PeterHoinville.com

I didn’t come to Guernsey to complain.  I came because I liked how it felt to be here.  On an early visit we ducked into a pub while waiting for people to land.  The young woman behind the bar smiled, said “welcome to the island,” and wouldn’t let me pay.  That set the tone and ever since, I’ve been given numerous extra reasons to stay.

The everyday moments are the best of it. Walking Vazon when the light is clear and the tide is out.  Occasionally, I’ll find some bits of sea glass for my girlfriend; she’s the artistic one, I’m just the one seeing flashes of colour in the shingle.  Some mornings I’ll walk a lap of the reservoir in the sun, watch the water and enjoy the peace and quiet. 

Other days it’s a coffee with someone new at the Bathing Pools, or in one of the cafés in town where you end up knowing the barista by name after two visits.  None of this is staged, it’s just how living here seems to be.

There’s an honesty to the place that I love, hedge veg stalls work because people trust each other to pay what’s written on a card.  Coming from a world where most towns need to bolt everything down, that kind of trust is refreshing.

So why would I write publicly at all?  Because the same instincts that make me like Guernsey make me want to look after it.  Having been here a while now, I can see a few pressure points where we’re quietly banking risk.  In my former industry you’d call this “technical debt” – taking easy shortcuts today but inevitably hurt more later because we never tidied them up.  I’m genuinely not trying to be negative, I’m just saying it’s smarter to ‘tidy as you go’ rather than experience more pain later.

I’m also very aware I’m not from here.  I can already ‘hear’ the eye‑roll: “Who does he think he is, turning up and telling us how to run the island?”  It’s a fair question but, being completely honest, my answer is simple: I’m not a politician and I don’t want to be elected to anything.  I’ve made Guernsey my home and I want to help make my home work better. 

If I put ideas out there, it’s because I can see opportunities to make life easier for people. But the tone matters, a good friend has previously tried to start similar discussions on Facebook and got torn to shreds for his efforts so I want to avoid that trap.  

I want to keep things calm and grounded to try to explore what is actually possible.  This is not about moral superiority or criticising what’s happened in the past so if I say something controversial, please do push back.  If someone has better data, I’ll gladly amend my opinion and I’ll say so.

So, what can you expect from this?  I aim to start with the good stuff, and ask how we can protect it.  I want to discuss realistic and credible ideas rather than utopian dreams.

One thing about me is that I won’t claim to have all the answers and, if I’m wrong, I’ll admit it and credit the person who put me right.  And I want to (try to) keep the focus on ideas people will actually feel – local and online services that work when the mainland link is down, utilities that are boringly reliable, housing that doesn’t break families, travel that doesn’t turn a trip to the mainland for a medical appointment into a nightmare journey, and new jobs that fit the island’s scale.

If any of this sounds more like common sense rather than a grand dream, that’s good. Real progress rarely arrives with a fanfare.  It’s more visible as shorter queues, fewer cancellations and websites that don’t time out.  Maybe a reservoir walk that more people use because it’s a wonderful nature space or a beautiful beach that looks the same in ten years because the basics were handled properly.

A last word on why I’m hopeful.  I was saying this morning to a friend that Guernsey is genuinely a place of opportunity.  It’s small enough for tiny improvements to be visible, every day, I meet the people who hold the answers to most of the problems and, if you show up in good faith, it’s possible to help make a difference.  I think this is a key benefit of island life, not a bug and that’s why I’m writing.  It’s also why I’m being exceptionally careful about how I write, using plain language, being open to correction and focused on fixes over noise.

So, if that sounds like a conversation you want to be part of then stick around.  I’ll start by laying out some practical ideas and I want them to be realistic.