Saturday, 4 June 2016, the Cornish Bakery, Guernsey.

My very first time on the island. Immaculate,not a hair out of place,not a piece of paper on the pavement,hardly any cigarette butts. I walk around in astonishment. HSBC. I take some cash out of the machine.the bank notes must be the most beautiful notes in the world. HOTEL ChOCOLAT welcomes me a few doors along. They sell rum soaked raisins, absolutely my most favourite chocolates. Yes,it is us, you love us, and we are all yours,they smile. And they are! My local branch in Kensington High Street closed down several weeks ago and I miss it so. If you have the opportunity, try the raisins. They are divine. There is a newspaper shop,I get the Daily Mail,the Red magazine and go to find a coffee shop. The Cornish Bakery is simple, the cakes are few and quite plain, none of the fancy footwork here,as the name suggests, they serve predominantly Cornish pastry and sausage rolls. I ask for coffee with an extra shot and the lovely girl behind the counter knows what I am talking about! And the coffee is good,the sausage roll super,pain aux raisins not so much,but passable and from my corner table where I sit down with my Toshiba I can see the harbor and the tender boats ferrying the Queen Victoria passengers in and out of St Peter Port. Perfection. After a good hour in the Cornish Bakery I walked about again and slowly but surely it had begins to dawn on me that I had been here before! Very likely about three years ago while cruising for 12 days around the British Isles on an OCEANIA ship [it is a six star company]. I even remember the start date of the cruise-12 September. How could have I forgotten? Well, from every little port I buy myself a souvenir-it is either a bag,or some jewellery,a dress, a top,shoes, or something useful. And every time I look at it I remember the place I had got it from. But I am positive I had bought nothing in Guernsey, because I could not see a single boutique selling items different from what I can get in London. And I never buy anything just for the sake of buying. I do not buy useless trinkets. I wonder if my sister will think the same when we dock in St Peter Port in July,while we cruise for seven nights on Britannia. My sister loves clothes and adores shopping. I like to dress well and hate shopping.