… this morning as some woman killed herself right in front of my eyes.
She was sitting on a ledge just below the top of the cliff and as I walked towards her, when I was about 20 or so metres away she pushed herself off with both hands and fell into the void.
At first I couldn’t believe what I saw. It took a minute to sink in and then I went to see if maybe there was a path that I hadn’t previously noticed.
There wasn’t anything that I could see and so I waited for a few minutes to see if maybe she would emerge from the bottom and walk across the sand. But when she didn’t I telephoned for help
The Fire Brigade turned up first, followed by an ambulance and then the police.
And finally the air-sea rescue helicopter turned up.
While the people From the Fire Brigade were interviewing me, the helicopter flew up and down along the base of the cliff a short way.
When he reached a spot roughly more or less underneath where I was standing, he hovered for a minute or two and then pulled away.
he came in to land on the lawn, embarked a couple of ambulance personnel and took off again.
They landed at the bottom underneath the cliff and the ambulance personnel unfolded a portable stretcher.
That, unfortunately, was that. The police by now had taken my details and at this point they told me that I could go. I wasn’t needed any longer and I’d hear from them in due course.
As you can imagine, my day has been somewhat shaken up by all of this and I’ve not done the half of what I was hoping to do.
It started off fine too. I was awake a little before the alarm went off although it wasn’t quite that easy for me to leave my bed.
After the medication I had a little relax reviewing the photos from yesterday and then I set off for the shops in town for whatever I might need to keep me going until I leave for Leuven.
It was actually quite grey and overcast this morning and I was wondering whether I ought to have brought my rain jacket with me.
Away in the distance there were little hints of blue sky despite the heavy cloud everywhere else. The Ile de Chausey was looking quite nice silhouetted against this strange-coloured sky.
There wasn’t any point in going over to look down onto the beach because at this time of the morning there won’t be anyone down there taking in the rays. It’s a little on the wintry side right now.
A little further on, I did happen to look down onto the beach.
There were a couple of fishermen standing down there on the rocks having a go with their rods and lines and looking as if they meant business.
As you might expect, I didn’t hang around to watch them. I headed off along the path on top of the cliffs towards the lighthouse. And halfway along the path I had my Appointment with Destiny.
While I was waiting for the rescue services to put in an appearance, the sun came out quite dramatically through a gap in the clouds and illuminated the whole scene.
In a matter of a bink of an eye the Ile de Chausey was transformed from a grey and green silhouette into a mass of white and light grey houses.
When the rescue services had finished with me I carried on along the path towards the end of the headland and then down the path at the bottom towards the town centre.
The wind wasn’t anything like as strong as it has been in the past and the sea wasn’t as rough as it might have been.
It wasn’t therefore a day for expecting anything spectacular down on the harbour wall but every seventh wave is usually a good one and one of them produced something a little more exciting.
No change in the situation at the chantier naval today of course so I carried on along the Rue du Port listening to the sound of the helicopter on the other side of the headland busily winching up its cargo.
The harbour gates were closed, as I noticed while I was walking down the street. That meant that the path on the top of the gates would be accessible and I could cross over there to the other side.
It’s been a while since I’ve been this way so I could have a good look at the gates and see what they have to tell me.
You can see from the lines of green mould where the water reaches at high tide. The various lines here and there on the gates and on the surrounding wall will give you a clue as to how variable the level of the water can be.
At the moment the water is at a depth of 1.5 metres but there are some lines well above the highest indicator on the gauge, which is 9.0 metres.
And if you want to know about the situation with the portable boat lift in the chantier naval then look no further.
According to the notice on the door of the port office, the boat lift will be out of service for an overhaul for a period from 27th October to 13th December. That depends on the weather, the availability of spare parts and other factors.
At Carrefour in the town I bought a few things, forgot a few others and headed back for home with my shopping.
Halfway up the hill I stopped, not because I needed a breather but because I’d treated myself to a cold drink and wanted to drink it before it warmed up or I reached home.
