Wow! What can I say apart from thank you so much to Lin who had arranged days and days of celebrations involving all my immediate family to come to Guernsey for the long Bank Holiday weekend and beyond for my 65th birthday.

For months, Guernsey had been suffering from rain and strong NE’ly winds, but as soon as the family began arriving the winds died down, changed direction to blow from the west, and best of all the sun appeared and shone bright and strong in clear blue skies. I had no idea that Lin could arrange the weather as well….

Our four sons and their families began arriving on Monday 29 April. My sister and brother in law, Hilary and Christopher Finzi, and two of our dearest friends, John and Beryl, arrived on 2 May with the last of our children the next evening. Rather than all 17 of us staying on Play d’eau (!) Lin had block booked us all into holiday apartments in L’Erée on the south west coast of Guernsey.

So what happened?

Whilst waiting for everyone to fly in over the next day or so, we spent time on the beach with the children playing cricket, digging for Australia, making dinosaurs out of pebbles and hunting for shells, especially the Cowry.

Friday 3 May

With blue skies and a hot sun, we all took the Trident Ferry from St Peter Port to Herm and had the most wonderful day on a virtually deserted Shell Beach. Whilst we all walked from Rosiere Steps, Kiffer, my brother in law who has difficulty in walking, was driven by Rose, the Herm gardener, on her quad bike.

We spent the day hunting for Cowry shells, playing cricket, eating picnics, trying our best to devour all the luscious Herm ice cream on sale at the Shell Beach Café, and covering ourselves with anti-sun burn lotion.

At 1600, Rose returned to collect Kiffer and we caught the 1635 Trident Ferry back to St Peter Port.

Saturday 4 May

From L’Erée, all 17 of us caught the 1102 bus to St Peter Port from where we took the short walk to the Pier 17 restaurant where we were greeted by Chef Seamus. With the best table overlooking the harbour, we ate and drank to our hearts desire (and a bit more) from 1130 to 1600. The food was really excellent and the wines just perfect – especially the Zinfandel!

Sunday 5 May

After a ‘gentle’ start to the day, 15 of us boarded Play d’eau, donned lifejackets, listened to the skipper’s brief, and cast off bound for a round trip to see Herm’s Shell Beach from the sea.

From Beaucette, we threaded our way along the Corbette Passage and Percée Passage before heading for Belvoir and Shell Beach.

The sea was flat calm under blue skies and another hot sun. It doesn’t get better than this!

That evening we had a huge BBQ, eating large quantities of the Perelle Butchery’s gorgeous sausages and burgers hunted out by daughter-in-law Charlotte who’d negotiated a good price for the unusually large order!

Monday 6 May

After a morning under another hot sun on the sand at Port Soif playing endless games of cricket (I haven’t had so much exercise in ages), our sons and their families headed for the airport for their various return flights to the mainland. Many big hugs and tears of goodbyes were made amidst cries of ‘when are we coming back?’ from the grandchildren.

With our children and their offspring gone, it was suddenly quiet. Too quiet – we were missing the grandchildrens’ endless laughter and chatter. However, a sumptuous supper was prepared and devoured before we tried to watch a movie but in truth, we watched the opening credits and fell asleep.

The next few days were taken up with shopping, walks, working on Play d’eau, and eating at La Nautique.

Thursday 9 May

John and Beryl caught the Blue Islands 1325 to Southampton. I say ‘caught’ but they almost didn’t. We were so involved in chatting in the airport lounge that we became oblivious of the time until Lin suddenly said, ‘You must go.’

Hurrying to Departures, we said our tearful goodbyes and they disappeared towards security. As Lin and I went back upstairs to watch them leave, we heard the PA system calling for them. A few moments later, an even more urgent request for them was broadcast with the threat they’d be offloaded if they didn’t appear immediately. Where were they?

Finally, we saw them hurrying toward the small Jetstream aircraft with John trying to hold his trousers up! Apparently, he’d kept setting the alarms off in security and despite many searches and frisks, nothing could be found. He hadn’t even had time to put his belt back on….

What next?

My sister and brother in law are staying on for a while. With my birthday on Sunday, we’ll be eating at The Restaurant at Beaucette Marina and next Thursday we’ll take the Condor fast cat to Jersey for a few days.

What it is to be 65!

Piers
from the Saloon of
Play d’eau
Fleming 55

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