Island ticks to weather cycle

THE New Year spelled out in graphic detail one of the first rules of living in or visiting Sark – virtually everything you do is dependent upon the weather.

Monday was a holiday and many people visiting – including Sark children home for Christmas and the New Year – had planned to leave the island on Tuesday or later in the week, until it became apparent that our lifeline service run by Sark Shipping was unlikely to operate.

The result – a swift change of plan, much additional work for those associated with travel (including Sark's indefatigable carters, who amazingly ensure people and their baggage travel and get home together), and goodbyes said earlier than expected.

Not surprisingly, that was totally justified as Tuesday's weather did its wicked worst, which meant that in addition to the cancellation of the morning passenger service to and from Sark, the scheduled cargo sailing also fell by the wayside.

Aside from minor inconvenience, the cancellations did little in the way of harm, except perhaps to those for whom the non-arrival of newspapers and mail is described by some of them as something akin to a national catastrophe.

For most it simply served as a gentle reminder – appropriately at the beginning of a new year – just how much we rely on our lifeline service and those whose skill and hard work (both onshore and at sea) provide it, very much more often than not.

Among those spending the New Year weekend in Sark was Olympic medal hopeful Carl Hester and a party of friends and fellow dressage competitors. Whenever he is interviewed, Carl never fails to mention first learning to ride as a youngster in Sark – one of the reasons for his selection as a Sark Chamber of Commerce Overseas Ambassador.

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Sad as it is to report, probably during the week between Christmas and New Year some mindless idiot – probably several pints north of what their limit should be – walked past one of the Christmas decorations and, wire cutters in hand, reached up and with a couple of snips managed to put the light out.

Thankfully, this stupidity didn't affect the rest of what is generally accepted to be one of the best displays in years, for the remainder of the lights stayed on.

The display concerned is on the gable end of La Heche, a property which makes the corner of The Avenue and Rue Lucas. Not that it should be relevant but I am going to mention it anyway, La Heche houses much of the administration of Sark Estate Management, the Barclay family's umbrella for its businesses in Sark.

I'd like to think that it was someone who was simply the worse for drink who made mischief with the wire cutters, rather than the alternative which, sadly, given the atmosphere which has prevailed here for far too long, does spring to mind – namely, that there was malice behind the mischief and it was directed at the building's owners.

Given some of what happens in this little corner of paradise, that's a scenario which few people would rule out. As one couple who viewed the damage as I was looking at it remarked, it's a pity it wasn't plugged in to the mains electricity supply.

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My light-hearted wishes last week about the author of the Sark Newsletter getting writer's cramp and Chief Pleas regaining its proper role as a debating chamber drew an online comment suggesting that I had no need to be even-handed and was being unnecessarily deferential to the newsletter – something which I doubt its editor Kevin Delaney would agree with.

What I should do, according to the comment, is tell the newsletter to 'grow up' and lay off a Chief Pleas 'which has been cornered into a position which precludes debate'.

If I can say what I say without being too bothered by the newsletter, then surely Chief Pleas can do the same. Still, it's easy to tell others what to do when hiding behind a pseudonym to write an online comment.

* The email address for comment is fallesark@sark.net.