Nasty Surprise

The Sunday after Christmas followed the usual course of our Saint Sundays, with church services and then a crash (read and nap) in the afternoon, and a final church service in the evening.

Monday morning had a nasty surprise for Graeme, though. He discovered that his computer had picked up an aggressive virus. He worked non-stop on "killing" the virus and then reinstalling all his programs for the next 2 days. MOST frustrating. At least everything is up and running again.

This week has also been a bit different as far as shopping is concerned. The shops (all of them) were closed from Saturday 25th until Tues 28th. They opened for Wed morning, closed for Thurs, will be open for Friday morning, and then closed again until Tues 4th January. Even the hall outside the post office where the post boxes are housed was locked. I took a photo of the fire extinguisher outside the locked post box hall - somehow it seemed to echo the air of "deadness".

Although town was dead today, Arthur and I still had to work at the Consulate. I am catching up on a lot of bookkeeping backlog, while Arthur worked in the snack bar.

Christmas Day

There were 3 church services first thing in the morning - Sandy Bay, then Head O'Wain, then Jamestown. I got up around 6 am to prepare the little turkey that we would be taking to our friends later on, and put it in the oven while we went to church.
The church services ended soon after 11.00am. I dashed home to finish off the cooking, then we made our way to the Terry's home. We had a "bring and share" Christmas with 4 families - the Terrys, the Bloems, the Kilners and the Becketts. 10 week old, Kate Kilner was the centre of attention.
At about 6pm we dropped in on Nick Thorpe and Lolly for a quick "hi, and bye".
Home to sleep.

Christmas Eve

At about 5.30 pm, there was the usual Christmas parade down Market Street.


Graeme and I took the 2 dogs for a walk to join in the parade, and then came home again. I stayed at home because of my unco-operative leg, and to bake Christmas mince pies for the following day. Graeme went back again to play his trumpet with 2 separate musical groups - one at 7.30pm and the other at 8.30 pm in the centre of town. Arthur was roped into working the shift that no one else wants - 3pm to 11pm on Christmas Eve :(

Because we would have to leave home early the next morning for the 3 consecutive Christmas services, we decided to open our gifts round about midnight, when Arthur came home. Although we did not have the usual nice gifts for each other, we were blessed by unexpected gifts from friends - among them were 2 fruit cakes, frozen cuts of beef, home grown potatoes, gifts from our daughter (that she had posted to us in October), many post cards, Dutch stroopwafels, "smellies", etc.

Help

I am very happy that I have found a lady to help me do house work for 5 hours every Tuesday i.e. my day off from working at The Consulate. Deanna was working at the Consulate on a temporary basis only, and had to leave work there last week. The idea is that we attack the manse together on Tuesdays, and try and give it a good 'once over', that should last until the next week. So far, so good.

Children's Party & Last S/School

We took our 10 children to the Jamestown public swimming pool for their Christmas Party (in SA we have to call it an "end of year" party). Instead of giving each child a specific gift, I wrapped girls' gifts in one colour paper, and the boys in another. So they had a kind of "lucky dip". Some were pleased, and others not.

We ended our year's Sunday School lessons with a DVD on the life of Moses - "Prince of Egypt". We tried to notice how often the movie differed from the Bible. Afterwards there was the usual 'playing with the pets'.

St Helena takes Christmas traditions very seriously, and the exchange of Christmas cards is one of them. The problem is that it is difficult to find reasonable cards to buy. We decided to follow our predecessors' example, and had cards made from a photo that Graeme took of us in the back yard of the manse.


The other interesting thing about the whole 'card exchanging' tradition is that there is no real postal system between the local residents on the island. Everyone just carries their cards around with them, and hands them out when they bump into their friends. Graeme handed out most of our cards at church services, but then took off on his motor bike to deliver the last few to folk who live 'in the country'.

36 years of marriage

Our 2nd wedding anniversary on St Helena. It was also the date that our Bible sudy group planned to have their end of year social. True to Saint hospitality, there was a great spread.

Many of the church members remembered that it was also our anniversary, and we received all sorts of kindnesses. I had a hair cut from Deborah; Jean and Trevor delivered a cake and a bottle of sparkling grape juice; the Bible study group gave us a card and a beautiful glazed vase - all deep autumn colours.

