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| Caldey Island |
Another year and another special date to remind myself that
I am getting older. Fifty years ago in 1963, Martin Luther King had a dream for
his people; it was also the year when I landed in
England with my mum and two sisters
to start our new life full of our very own dreams. I followed lots of mine, some
of them turned into nightmare, some impossible made possible and most just
boring old dreams, sharing day to day dream life with the rest of the human
race on this planet. However 24th April 2013 on Caldey island I felt I was all alone
on one of my desert Island dreams, it only lasted for a short time though and it
was nothing like the desert island Lucy Irvine (writer of her book “Castaway”)
went to when she answered the advertisement for “writer seeks wife for a year
on a tropical Island….”
Caldey
Island lies three miles
from Tenby harbour and has a population of mere 25 of which 12 are monks. It is
a private island owned by Reformed Cistercian Order and is entirely self
sufficient. The monks farm the land, milk the cows, start praying for the world
peace and the rest from 3.45 am and have set up enterprise schemes such as
making perfumes, toiletries and chocolates to sell to the tourist. There is
bird life, sea life and lot of woodland kept in pristine condition to get away
from the crowd of tourists. The few vehicles allowed on the island are used for
transporting goods and people from the jetty. The local boatmen ferry tourists
and Islanders to and from the mainland town of Tenby.
My short stay in a house next to the lighthouse, up the one
and only road in the village will never be repeated again because real dreams
come into life only once and I have lived to tell my tale. Furthermore the
number of men who wants to become Monks is in decline and the idyllic life I
had experienced and those who still live it on the
Island
will die sooner rather then later; sad but true!
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