging on the line, although technically “hanging” is not the best description…more like being tossed about in the wind. It was raining five minutes ago, but now the sun is shining, although the rain will probably be back in about the next two minutes by the looks of things. That is how it has been since we arrived…five or ten minute intervals of rain and bright sunshine. Not the soaking rain, mind you, just a gentle wafty drizzle. Actually not at all bad to be walking in, which we have done much of. I am now going to go into Nick’s study where one of the phone lines is situated, and dial up to send this mail. I will do a proper Clevely Chronicles next week after Nick’s induction service, with more descriptions of the house and more, but thought you guys might like to get the fuller version of life so far!

PS – the house is starting to settle down now, in fact the whole island is not rocking as badly as it was when we arrived. People tell us that it is from the ship (our bodies need to adjust again), but we’re sure that we’re fine, it’s just the house that moves a lot. I keep putting things on shelves and thinking, oh dear, this is going to fall over when the house sways in the other direction…