It’s now 3.40 on Saturday afternoon. The boys are supposed to be sleeping, although more likely Aaron is sleeping and Caleb is lying on his bed waiting for “wakey up time” to occur. Got some more unpacking done last night, which involved a lot of tossing out of old junk left around here before we can even start putting our things away. I have now managed to sort through all three steel cabinets in the passage. Ever wondered where my old pink bedspread ended up (sorry, only immediate family will relate to this) – the cotton pink spread with the fluffy bits sticking out all over the place, which used to be on my bed when I was in the room with the deep turquoise carpet? Well, remarkably, it ended up here. There are also some old curtains in the cupboard which reminded me of some old laundry curtains or something, or possibly they were in Raymond’s room at one point – sort of a blue hydrangea pattern. I came across the nylon pink bedspread, and also a bright lime-green nightfrill, as well as some other oddities I can’t imagine why anyone would have wanted to buy. Okay, the house – it’s very big, as we anticipated, but in a somewhat rundown condition. Not depressingly bad, just enough to make you want to get paint buckets and sealant out. The bathroom window rattles in the wind and even when it’s closed there is quite a draft. The kitchen is very nice, looks like the cupboards are new, so that room is definitely workable. The diningroom actually has no proper chairs for the table, the 24 chairs we were expecting turned out to be blue and brown plastic stackable chairs. We have to use two each for the boys to reach the table, which seats six. Most of the furniture in the house is really antiquey, so if you’re into that kind of thing it’s quite nice. Nick’s study is pleasant enough, although also badly in need of paint and some nails in the ceiling where the strangest assortment of skirting boards are falling down. He has finished unpacking his books and just managed to squeeze all his books into the two bookshelves. It looks fairly homely. One of the spare rooms has shiny biscuit-coloured paint on the walls, another nylon pink bedspread, a wardrobe whose doors we can’t persuade to stay closed, and a brownish carpet. The other spare room, with the double bed, has a white and mauve nylon bed cover, and…bright red carpet! The walls, once white, also have a flowery stenciled pattern at dado-height, which must have looked good in its day, but will have to be painted over and out. Our room is not too bad. We particularly like the glass doors which open onto nothing. We likely won’t be opening those doors too often. The boys’ room is the best in the house, with wood paneling on one side and a view of the sea and the RMS St Helena when it’s here. The other window looks directly onto Pilling Primary School, the school which we may have to send Caleb to (more on that another time). The lounge is huge, newly carpeted, and has good furniture. We have the TV and hi-fi plugged in and working there now. Thankfully none of our stuff was lost or damaged, and we didn’t have to pay any customs or anything like that.
As I said, Nick was taken around yesterday to look at the different chapels. The one in Jamestown, which is accessible from our back yard or the street, is in fair condition – that’s the one you would have seen on the video-tape, with the red carpet down the middle. It looked better on the video! Also needs some work. The multi-purpose hall next to it leaks and is very shabby. Nick’s heart sank when he saw the chapel in Knollcombes, and apparently the rest aren’t too much better. I haven’t seen any of the others yet. Nick is planning to organize a building committee to start getting the chapels back into good order. Apparently lack of money isn’t the greatest problem, it’s willing hands to get involved. So it will be a challenge to rally some people together to get things in order.
This morning we were taken out by the bell-ringer (who goes by the name Teddy, fabulous chap) around one side of the island. It really is very big, and completely impossible to navigate without a map if you’re new. The roads are incredibly steep, and from Jamestown they wind up on both sides of the valley in hairpin bends up the sides of the mountains. Will have to get some video footage for you to believe it. Anyway, wow, some parts of the island are incredibly beautiful. Jamestown is quite barren, the mountains have some greenery, but mostly rock face and very brown. Further inland, the mountains are covered in green, with flax, grass, and big trees (pine and so on). The size of the mountains is staggering – the valleys below are very deep, and when we got out of the car at one point to get an aerial view of Jamestown, it was quite dizzying. Some parts just defy description – you have to come and experience the island to see how it really is. It is feeling less like a dot in the middle of the ocean, and more like a real country full of real people.
I drove myself into town yesterday (that was about a 2-km drive) in the rickety old golf we have use of. It was a bit scary, not driving in town, but driving the golf! Almost got lost coming home (yes, blonde). I mentioned yesterday something about security on the island. You don’t lock your car when you go into the shops, you just get out and close the door and that’s that. When you go into a shop (Spar, for example), if you bring any packages in with you, you leave them on the windowsill (not behind a counter, and you don’t pick up a card or voucher to say it’s your stuff). You just leave it there, and hopefully remember to pick it up again on the way out. That’s to help with shoplifting. How bizarre.
Okay, can’t think of anything else I need to say right now. There is still a lot going on which I’d like to describe, like meeting the Public Solicitor and his family on the ship and making friends with crew cabin who are resident here and bumping into at least four people you know when you go into a shop, but that will have to wait for another e-mail.
If you have any questions, ask! By the way, I am looking at the famed Jacob’s ladder out of Nick’s study window and if I lean forward I can see some sea.
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