Early morning sightseeing

We’ve long been wanting to watch the sun rise over the ocean, but getting up early enough to drive to the eastern side of the island has never been very appealing. This morning was different though. At 5.15 I heard a knock on the front door. I ignored it, wondering if I had imagined it, but it came again a minute later. I got up and peeped out of the window, and saw through the darkness a police van across the road, and then I heard a woman’s voice. It’s not usually a good sign when the police come knocking on your door at that time. I woke Nick up, whose first thought was that someone had committed some or other crime and he was needed at the scene. The reality was a lot less sinister – there had been a rockfall somewhere up above us, and we needed to be evacuated (again). With Nick running downstairs and the sounds of voices, the boys had woken up, so it was quick work to get them dressed. We gobbled down some breakfast, not knowing when we’d be home again, then I made a flask of tea, and we jumped into the car and drove off towards the east. If you have to get out of your house so early, you may as well go somewhere to watch the sun rise. We drove as far as the entrance to Napoleon’s Tomb, which turned out to be the perfect viewing spot – we thought we might have to go as far as The Barn or somewhere. We drank our tea while we waited for about half an hour for the sun to rise – there was something quite incredible about sitting on a mass of rock in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, watching the sun crackle over the horizon! By the time the sun was visible, we were pretty tired of hanging around there, and felt sure that the rock guards, who needed to assess the mountain side for safety, had been and gone, their job complete. We were home by about 7.15, but since we didn’t see any other evacuees standing about on the road watching the mountain, we weren’t sure whether we should have been home or not, so phoned the police station, who said that social security would phone us right back. Huh? About five minutes later they phoned, to say that we still needed to be out our house, and the best they could offer us as alternative accommodation was the Jamestown Community Centre. We said we’d go elsewhere, so phoned Steve and Maureen, who were happy for us to have an early morning visit! I got all the school stuff together, as well as some snacks and lunch ingredients for a possibly long stay, and Nick got a few books together, and we headed off there. It was pretty cold in the country still and we were glad of jackets and things. The cows were in the field right close up to Steve and Maureen’s house, and the great bull bellowed at our arrival – interesting watch dog. We had a cup of coffee, then I got started with the boys’ school. Just after 9, Nick phoned the police station again, who said that we could return home, and that it had been announced on the radio (although we were listening in, we missed it).