The day we were all dreading had arrived and it was time for everyone to leave Jersey and head back to their real lives, their jobs, families and homes. The week had past so quickly in some ways but it had also felt like we’d been there for weeks. It could easily have all been a dream and the waking up from that great dream would be the arrival back in England. Saying hello to people on the street would be received with unimpressed looks, shouting ‘Give me an L!’ would certainly not get the response it had and we would be back to being nobodies. For one week we had sort of been celebrities on Jersey, people had stopped us on the streets of St Helier to say hello, others would come up to us a sporting activities to say they saw us on the TV or heard us on the radio and on leaving the Games Village one night some unknown individual shouted out ‘Dave!’ It had been really surreal but we were glad we’d brought so much attention to Ynys Mon and hopefully a lot of energy and fun to the Games as a whole.
The alarms went off early once again for us to pack everything into the car and head for the ferry port for the mass evacuation of Jersey. We had no idea really what to expect when we arrived and were therefore surprised when it wasn’t as crammed as we’d predicted. Obviously others thought 8.30am the morning after the Closing Ceremony was too early. We queued with the other cars and suddenly out of nowhere striding towards our vehicle came our hero of the Games, Andy Jehan, Head of Logistics for the Games and someone who has massively helped us out. We’d seen him at the beginning of the week and then again at a couple of events but we knew he’d been very busy all week starting work way before anyone else was even up and not finishing until the last few hours of the day. We thanked him for everything he and his team have done and he reiterated that he wants to go to Gotland so he can actually see the Island Games. We’ll see you there Andy!
We knew the Ynys Mon Men’s and Women’s football teams would be on the ferry and thought the Guernsey and Isle of Wight competitors would be too. It wasn’t quite the same atmosphere as arriving on Jersey as there were a lot of tired people and several suffering from the night before. At some stages the ferry looked like the aftermath of a natural disaster. There were some good laughs on the way back either side of sleeping and then eventually we arrived in Poole. We had to get to our car but not before saying goodbye to our team. It was an emotional goodbye but we know it won’t end there.
Into the car and we were back in England and the Ynys Mon decorations all over our car meant nothing now to the people around. Dave was first to be dropped off at Eastleigh station to catch his train to Portsmouth. Then it was Richard and Rob left in Bedford where Rob’s wife was ready to take him home to Mersea Island.
Finally Pete got back to Stourbridge and the journey was complete, from Mersea to Jersey.
MerseatoJersey 