7 European Countries and a Beyoncé Concert: South African in Europe | Episode 3: Jersey, Soft Era
Yes! Hello! In your land of South Africa. In the land of our ancestors. I hear you are dying of the cold in the land of the ancestors.
Its so nice and warm here in the land of the English. The sun rises at 3am. 3 a.m! In this small paradise that I am visiting. I met Thomas's brother and his wife and we went to see a castle. The castle was beautiful but...
It turned out Jersey was also... it was col... It was occupied by Germany at some point. So you find there's a lot of these beautiful granite buildings and things like that. It's beautiful. Everything is lovely. And then the next thing you know... BAM! BAM! There's this concrete slab of cement! Just standing there obnoxiously saying "I'm here now!" And its all these German things they built to prepare for a war that never even happened.
They are such eyesores because they are so so ugly. But I suppose they're also the part of a part of Jersey's history so you have to thingie... And for the older generation... I realised that Thomas's mother... ...is more alive to...the history or... feels more connected to it. She feels more connected to to the history so she's constantly referencing the history of the German occupation. And you can see that for them it's something that's very important. So I don't think it's something that you want to remove, because you want that history to be there because it's important. But also at the same time for me, I would bomb things because they're so ugly! They are sooo U.G.L.Y!
But apparently the Germans actually helped Jersey to create its ports. So to build with concrete so that the ocean water doesn't come in. Because, what I learned in Jersey is that a tide is a real thing! I could never understand the tide situation. When you watch movies they would say; "The tide is low, the tide is high." never get it twice a day they will go all
I would never get it! The Jersey water, twice a day, would come up... ...all the way to the beach. And then they would go 10kms away and you have... ...open beach. There was no beach in the morning, in the afternoon you suddenly have beach. That's because the tide is out and then the tide is in. The entire time I was there, Thomas's mom would be... ...obsessed all the time about is the tide in the tide is out like she knew when the tide was going to be in the tide was going to be out. Because you need to get keep aware of that. Otherwise you will go lie on the beach and be swallowed by the ocean because the tide is back! You were still stuck on the tide being out, meanwhile its back. And it moves quickly!
This tide goes in and out. In and out! So you need to be aware! You need to be conscious of the fact that... ...the tide will come and go and you need to be responding to the tide. Otherwise you will be taken by the water! You will be taken by the water! And then you will know why I don't play around water. So anyway, we met with Thomas's brother. We went to the castle. Then they showed...
...us how you know shooting those cannons and stuff. Then I learned! What I learned then is where the bottom of the barrel saying comes from. So, "bottom of the barrel" that man explained to us... Well he wasn't explaining the phrase. But then I realized that was the phrase.
So when they load the cannon, they clean it with something. So when you clean the inside, you clean the... ...barrel that you're going to put the gunpowder in. So you need to make sure you clean the bottom bottom bottom of the barrel. Because if you don't clean the bottom... ...of the barrel then the whole thing can blow up in your face. Then you are the ones who... ...actually end up dying instead of your enemy. So that's where the phrase "bottom of the barrel"... ...comes from. It's literally the barrel of a gun of a cannon gun if you don't clean it out you... don't clean the bottom every last drop of n of dirt, of filth at the bottom you could die! I'm glad I've taught you something today! I was excited to learn that something too! Then we walked around and we saw you know there was a Hermit that died in a Hermit place.
And yeah, it was it was really nice, it was really nice. And then we played along with the people I can see fishies! Welcome to the castle! If you'd like to follow Mr P to the front gate. The Staff will show you a map and the best way to get into the castle and where the toilets are. ENJOY! Do you wish you had brought your 5year old? Uh... No actually. I'm thinking to myself that I'm enjoying the alone! I'm glad she's not here! You know 5-year-olds, everything is about them! So sometimes some things you just need to enjoy! And she wouldn't even understand you know the the significance of any of this. But she would want everything to be about her either way. So
then I'd lose out. So if I was at Disney World I'd be happy to have her but not here! Yes it is, it is winter. Those sunny days, but they're cold. I was actually thinking this morning that oh my goodness I don't want to go back home I don't want to go to that winter. a gun in placement had a gun moving on here oh oh so you moved on the rails yeah I think so oh okay same oh so you can fire in any direction. This is German. The built it is this way so it means that it's impenetrable.
