I'm on holiday in Guernsey - the home of my wife Karin. Guernsey is one of the Channel Islands (the other main ones are Jersey, Alderney and Sark). They've been part of the British Isles since the Norman Conquest (so not very long really!) and are still Crown Dependencies, albeit with a level of independence and tax haven status...
Guernsey is only 9 miles by 5 miles and is an intriguing mix of English and French. English is the main language (although many of the older people speak the Guernsey patois which is a combination of Norman French, modern French and English), the pound is the currency and they drive on the right side of the road (i.e. the left). The names of the parishes and the street names are mostly French in origin. The threat of invasion has always been taken very seriously as the islands are much nearer to France than to England. The GESO here shows some of the defences - including those built by the Germans in WW2. The Channel Isles were the only bit of the British Isles to be occupied by Germany in WW2 (there's a famous propaganda picture of German troops marching outside Lloyds bank in St Peter Port, Guernsey's town). Karin's parents were in Guernsey during the occupation and her mother is really good at telling the fascinating stories from that time. Hope you find this of interest: http://www.mitch.myzen.co.uk/Fortress/index.html K7, mostly with DA* 16-50 and some DA* 50-135 Chris -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
