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Made to feel welcome on my first day back
It's been too long, but I'm finally back in Montserrat. It's a different airport (the old one having been destroyed in 1997) but the new, one room replacement, opened in 2005 by Princess Anne, is still small, friendly and laid back. The customs officer asks me some questions and when I tell me who's meeting me, he smiles and tells me she's waiting outside in a white jeep. It was to be the start of a day of warm welcomes.
Later that afternoon, after several hours of hot sweaty walking in the Centre Hills, I try a shortcut back to my accommodation that instead deposits me on the volcanic black sand beach of Bunkum Bay. It's a Bank Holiday and a group of families are playing and swimming in the water and popping out every so often to a makeshift shelter on the beach where cold beers, warm rum, and a barbeque can be found. I stand on the sand wondering whether to have a swim. One of the men in the water calls over to me "Hey mate!". I can't make out what he says next but he points to the food and drink shelter so, unsure what to make of things, I duly head over to it. A friendly guy in a basketball shirt comes over to shake my hand, leads me to the refreshment shelter and gives me a cold bottle of Mackeson's Stout. It tastes fantastic - just what I needed.
"This is the Montserrat police force day out", he explains. "Come and join us - with all these police officers here you should feel very safe!" So I join them in the water and am regaled by tales of police recruitment, the cost of building a new house in Montserrat, and introduced to the superintendent, a sergeant soon to become an inspector and another sergeant. The names blur, and then a tennis ball narrowly misses me and I am required to throw it back into the good natured human waterpolo melee.
Later, I wander back to my digs, clutching a bottle of stout, a big smile on my face. "Only in Montserrat" I declaim to no-one in particular.
I'm getting ready for bed when the phone rings. It's Rose Willock, the calming, cheering voice of Montserrat's ZJB radio station during the volcanic upheavals of 1995. She still has a radio show, on a Saturday morning. "It would be great to have you on my show", she tells me. "See you at 9.30" . I put the phone down. Yep, only in Montserrat. What a memorable first day back on the island.
This is just one of the stories that inform my talk Montserrat - reclaiming paradise