People wrote here. 1952 RC. We don't know who RC is though. Hey isn't that my son is?! He is MP. [Laughter] Here is RHD from 1953. I wish they would have written their full names. But here is Emil. Emil Stark, 58, Swiss from Swiss army? Swiss...
People need to write their names if they're going to write on these walls. So is your daughter at school or she not at school? What age do they go school? They go at seven. Ours go at around 4.
To school school or kindergarten?! Uh no, school. At 4?! What do they learn at 4?! They have to learn to play with sand! [LAUGHTER] How are schools funded? Is it all private? No, so you can either go private or you can go public. Public is full tax funded and then the private is obviously out of your pocket. Um, it's best to go private. Is that what you will do? Yes, definitely. Definitely. Definitely. If you can afford it, definitely go private. I think most people are working so that they can provide the private. So have you already got a school and do you have to put a name down or do you not have to worry about that yet? Um... I'll wing it. I think we're planning
to move. I just bought a house last year but now we're planning to move from that place so by the time my child has to go to school I think we would have moved. Ooh this is very nice now it's just [Music] Little cheeks there ncaaw... shame man. I wonder if this was concrete from from the beginning or... Why would they have concrete in this area Rob? Could be a German thing. Anything with concrete I blame on the Germans. This is such a beautiful beach! This feels like a postcard something... Like a Seychelles or something.
Did you catch what they said about St Helier earlier? I didn't I miss said so s is is named after um Belgian I didn't, I missed that. St. Helier is named after a Belgian, I think they said... hermit. Oh yes, yes, yes. I didn't catch the name. He lived in a cave on this rock oh for many many years.
Ohhh... I heard the story but I didn't catch the name. So I didn't know who it was. So they built a chapel over the spot where he lived. yes Why was he martyred? Why was he killed? I'm not sure. But that was in the 6th century. Okay. What do we do? we go up we're going up do you like to would you We go up. If you'd like to. Would you like to go up?
Yes! Are you fine with going up? Yeah, no I am fine. Hello I assume this is probably where some St. Helier lived. The View here is amazing! It's amazing. It's amazing. I hope I don't fall! Because these stairs are so steep. May I not fall flat to the bottom! Okay! Ooh can I please go see what's in here? Thank you. It's just a tiny little room.
Maybe it was food storage. There's an information panel just at the bottom. Okay. And then after that I went to go and see a museum. Their museum is so well curated. So, so
So, so well curated. Its just... And they take you through... Well the museum that I went to it wasn't just a museum of the war or just a museum of this or just that it takes you all the way from inception of the islands where you learn that the islands were actually once part of the Mainland and then they kind of broke off and became the Channel Islands with different islands and this is where they landed and then these are the animals that came along and then this is how humans and Neanderthals and whatever evolved and then eventually you get to the point of the history of the German occupation. And then the next thing yeah like it was just it was great it was well curated And then I went into a house where it was a house about I don't know a family that ran away because of of somebody who was in debt. And then they have this video that they play where there's a play playing out what could have happened during that night when they were running away. Like it's a lot. Like it's very nice. It's very beautiful. It's very well curated. You learn a lot!
So after that then I had to... so on that day when we went to the castle I went with Thomas's brother and his wife we rode a bicycle. But it was an electric bicycle. So we rode a bicycle and And they left me at the museum and then I had to go back on my own. My goodness I was so stressed about having to go back! Alright this is my This is my bike. See the problem with being engaged and enjoying what you are doing and where you are... ...is its exhausting because you are always using your brain. Your mind is always plugged in... ...and tuned in to everything that's happening. By 4pm, I am finished. Its 3pm now here.
I am finished, I'm exhausted. Because we went to see a castle... and now I'm exhausted. I am tired, I am finished. Meanwhile, I am sitting at the museum. I can't go into the museum because I am in two minds about when will I finish if I go into the museum now?! And the museum is paid for. I bought a four destinations ticket. So the ticket I will use to enter four sites. So if I go into the museum I will use up one entry and risk not seeing anything because I am exhausted.
[Burp] Actually let me just go home. I will come to the museum tomorrow. I am at the entrance. But I can see that I won't survive because I am exhausted. It's because I have so much fun when I am at a place. And I engage much with whatever's going on. And I listen so attentively. Then by the time I'm done I'm just like I'm BUSHED. Tired. Finished. But also, I woke up at 4am this morning, so yah... Yeah, okay! Let me abandon this mission. Let me get on the bicycle and track back to the house.
