En Voyage_Issue#11_Flickbook

So, of course this test (OK, quiz, really) has absolutely no validity at all. Hangy la, it’s only 10 questions
(with the answers at the foot of the page, but no peeking just yet). Let’s say a pass is seven out of ten.
Here goes:
QUIZ
Q1
What’s the name of the castle that sits to
the east of St Peter Port and was once the
official residence of Guernsey’s Governors?
Q6
What is the name of the world’s second
oldest competitive rugby fixture, played
every year between Guernsey and Jersey?
Q2
What’s the only Guernsey parish
that doesn’t have a coastline?
Q7 What is the name of Guernsey’s Bailiff?
Q3
Guernsey’s politicians sit in our parliament
called the States of Deliberation.
What is their political title?
Q8
What is the main ingredient
of a Gâche Melée?
Q4
In the English Civil War, apart from the castle
mentioned in question one, which side did
Guernsey support?
Q9
Which Guernsey beach did Pierre-Auguste
Renoir paint several times
during his visit to the island in 1883?
Q5 What date is Liberation Day? Q10
One can find the tiny chapel of
St Apolline in the parish of St Saviour’s.
St Apolline is the patron saint of
which profession?
Of course, knowing facts about one’s home
is only one way of looking at things. I think of
my ‘Guernseyness’ in other ways too. I know I
have the fairly commonplace ‘distance revision
syndrome’, whereby a trip to London is easypeasy
with flight times of around 40 minutes, but
somehow driving 20 minutes from St Peter Port to
Torteval seems like a major journey; and actually
do we really need to go all that way? (Of course I
should go - Guernsey’s high parishes are beautiful
and one shouldn’t pass up a trip out west.)
I’ve also caught myself forgetting that not everyone
thinks of their home the way I do about mine. For
example if I meet someone off-island who has a
friend or a contact in Guernsey, I’m very keen to find
out just who that person might be. Guernsey being
Guernsey, often I know them. Or of them. That’s a
familiar scenario to many Guernsey people I suspect.
But lately I’ve had to remind myself that this Guernsey
rule doesn’t really work that well for places with
populations bigger than sixtyish thousand. ‘Oh, you’re
from Australia? I expect you know my friend Tracey,
then? She lives in Perth, works in event management.
She’s from Guernsey and is very friendly. No?’
I’ve come very close to having that sort of
conversation on more than one occasion. Why
I need to remind myself not to ask is a bit of a
worry. It’s surely completely obvious, but it shows
how perspective can change over time.
So, for the most part, a test isn’t required. I like to
think that this is characteristic of the island being a
welcoming sort of place. Along with that intrinsic
friendliness, Guernsey offers a great quality of
life, views that lift the soul, a sense of community,
decent weather and, in the Open Market, a brilliant
entry mechanism for people who might want
to move. And you don’t need to understand the
rules of Euchre or know what a collymochon is.
Now, those answers. How did you do?
1. Castle Cornet 2. St Andrew’s 3. (States) Deputies 4. The Parliamentarians 5.9th May 6. The Siam Cup (won by 46 points to 30 by
Guernsey this year in an entertaining display of power, pace and talent) 7. Sir Richard Collas 8. Apple 9. Moulin Huet 10. Dentists (a bit of a
grisly end it was for St Apolline).
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