‘We’re going to have to live with this now’
OSTEOPATH and former squash star Lisa Opie was among the passengers on the first flight in from England yesterday – Aurigny’s GR601 from Gatwick.
She was visiting the Bailiwick for the first time since January 2020. As a medical practitioner, she has been able to work in London even during lockdowns.
‘I shouldn’t say this because I know some people have had no work but we haven’t stopped. It’s been manic. It’s been the busiest year we’ve had, ever.’
She was planning to see her parents, her sister and her niece, who has taken time off work and planned a full itinerary for her stay on the island, which was booked long ago for 1 July.
‘The world’s got to open up. We’re going to live with this now. It’s not going to go away,’ she said.
The very first passenger to emerge from the automatic doors into the public foyer of the airport was Dr Andrea Junker, a consultant occupation physician advising the States of Guernsey.
‘I have been unable to come back since March of last year to do my work, so I’ve been doing this over the phone and I’m extremely pleased to be back,’ she said.
‘Apparently, occupational health is not important enough to get a travel exemption, so I have not been able to come back until today.
‘I can understand why Guernsey wanted to have their own population vaccinated and protected as much as possible before they allowed this, so it’s fine but please don’t go back into any restrictions again. We need to live with this now,’ she said.
Another of the passengers whose visit had been delayed by restrictions was a journalist for The Times who has been waiting to come to Guernsey to write a tourism feature. Visit Guernsey gold accredited guide Gill Girard was waiting to pick her up and take her directly to the cliffs at Le Gouffre, to begin a guided tour of the island. This was the first such trip for Visit Guernsey’s visiting journalist programme since it was suspended as a result of isolation requirements being introduced.
‘It’s brilliant,’ Mrs Girard said. ‘I think it’s one of their most successful programmes that they run because they come for two or three days and they get a really good overview and visit all the attractions.’