I recommend you start by going up into the Merchant's house first as usually we close up first. "Merchant's house". "Exit". "Viewing window". Basically miniature doll houses. That's the problem with European things. We have been seeing them on tv for so long that they're no longer interesting.
"Exhibition of wood carving and feet work" [Burp] [Another burp] [And another burp] My goodness this merchant house is making me burp so much! Right... We are at the museum. [Reading] "A Jersey Lily". This is Lillie! "Lillie Langtry". Here is Lillie. This is Lillie. Loving her so much. Let's here what they have to say about Lillie. Here is Lillie. They say Lillie was beautiful. I don't know. Do you think she is beautiful? for one Emily charlot Le BR Breton in St sav's directory Jersey ly langry went on to become a great society Beauty later a well-known actress her lifestyle changed the social codes of her day and she was at once both famous and Infamous Miller portrait of langri holding what is in fact a gy lily was one of the most celebrating PS of his day it was displayed at the Royal Academy in 1878 where crowds thronged to see a policeman was assigned to guard the pain of social Strat social classes social orders whoever [Music] 1785 to 18805 flagin he's a flagin he's a pain flag ofey house [Music] Mission oh ni [Music] ni [Music] [Music] I some the St [Music] [Music] right meant something more than 50 ships in the new f c trade fishing trading banking money sh money in the [Music] bank the builds of Jersey har new and you're fleeing in the night like criminals story of Je [Music] all right I thought those two people were statues and well you what's with watching others a combination of advanced photographic and microscopic methods has clearly revealed subtle surface details on the stone tablets the pletes can be seen to share common features all are made of micr granate a hard Stone consisting of small crystals the majority of the pieces of fragments broken from larger Stones all were engraved with a piece of flint expertly shaped to produce a chisel like Point as the engraving took place [Music] these in broken purpose [Music] [Music] scary took place over the next 8 years they revealed halfs and paving stones of Camp alongside thousands of thin artifacts left behind by the hunters also 10 delicate fragments of engraved Stone were discovered each marked with abstract designs many similar engra St have been found in W the line artifacts are the first found in the British they thought to be the oldest portable art objects in the region the Earth with artifacts was found as been dated to approximately 15,000 years ago this was a period when people of a late cure known as the magdalan st came from Bel around the year 5 made his home on The Bleak rock near well he chose to live ining that hardship would bring 15 years later raing the island pistol holsters mess of pistol holers yeah context look how my hand [Music] is letter signed in 164 by Charles as Prince of Wales hence Charles he joined his first day in the island in it Captain Roland Smith is authorized to retain 1,256 Li T prise money for a real [Music] Deb Jersey and the death of the major person and must is at from 1895 they could use a new outdoor seawater cooler all the benefits of bathing in the sea but no chance of being Dr by a tiger W on a holiday not only to take the air but to explore Jersey's beautiful Cliffs you could take an Excursion to the North Coast and explore the caves of clel with Harry the guy who became so famous that he had his own cartoons prison trial his his PST [Music] [Music] 28 PH2 was c c into the stone prolific criminals despite only having one leg he was convicted 7 times for crying such his drunk and disorderly theft Riot and assault out he even broke into the prison guard room stole the keys and let his fellow prisoners out as punishment for these crimes he was whooped put in s confinement and vanished finally age 30 he was sent to Pentonville prison for S years pH was I will remembered P de seven years 1853 [Music] [Music] news us Thomas K hangman was brought over from England to perform this TK so I'm cooking now cooking for the week but anyway so to to the to the castle of Thomas's brother mama his son and his Husband his wife so and then when we got to the museum they were like okay no you can you can go to the museum on your own and then sh they bought me they also bought me the the the P so in Jersey there's a a tourism pass so you can buy one pass I think the pass is like by South African rant today it was going for around 3,000 RS um and then you can get the pass and then it would get it will get you into 4 different um into four different ter tourist attractions you know the main tourist attractions so he brought me a pass and then the pass could go into the into the castle and then the other place that I went into was the museum so they were like no we not we won't go into the museum with you you can go on your own since you have the past so we leave you here so so I think we rode to get to the to get to to the um to the castle by bicycle we could have ridden for about 20 minutes or more so obviously to mum is not in the direction from Castle to house so I was going in the opposite direction to go to the museum so there's extra time to go back also the other thing in Jersey like the craziest thing is that it's so safe that like you can literally just leave it bicycle has a um a key