Events

  In September there was an Air Show over Guernsey which was part of "The Battle of Britain week" in England, which is performed in memory of and gives honor to the fighter pilots who flew planes during the war.  The weather was perfect for it.
       It was an amazing display, with many kinds of planes, old and new, flying over St. Peter Port;
we saw wing-walkers, wild aerobatic loop-d'-loops, and quiet motor gliders ... and the ending was the Red Arrows - a team of 9 fast jet planes flying synchronized patterns - which was amazing.

                                                    The Red Arrows:

                                         
                                  On one pass, the vapor trails were red, white, and blue,
                                             and some of the planes were upside down....

During the show, the ferry came into port; it holds hundreds of people, cars

                     and freight vans.  We call this the "fast ferry" as it takes about 3 hours to travel
                                                             to Poole from Guernsey.  

      

                          From out on the pier where we watched the show, this was a nice look
                                        .. over the car park .. toward the seafront buildings:

    The third week of September we flew to London and met Spencer, Keeley and McKenzie !
                 Such a happy time !   So fun spending a few days with them seeing sites.

                       We loved seeing McKenzie smile:

                                               and chase the pigeons ...

 

Island of Sark

                       One of the Channel Islands is Sark.  Less than 400 people live there.
                                No cars are allowed; only horses, bicycles, and tractors.
                  From the pier where the ferry docks, tractors pull unique trailers loaded with tourists                                     up the steep hill to the little town on top of the island.  There are also a few farms                                           using tractors for the crops of hay and feed for livestock.    
                           Horse drawn wagons and carriages are used to give tours around the island;
                                              or tourist can rent bicycles to pedal and tour on their own.
                      There are some camp grounds; we've met people from Guernsey who go to Sark                                        every summer to camp for a week and enjoy the peace and quiet there.

                                       Looking from a high point, down to the ocean:

A quiet narrow lane: 

                                                          Caves at the seashore:

                                                                  The explorer:

A Granite mountain:

The earth is beautiful !

So much variety every where you go.

Guernsey and Greenhouses

                            A lovely decorative floral display by the round-a-bout in St. Peter Port

        We came upon this herd of Guernsey cows one day while driving to an appointment.

In the grocery stores, this is the largest size of milk container available. 

Guernsey milk is the only kind allowed on the island.

There are hundreds of glass green houses on the island.  Most are not used any more.

I copied the following information about them from the internet: 

***

 "Some say it all began with the tomato…Guernsey’s horticultural origins go back over 200 years when the first greenhouses were erected. Locals dabbled in grape growing but it wasn’t until the advent of the humble tomato that things really took off. In the mid 19th Century Guernsey’s growers were quick to respond to news from medical practitioners that the decorative plant was not only edible but good for your health, and by the 1870s the tomato had overtaken the vine in the island’s glass houses.

The ”Guernsey Tom” dominated the island’s growing industry throughout the 20th Century, with special tomato trains laid on at Southampton and Weymouth during peak periods to cope with the influx. Guernsey became a “glass island”, with 7% of its total surface area under green house by 1950. By the 1970s hundreds of acres of glasshouses were dedicated to tomato growing, with nine million trays per annum exported.

 Sadly, increased competition from Dutch producers and changes in the British railway system eventually made the export of the tomato less profitable, and Guernsey growers were forced to diversify." 

                                                                               ***

    A majority of growers turned to growing flowers, which was a profitable export for many years; but eventually that too was effected by competition from European markets. Other than several plant nurseries, and for local floral shops, most green houses are not in use.  Some people still use theirs to grow fruits and vegetables and some sell their produce at small roadside stands; but most green houses are totally abandoned to the foliage - inside and out: