When I finally got back the UK, I had a short one night stay at a small hotel close to Heathrow. I travelled into London to Chelsea where I had a day training for my summer working as an English teacher on the Isle of Wight. I didn’t really know what to expect, as I’d heard about the Isle of Wight but never had the desire to visit. I got the bus to Portsmouth then boarded the last ferry of the night to the Island. I got in a taxi and headed for Shanklin, my home for the next 5 weeks. It was dark when I arrived and I was real tired, so I met everyone and had a few drinks before going to bed. The next day I was able to get accustomed to my surroundings. I had a tour of the massive period house I was staying in, getting to a room that took my breath away when I looked out of the window. It was stunning. This room became my favourite to teach in.
The Isle of Wight was a relaxing time for me. I needed a break to recuperate from the stress of my last job. Don’t get me wrong, I worked hard and long hours but it was such a great job and I met so many wonderful people and students. Everyday was different and fun. So, Shanklin and Sandown beach became my solace. What made it even better was the micro climate on the Isle of Wight gave us amazing weather for the entirety of my stay. It was perfect.
I definitely spent my days off topping up my European tan on Sandown beach.
Shanklin is such a wonderful little town. If you walk up past the main ‘high street’ you get to the old town part where there are houses with thatched roofs – most of them quaint little tea houses. We were regulars at this particular one which was pink, and had a fairy garden out the back. A real masculine type of place…
In Italy, Prosecco became a staple of my existence in the Summer. One night a group of us went to a pebbly beach – it was windy and quite chilly, but the light was amazing. We found a kind of sheltered dip in the beach and sat and had our Prosecco…well one of the bottles. After this we spent the evening in a hot tub overlooking an amazing view, of course our bubbly in hand.
This pebbly beach wasn’t our ‘local’ – I can’t remember the name but we mainly went down to the Shanklin promenade and beach to get away from work. I feel such nostalgia writing about this place, it was so calm and peaceful. There are heaps of little cafes and shops along the promenade… and beach huts…they require their own post. We mainly took the students for afternoon beach sessions to the little sandy bit next to a cafe. The owners, an elderly man and woman started realising their sales were going up incredibly during the summer. So, we got to know them by supporting the students to order what they wanted in English. After a while the owners mentioned this increase in sales so started giving the staff free things. It was great.
On another day off, a Canadian friend and I did some touristy things. We bought first class tickets (only like £14) for the Isle of Wight Steam Railway. After riding the more ‘modern’ trains (old London underground trains brought of the the island…they were quite bumpy) we got into a carriage lined with period furnishings and materials. We had a bottle of bubbly for the journey, although it wasn’t that long. We got off at the furthest stop and went to the museum which showed a much larger collection of these antique rail cars. It was such a nice outing, beautiful weather and relaxing.
One of the places we took the students to on a day trip was The Needles. Little rocks sticking out of the water…kind of reminded me of The Three Sisters in the Blue Mountains just outside of Sydney. Same idea, I guess. It’s a nice visit, the students were more interested in the ‘amusements’, which they called a ‘casino’ (which are everywhere on the Isle of Wight – and thats what they ALWAYS asked to do). I went down the chairlift with some of the Chinese students to get a better look. The place is so beautiful, the water was so blue that I almost felt like I was in the South of France again. To be honest there isn’t much to do on the Isle of Wight, apart from relax so this is probably its biggest ‘attraction’.
In the last few days of my fives weeks on the Isle of Wight, we took a walk down to the Sandown Pier. Sandown is the next village/town which is a short walk along the promenade. I often ran through it but never went down the pier. It was a nice evening and the lights on the pier offer an aesthetic picture when walking towards it. There, again, are a number of arcades and typical ‘British’ eateries (fast food, donuts, everything nice on the lips but not the hips). I did get some donuts, they made them fresh – how could I not!? I kind of realised that night that I was soon to leave that place. And I really didn’t want to. I had secured another 2 week contract in Brighton which was quite exciting, but I still didn’t want to leave.
On the last day I went across on the ferry with my Spanish group to Portsmouth, where I was to say cheerio and then go collect a car to take back across and drive some stuff and people back to London. I got to the car hire place, a little teary after saying goodbye to find out that the car had been booked for a different day. They had given it away a few days before and didn’t have anything resembling to size we needed. In the end, after a few hours of phone calls, I ended up taking a smaller car. Then, no one had booked me on a ferry. So I had to wait 3 hours. It was really hot in Portsmouth too, I got some lunch then headed to the ferry. I waited in a line for ages. It was getting increasingly hot, so I turned my engine on and sat in air-conditioning. About 10 minuted later a man, European somewhere by accent, got me in trouble for sitting with my engine on. Pretty much told me I was killing the environment. Ok, I understand – I do my bit, I recycle, I take a tote to the shopping and I’ve been a vegetarian since I was 11 – I was hot and had had a bad day. Naturally I then closed my window, got the guilts, turned off my engine and cried. I’m not a cryer either, so it must have been a hard day! Anyhow, the story end well, we got the stuff in the car and got to London nearly hassle free (a little lost when my phone died). And thats the end of the Isle of Wight journey.
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