FROM storms and pesky pigs, to geckos and weird stuff washing up on our shores, it has been a busy week of news.
And in case you missed some of it, here is a run down of what has been making the headlines.
The ten things we’ve learnt this week are:
1. Whatever we did to keep busy during lockdown, it wasn’t that…
The predicted post-lockdown baby boom didn’t quite materialise, with just 27 more births last year than in 2020. Sienna and Arthur were the most popular names for newborns. Ellie, Maria and Valentina were new entries in the list of top-ten girls’ names, while Freddie and Toby entered the top-ten zone for boys.
2. Guernsey folk are freeeeeee!
Guernsey (along with Alderney, Sark and Herm) this week became the first place in the British Isles to ditch all Covid restrictions. Since Thursday, there is no longer mandatory self-isolation for those who test positive and all border restrictions have fallen away. It’s a big move for an island that pretty much shut down and closed itself off to the outside world at the start of the pandemic.
3. Community service aint no joke
A man who took such a half-hearted approach to community service that he was spotted pulling a rake with one hand was jailed for two months in the Magistrate’s Court for failing to carry out the order properly.
4. ‘Pablo, it’s arrived’…Dodgy stuff is washing up on our beaches
Dog walker Vanessa Heath found an enormous white block of something or other on the beach near Green Island. It could be palm oil, which is dangerous to dogs and will no doubt be of interest to the JSPCA and local vets. Or it could have accidentally dropped out of a secret compartment of a yacht and will no doubt be of interest to someone in charge of ‘exports’ in Columbia.
5. That cup of tea got a little more expensive
We have the world’s prettiest cows, which just so happen to produce the world’s best milk. But this week a glass of the white stuff got a little more expensive when Jersey Dairy increased wholesale prices by 8p per litre owing to a rise in farming costs.
6. Along came another Knight (in a suit, not shining armour)
With Sir Philip Bailhache leading the Jersey Liberal Conservatives, Jersey Alliance appointed their own knight – Sir Mark Boleat (pictured) – during a party meeting at the Royal Yacht. The other two parties – Reform Jersey and the Progress Party – are fronted by Senator Sam Mézec and Deputy Steve Pallett respectively, who haven’t got so much as a British Empire Medal between them.
7. The St Martin pigs will no longer be hogging the news agenda
The pesky pigs which have been escaping from their home above Rozel and generally causing mayhem are facing eviction after their owner lost an appeal against a court order.
8. Geckos travel well
A Guernsey family had a little surprise when they opened their suitcase following a holiday in the Seychelles and found a gecko staring back at them. The lizard, called Sally, is now living at the GSPCA following her epic 5,000-mile journey.
9. The JEP is at the heart of the fabric of Island life
… and certain editions can become part of the fabric of your home, as builder David Hoxhall found out when he discovered a 92-year-old copy embedded in a wall. And it appears that some things never change, with the issue from 2 October 1930 detailing spiralling costs in the Island’s housing market. The edition also reported on the theft of a £40,000 diamond as well as a fight.
10. Sheep have a favourite food. And people with pacemakers should not fear an electric fence (but’s it’s still best not to touch them)
A flock of Manx Loaghtan sheep (they are the horned ones you sometimes see chomping away on the north coast)are to be introduced to a fenced area north of La Moye Golf Club as part of a trial grazing plan to control the spread of dominant plant species in order to let other types of shrubs and flowers flourish.
And to keep the horned beasts contained, some electric fence has been erected.
Explaining it all, a government spokesperson said: ‘Although this fencing is only 12 volts and emits a pulse the same as other fences seen across the Island, Islanders are advised to keep dogs under close control on leashes and avoid coming into contact with the fence.
‘People who are fitted with a pacemaker do need to take particular care to avoid contact with the fence.
‘Throughout the project the sheep’s food preferences will be constantly monitored, with the hope that they will target the more undesirable plant species.’