Back here I made some toast and coffee for a rather late breakfast (hardly surprising with all of this going on) and then had a go at updating yesterday’s journal entry. My heart wasn’t in it though and it took me all of the rest of the day to do what would normally take an hour or so.
And it wasn’t until just now as I’m typing this out that I realised that I haven’t transcribed the dictaphone notes for today. But here they are, added in some time later.
last night I was going to take three tyres to put them in one of my lock-ups. My brother came with me and some other guy. We put them on a wheelbarrow and pushed them. While we were at the place where we picked up these wheels which was something to do with me, there were a couple of machines. One was a car engine and we weren’t sure whet the other was underneath a bench. As usual there was that much rubbish but we couldn’t get them out to look at them so I arranged a working party of several friends and we were going to try to tidy it up, get everything out and see what I had. We pushed these wheels on this wheelbarrow to my garage but it was all overgrown with brambles and everything. There was a Hillman Minx, one of the last models from the late 70s parked outside with a broken windscreen. We undid the door and went in. Everyone was astonished to see the cars and rubbish in there. There was a white Bentley. A tree had fallen over in there and had only just missed this Bentley but all the smaller branches and creepers off this tree were all over it. You could hardly see it. We had a good look rouns as best as we could. Because we were in Virlet at that time I asked them if they would like to see my house to which they said yes. We set off over a footpath where we could see a row of terraced houses on the skyline. My house was actually behind this row of terraced houses but we didn’t get there before I awoke.
And that was one of the worst hot, sweaty nights to date.
There was of course an interruption for lunch, and later still I had a ‘phone call. “Could you come down to the Police Station and make a statement about this morning’s events?”
By now, the sky was producing some really dramatic colours, much more interesting than even this morning’s.
The harbour gates were now open too and so all of the yachts in Christendom were out there in the bay.
And just look at the magnificent array of colours out there, on the boats, the sails and the sky. It’ll be a long time before we see anything quite as dramatic as this kind of scenery.
And you can see where the phrase “a leaden sky” comes from when you see this one.
Further on down the hill I could see that a lorry pulling a trailer had now pulled onto the quayside.
There were a couple of shrink-wrapped boats on board so it looks as if some time very soon there is goign to be one of the Jersey freighters coming into port to take them away.
At the police station I had to wait for about 10 minutes until I was seen and then we began the long process of taking down my statement. Of course this will be a judicial matter and so it has to be precise.
Then of course, I had to check it and sign it because it will be required as evidence.
There’s quite a bit that I can’t mention because it’s all sub judice but I was told that any hearing will simply be a formality.
Leaving the police station I went back to Carrefour to buy what I had forgotten in the excitement this morning, and then began the long climb back up the hill to home.
Near the top of the hill I came to a dead stop. Not because of wanting to catch my breath but because I’d noticed something strange.
By now the sky was really going dark but there was a strange light somewhere on the Pointe de Carolles, just below the Cabanon Vauban.
At first I thought that it was the final rays of the sun reflecting off a glass bottle or something like that but in fact when I enlarged the image the light isn’t actually on the Pointe de Carolles but just above it in the sky.
It won’t be a star or a planet so it’s probably the searchlight off a helicopter that’s hovering around above there for some reason or other. There’s a vague outline of some kind of machine
Finally, before I went in, I went to have a look at the beach.
There wasn’t very much beach, with the tide being well out, and there wasn’t anyone down there that I could see. And that’s no surprise because it was a lot darker than it looks in this image.
Back here I made a coffee and spent a while thanking people who had sent me messages of condolence about the morning’s events. Rosemary rang up too to say a few kind words and a couple of people had some very nice chats with me on an internet chat service.
As I have said before … “and on many occasions too” – ed … I don’ have many friends, but those I do have are the very best in the world.
Quality, not quantity.
Tea was potatoes and veg and a couple of those small breaded soya burgers that I like. And now that i’ve finished my journal entry, I’m going to vegetate before going to bed.
I’ve no idea how I’m going to sleep tonight after all of this but I’ll worry about that in due course.