thing that she has so she locks it so that you can't you can't thing you can't ride it immediately but you could definitely like if you were stealing it you could just take it and go cuz you just leave a thing appar and people nobody takes it it's so nice like it's so nice like the safety thing it takes a while to get used to all to how safe it is because I mean it's clearly like me living in jaberg like I blame the government all African governments they're full of nonsense full of [ __ ] and that's why people are hungry and starving and then they have to resort to crime and then apparently J is the TX heaven or someu like so um when you get there every most people have money so like there is no need to steal and most people are employed so there is no need to steal so you can just leave your bicycle out there like you literally can leave your bicycle out there we're not in the burps so I'm in the town section of the island so like time I came back it was after school time school kids people coming back from work parents fing the kids from school like [Music] today is my first time out on my own without and the wife they let me go to the museum on my [Music] own not a b it's an electric bike but it's bigger than my usual [Music] bike overwhelm very gracious with the bicycle so like when you're on a bicycle people are very very gracious [Music] [Music] I guess I got a some card yesterday I got an eim yesterday so I have Gs I guess I could just keep stopping every like every few meters stop and check my GPS but and oh I also have my Apple watch so that could that could give me directions not it's the process that is just me it's stressing the process that is stressing the hell out of me I'm the only one black person I'm two black ladies and I think it's worse than not seeing black people because had said but everybody's kind so I know I can ask anybody for a directions and I'll be fine but oh home girl yeah but then it's followed by an instant sadness because then you remember you realiz oh no [Music] so extra extra busy so I'm just stressed about around it's just a matter of process trusting the process if I because the reason why I wanted to bicyle cuz Mama had said she' come and fetch me from town and I said don't me stress time I can't even buy the ice cream I can't buy the iceam so 5 6 5 6 7 8 9 10 I've still got 5 hours of daylight so i' still got 5 hours of daylight so I could I should just relax man okay so I decided but the best way to deal with my problems is to avoid them so I decided to just go through a mall have time and then I just walked away with my bicycle at the mall and so now the mall is finished and I need to face my issues head on I am stressed now water FR fairies Shing where where am I oh there I am and avoid my problems and prend like they don't exist okay let me go to the mall had said that like when I'm in town if I get lost or anything I need help I should just ask anybody everybody's always willing to help and it was really that that EXA that's exactly what happened like people are you okay are you fine do you need help and I like no I'm fine it was such a m i was so stressed and I rode around and I rode around and I was just like okay maybe let me just go to a mall so I can come myself down in a mall and then and buy ice cream and maybe when I have ice cream in my system then so if I get ice cream then I'll be calm so if you get more I'm just like I don't want to go into shops with the things so I I I push the bicycle through the mall but I'm just like oh I don't want to be that person now going into shops with a bicycle I don't know what the rules are on going into shops with bicycles so I so then I get on to the side of the um so I decid okay because we've been here a couple of days ago I know if I just stick to the and we did ride AC along the seashore with the with the brother and the wife Rob Robin Emma I'm like we did right next to the the SE with Rob and Emma if I just keep to the seashore then I might find ice cream and I'll probably make it back home right right and right right right I'm lost guys when I first got here uh Mama P was like to me oh um let's figure out what you're going to do while while you're here yes okay fine one of these days I'm going to take a bicycle and I'm gonna go was like to me you know you should know then that you will definitely get lost when you travel around with a bicycle on your own what little faith she has in me I find my way put me in a mega mall I'll find my way put me as l I will find my way put me anyway I'll find my way my one weakness suburbs so [Music] here I've been I've been cycling around for 20 minutes thas tring to get away as criminals there's a way where criminals could get off scotf free without being arrested and you'll be fine but I've told myself it's halfast 5 this site the Sun is going to start at halfast 10 I'm lost by the dish might as well enjoy it that's all ice cream but as as I'm cycling I'm cycling by the beach so I'm cycling by the by the shoreline so maybe as more I cycle the I'm more likely to find 5 6 7 8 9 half 10 5 hours Shake just relax CU I'm lost and that's fine I am lost so the nice thing though about Rob is that Rob just knows a lot of stuff about stuff he's just one of those he's just a nerd I love nerds like they just people just know stuff about stuff so the entire time when we were coming he was bus telling me so like I was just like if I can find one of the