Toby home again and last minute things

Yesterday I spent a lot of time cutting up and freezing mint and parsley, then doing some housework until Toby returned around 4.00pm. The weather was bright and cheerful, and Toby showed me a newspaper with an article about Sark; the Barclay Brothers have not managed to elbow their way into controlling local affairs there, which pleased me.


Toby and Mas managed to get in some more Battlestar Gallacticas, and I had some time to start reading Pete's Skelly book. We had an early dinner, and Toby went off in the evening for a last visit with his friends, Mas and I relaxed.


Today Mas and Toby watched more Battlestar Gallacticas, Toby feeling rather tired. Later Toby and I walked down to the Two Jays to make a list of books that Romy may not have read.

In the evening Toby went out for a meal with Gerald and Gillian, but was feeling a bit poorly, and Mas and I decided we could not be bothered to cook, so went to the Man in the Moon for dinner and when Toby returned we spent more time talking before bedtime.

Sark's way of life will change.

The island of Sark is part of the UK, but it has been somewhat independent and has a feudal laws which have had to be approved of by Britain. There is a small parliament; the head of the island is the Seigneur. This way of life has more or less remained the same since Elizabethan times, apart from the German occupation during the last war. It depends largely on tourism for income.

The reclusive billionaire Barclay brothers, (who own The Ritz hotel in London, and the Daily Telegraph,) live on their own island, in a castle, in Sark’s territorial waters. The brothers have bought up a fifth of Sark, including three of the six hotels. They are in conflict with the Seigneur, and have stated that their ultimate goal is the democratic reform of Sark. The Seigneur has called for his own feudal powers to be restricted, but Sark’s parliament has resisted. The Seigneur is popular, and his family have governed the island since 1852.

Last year the European Court of Human Rights bought pressure on the island to change the inheritance and some tax laws. On January the 13th Jack Straw (the British Lord Chancellor) demanded that Sark move to full democracy. On January the 16th the parliament,( the Chief Pleas,) modified some of the laws.

This is some kind of democracy when two extremely rich brothers, living on their own island within a fortress can bring pressure to influence the way of life of Sark, while at the same time buying up the island for their own profit.



















La Coupeé, which joins Big and Little Sark.