I was in the middle of a crazy attempt to clean and tidy the manse in preparation for the evening social, when Jean phoned and asked me to bring some table cloths to the schoolroom. Only then was I told that they had agreed to have the social in the schoolroom in order to save me the bother of clearing up afterwards. So thoughtful. I happily abandoned the 'big clean', and enjoyed a bit of a read on the sofa.

When I think back over our years of marriage, there have been varied moments of great happiness as well as tensions and disagreements. The one constant, the glue, our chief joy, has always been our Saviour. He just becomes more precious as the years go by.

Christmas lights

More physio on Friday. I am trying to walk without my stick - it has caused my back muscles to weaken, as well as lean to one side. Although I now stand up straight, the pain in my legs (referred pain from pinched nerves in my spine) is bad. I am praying that, as I continue with the exercises that I have been given, things will improve. If I did not have asthma, I could have surgery to free the pinched nerves, but the operation needs deep anaesthesia, which my lungs would not cope with.

The Saints take Christmas seriously, and many homes are lit up with lights on the outside, and decorations inside. One carol service after the other is being held all over the island, but the actual church services are still poorly attended.

Good News Club

Anya was sick and Nick had to attend a funeral, so Enid and I held the fort at Good News Club. 4 children came for the "Christmas gift bag" making session. They seemed to enjoy it. We used brown paper carrier bags with handles, that one of our shops put their take-aways in, and decorated them with all sorts of things - ribbons, wool, star stickers, ear rings, silk flowers, old cards, etc. The children seemed to enjoy themselves.

While I was busy with the children, Jean and Trevor called and dropped off a beautiful bunch of flowers. A valued gift considering how few flowers are grown here. They have a lovely strong fragrance.

Physio

My legs and back have been giving me quite a bit of "gyp" lately. I finally got a doctor to agree to refer me to the physiotherapist, and I had my first session today. What a blessing! He is an Indian from India - Sunit Kumar - and is excellent at his job. He worked on my back for about 40 minutes (traction, aligning of my spine, ultra sound, kneading and massaging to break down knots) and when I got up to go, I found that for the first time in ages, I could balance squarely above my 2 legs. I stood up straight and there was no need for my walking stick! I am quite tender from the treatment, and will still need a few more sessions with him, BUT I am not off balance. I have also been given exercises to strengthen the right muscles. I am smiling.

Only one lady (Iva Henry) came to the 4.30 pm Jamestown BWA, so we went and visited a Sandy Bay lady (Pamela Henry) that is in hospital.

While I was cooking supper, Graeme was practising his trumpet in the schoolroom next door with a fellow trumpeter (Tom). They try and "stretch" each other to play better. It reminded me of when Graeme's brass band used to meet for practices in our garage in SA. A happy sound. Our dog, Cho, only "sings" when Graeme plays the music she knew in SA.

Arthur came home from his English class all full of bounce. He got an 'A' for his oral.

A good day has been had by all 3 Becketts.

91 years old!

Sandy Bay BWA at 10.00am. The sun was shining, so I took a few photos en route. I love the 3 types and colours of sand on this hill.
The internet is playing up, and I cannot download any other photos. Will try again later on.

After the meeting, I was given 2 extra donations totalling 39.50 pounds towards the restoration of our chapel. God is good.

It is Edie Isaacs' 91st birthday today. On my way home from the Sandy Bay BWA, I popped in to give her birthday cards, and wish her well. Since she moved to the CCC, she is looking much better. Someone cut her hair, and even painted her nails!

Consulate Hotel

Today, Hazel Wilmot sent letters to the Island's councillors advising that she was closing the accommodation side of the hotel from the end of Feb 2011. The hotel is dependent on tourists, and the RMS changed its schedule last year so that there was very little tourist time on the island. (The RMS ship is our only means of contact with the outside world). Hazel has been carrying the hotel financially out of her own savings for the past year and a bit, and can no longer continue to do so. It caused quite a stir in the community, as The Consulate is the only proper hotel on the island. It will be bad for any future tourism.

The snack bar and ordinary bar will remain open, and she will try and arrange other activities to be held in the courtyard. She is trying to keep on as many staff as possible, but nothing is quite certain at the moment.

Acceptance

I knew for certain that Missy has been accepted into the pet family at the manse when I saw Abi trying to get her to join in a game of tug-o-war with "the rope". Unfortunately, her timing was a bit out, as Missy was "otherwise occupied" at the time.