Fantastic, worthwhile read.
On living life slower.
In 1847, a decision was made in Whitehall. It would change the destiny of the small island of Alderney, 150 miles away.
Today, as back then, no one knows about Alderney. From what I can tell, the residents like it that way – mostly. The only reason I know the place is my ancestry. On Dad’s side, my family has been there since at least the 1500s. It’s the northernmost of the Channel Islands – part of the British Isles, but not of the United Kingdom. It falls within the Bailiwick of Guernsey, which, alongside Jersey and the Isle of Man, is one of the United Kingdom’s Crown Dependencies.
Despite being British, it lies just ten miles from the French coast, compared to sixty from the English. At just three and a half miles by a mile and a half in size, with a population of only around two thousand, “The Rock” is a true haven – a small-scale place in a large-scale world. While the world suffered from months of lockdowns during the Covid-19 pandemic, life on Alderney continued (mostly) as normal.
Life seems slower here. The shops close on Sundays. And at lunchtime. And at whatever other time takes the shopkeeper’s fancy. Air travel is infrequent, and a sudden fog rising off the Atlantic, or a gremlin in the engine of one of the only two commercial planes that fly there, is enough to keep you stranded for a day or two. There is only one cash machine. It might strike you as the last holdout of a more traditional way of life.
But its official websites boast of its appeal to remote workers, its superfast broadband and great transport connections. You might want to get away from the world in Alderney, but the world will find you. Alderney’s a proud part of the large-scale world, and it has been since that fateful decision in 1847.
When the planes are working and the air is clear, the first thing you see when you fly toward Alderney from the north is the breakwater.
#England #Christianity #Purpose
https://www.plough.com/en/topics/justice/environment/breakwater