24 hour journey to an island in the english channel.
Fog. That’s all it took. Flight cancelled, due to fog. It conjures up images of Stephen King stories, spirits running amok, children lost to fog, eerie silence. Instead I was surrounded by hundreds of other stranded souls in one of the UK’s biggest airports.
I was due to travel to Guernsey, a small island in the English channel, closer to France than England, typically we claim it as our own. Guernsey was occupied during the second world war.
It was difficult to imagine Guernsey in the grip of terrifying fog, the last time I was there, two years ago, it was illuminated by sunshine and wide blue skies. At the airport we were led back through security, feeling like we were trapped in some sort of ground hog day.
There was a real sense of camaraderie between my fellow fog refugees. Guernsey is a small island (around 60,000 people), most of my fellow travellers were finding their relatives or figuring out if they were related. I was asked several times for the name of my cousin and his wife, whom I was visiting. I was worried I would be ousted from this collective if I gave the wrong name, “Rouget, you say?”
The next day (after a night in a hotel), still in the warm bosom of my new friends, we set sail from Poole to St Peter Port. The local rugby team, dressed in striped jackets similar to expensive public schools, clung to the bar, sipping Strongbow. The civilised ate chilli con carne from their laps. No one listened to the safety announcements, most likely able to recount them verbatim from many childhood crossings to the mainland. Yes the mainland, it’s a strange realisation, a tiny island like the UK can be referred to as the mainland. I can understand how a sense of community is created on the island, on any small island. The choppy waters make it hard to escape.
After an eerie, long journey I reached St Peter Port. I was reminded of the wonders of modern transportation, knowing the return journey would be a simple 45 minute flight. Yet the diversion, created by fog, gave me a glimpse into a time when we really valued distances, and journeys where not undertaken lightly.
