CHRISTMAS IN PARADISE FOR FAMILY WHO LEFT DERBYSHIRE FOR TINY ISLAND

Derby Telegraph 26^th December 2013

This year, the Troman family swapped their life in rural Derbyshire to live on one of the world’s most remote islands. Here, Tim Troman talks about the first six months of island life and spending their first Christmas there.

Tim and Sarah Troman and daughter Lucy, all formerly of Belper, are living on Saint Helena for two years

It is December and I’m sitting in our living room in shorts and a T-shirt.

The temperature is 26°C outside and there is hardly a cloud in the sky.

On the local radio station, they are playing the song Santa Claus Is Coming To Town.

But looking at the weather outside, it is really hard for me to believe that it’s Christmas.

My wife Sarah, our young daughter, Lucy, and I have now been living on the island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean for six months.

But it only seems like yesterday that we left RAF Brize Norton, in Oxfordshire, to set off on our two-year adventure.

Initially, settling into island life was hard as we missed family and friends.

The lifestyle and pace of life is so different to the UK but now we have settled in it has become an absolute pleasure and a fantastic adventure.

Saint Helena is a wonderful island, with such diverse landscapes that just being here and experiencing it is a privilege.

Small things which we now take for granted are so special - to get up in the morning and choose bananas from the tree in our garden for Lucy to take to school still makes me smile.

Life on Saint Helena feels like when I grew up in the UK in the 1970s, with only the recent advent of the internet and television to significantly change things.

The island is a cash economy, so no debit or credit cards and no cash machines, so it’s down to the bank each week to draw out real money.

Shopping is great fun, too, as there are none of the major chain stores on Saint Helena, just lots of smaller independent shops (some of which are chain stores in their own right!), which sell anything from groceries to engine oil.

Sarah, in particular, finds the shopping opportunities limited.

There’s no Westfield just around the corner to pick up the latest fashions and somehow internet shopping is not quite the same.

We ordered some items from Tesco in September, which have only just arrived.

One of the best things about the island is the wonderful people who live here.

They are known as ‘Saints’ and they live up to that name as, ever since we arrived, everyone has made us feel so welcome and if you are ever in trouble and need a hand, someone will help you out.

For Lucy, it is the most wonderful opportunity to live in a safe, secure environment.

She reached the grand old age of three in August, at which point she started school and very quickly realised it was far more fun to have a bus journey to school with the other children each day rather than staying at home with boring Daddy.

From a personal point of view, my life has changed so much in six months.

Back in Derbyshire, I was a director of a company. I’ve gone from that to having no set structure to my day. It’s taken some getting used to.

I now volunteer two days a week in the Environmental Management Department for the Saint Helena Government.

I do another two days in school, helping the children with their reading skills.

The remaining working day of the week needs to be set aside for the weekly shopping challenge.

I think that, when we return to the UK in 2014 (for a holiday), I won’t be able to cope with all the choice of a huge supermarket.

Having all this extra time has allowed me to spend more time playing different sports.

My weekly diary now includes games of tennis, a round of golf and I have just played my first cricket match since I was eight years old. We won and I managed to score a run.

I don’t think Derbyshire County Cricket Club will be signing me up any time soon, but I am really enjoying the outdoor lifestyle.

The island also has some stunning scenery and there are a number of trails, called Post Box Walks.

They stretch across the island and vary in difficulty from “hard” to “I need to be a mountain goat to do that”.

Many of them involve ropes set into the rock to help you scramble up and down steep sections.

I’ve done a couple of these but there are lots more to try yet and anyone who enjoys walking should definitely put this on their list once the new airport opens in 2016.

Saint Helena is also a wonderful place for marine life.

Diving is a big pastime on the island and there are lots of boats offering dolphin and whale watching trips, which are just fantastic.

The sight of the dolphins putting on an acrobatic display at the side of the boat will live with me forever.

Last week, I saw my first whale. They are just beautiful creatures.

Probably the most unusual experience I have had is being allowed to do my own show on what is basically national radio.

I was asked by Saint FM Community Radio to make up my own play list of my favourite songs and choose a classic album to play tracks from.

The two hours flew by and I even had people ring in to tell me they were enjoying it.

That’s the beauty of this island, as there is no way I would have got that opportunity in the UK.

I’m going back for more over the Christmas holidays when the Saint FM Community Radio airwaves will be taken over by myself and my neighbour, who is a big Newcastle United fan, so I’m sure that the banter will be good.

Back to Christmas and I can confirm that Saint Helena most definitely enjoys this time of year.

It is the height of summer here, so the schools have four weeks off for Christmas, which is really nice as the weather now is gorgeous.

The Christmas decorations started going up in the shops in early November and they are definitely not understated.

It was also around that time that I heard the first Christmas record of the year on the radio.

I have learned a whole new raft of Christmas tunes, as the island is big on country music and there is a huge selection of classics that we are now aware of.

Lucy had her school advent service in St Paul’s Cathedral - that’s the name of the cathedral on Saint Helena and it makes me chuckle every time I say it.

There was also the school Christmas parade through the main shopping street of Jamestown, which is the island’s capital.

There was even an appearance from a jolly man in a red suit - and for the first time ever, he had a Derbyshire accent.

Finally, I would like to say happy Christmas to everyone back in the UK.

By the time you read this, we will have sat down for our barbecued turkey on Christmas Day.

It wasn’t quite the same as the traditional roast turkey with all the trimmings.

To continue to follow Tim and his family’s adventures on Saint Helena, visit his blog at www.timsjustlikelivinginparadise.com.