areas so like when I get to I got to a wall I thought I was lost like I thought was just completely lost hopelessly lost until I got to some ugly ugly German German wall wall that built was by the German and I remembered when was like this is a this is this wall was actually built by the Germans during the the occupation don't like oh my God I'm finding my way so yeah then I go I'm like go but ice cream at least I found the thing so now the next place that I needed to find was an area that um had so the Apparently back in the day there was if you committed some crime I don't know how heinous the crime had to be to to to not apply to this law but there was a law where if you commit a crime and you you and remember you need to be think conscious of the context but now this was in all times when people were not traveling people didn't know what was out there everything was you know the world was flat and you could you know go off into the sunset and then fall over on the other side side you know this J so the choice was given that if you commit a crime you can either choose to be tried on the island or you have to um you have to leave the island all together so then there was a walkway where if you were walking on that walkway it was basically a a a a criminals walk away even if you bumped into a police officer or whatever you could they could not arrest you even if they knew but you'd committed a crime because you were you were Runing to the you were running to say like you were leaving you you banishing yourself from the island so you can imagine that would have been a very I mean now you could easily banish yourself and it wouldn't be an issue because you know you know that there's something else out there but then you probably you didn't know you thought you were banishing yourself into the deep darkness of nothingness so you you might find by a lot of people would actually choose to just stand to face their face trial than to actually um leave so Rob told me about this I was looking for that walk you know the criminals walkway I guess I don't know what is it's there has there's a name for it I'll find the name for it um so that name like that thing is a criminal walkway where people where criminals can just leave without having to face trial but it's a form of facing Justice yeah ever got to identify the place then I write and I write I don't know what happened in I don't know what wrong turn I took and next thing I know the road valy were going down down down down down down down um but it wasn't like it didn't feel like steep down down down down it just felt like down down down down so it was down it was a down down down down that I thought was manageable when I was coming I don't know what what wrong turn I took next thing I know I'm met an up up up up that's not the up up up up that I was hoping for and you know when I get there like and then there was a little girl wasn't a little girl she was like maybe she looked like she was about 17 and she was on a um she was on a horse so and for the first time I experienced hostility um I like to think like the girl was hostile because maybe you know I don't know why she was hostile because like all the other people were very nice all the people on the island were so so nice they were so nice they were so welcoming they were so friendly they were so helpful but that girl was just like don't talk to me don't talk to me type of energy so from no it's an electric bicycle but I didn't know how to do the settings you get to the an incline then it just takes over so you don't need to be stress it was just rough it was going up up up up up up and rough [Music] heas B an electrical bicycle is so great guys because you'll ride ride ride but when you get to the Steep inclines then it just takes over and it does the work for youas i s I feel an incline for the past 10 minutes look at this inine imagine doing this for 10 minutes let me push this thing because I'm not going to survive oh my heart rate has been operating at 105 110 bats per minute in the past 10 minutes better 160 sign yeah yeah that's the answer guys I've got 4 hours can you come f you don't worry just call me I'll come F you this is your last opportunity to fetch you do you want me to fetch you Dy no mama don't fetch me I will bike back [Music] home it's next I knew I was at the airport I hadn't gone by the airport when I came I was at the airport then I was going around a shop that we've been to before I was like okay now I recognize this shop I definitely recognized the shop then I went into the shop and I bought my ice cream it was close to home by that time ice cream I hadn't found it anywhere else but I suppose I didn't know where to look and I had assumed by now at the beach it was just going to be sitting on the side of the road and it wasn't so I I think I think it took me like it took us about 20 minutes to get there it took me about 2 hours to get back home I CU I I don't even know today I don't know what BR actually took because I don't understand how I took so long then I was a child hi gu I made it back I made it back but what cost [Applause] oh here's some information so I got here 10 minutes ago so I made it it was not easy but I persevered I feel like this whole island I really understand what direction I came from all I know that [Music] airport I I'm I made it [Music] so it is what it is we wake up and we try again [Music] up yeah and
2024-02-03 20:28
